Ivory Coast pushes children into school and out of cocoa labour
Child labour
Students in a classroom at the first elementary school built by Nestle in the village of Goboue, in the southwest of Ivory Coast
鶹APPAt five years old, I went to work in the fields with my dad. Today, my children go to school,鶹APP said Peter, a cocoa farmer in Bonikro in the centre of Ivory Coast.
Peter is one of a generation of farmers at the heart of a drive to keep the country鶹APPs children in school and away from its vast plantations.
Ivory Coast, the world鶹APPs largest cocoa producer, has struggled to prevent children working in the cocoa sector, long an accepted practice in the countryside.
The industry, which accounts for 15% of GDP and more than 50% of export receipts as well as two-thirds of the country鶹APPs jobs, is absolutely vital to the country鶹APPs economic welfare, according to the .
But criticism of its record on child labour by consumers and buyers has in the past threatened to tarnish cocoa from the Ivory Coast and undermine its main export, prompting authorities to act.
Out-of-school children carry wood from the cocoa farm
The government鶹APPs scheme to get children off the plantations and into school, launched in 2011, is as much about improving the country鶹APPs image overseas as it is about protecting its young people.
Sylvie Patricia Yao, the leader of the campaign and chief of staff to the country鶹APPs first lady, said that education would help limit child exploitation in the cocoa sector.
鶹APP(It) remains for us the alternative and the most effective response in the long-term fight against child labour,鶹APP she said.
In 2011, the west African country announced plans to spend almost 20 million euros ($22.4 million) between 2015-2017 to reduce the number of minors working on plantations by 30% by 2017 and 70% by 2020.
Since 2011, 17,829 classrooms have been built or restored, according to the National Monitoring Committee (CNS), which is charged with overseeing the government鶹APPs anti-child labour efforts.
It is hoped that the plan will break the cycle of children following their parents into the fields at a young age.
A teacher with a class in the school at Goboue
Djouha Gneprou, a cocoa planter in Goboue in the country鶹APPs west, is involved with a school opened by global food giant Nestle in 2013.
鶹APPOnce the child is in school, they won鶹APPt have time to be in the field so they can鶹APPt do the heavy work,鶹APP he told AFP.
Despite the scheme, recent figures highlight the challenges in the battle.
Between 300,000 and one million children are still estimated to work in the sector, according to a report by the (ICI), an organisation created by the chocolate industry to fight the exploitation of minors.
Some 4000 child victims of 鶹APPslavery and exploitation鶹APP were removed from cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast between 2012 and 2014, according to authorities.
Whether paid or unpaid, children often come from Ivory Coast鶹APPs neighbour Burkina Faso and are used to carry heavy loads, fell trees and spray crops with pesticides.
Girls play in the yard at the elementary school
Nestle, the world鶹APPs largest food company and a major consumer of Ivory Coast cocoa, has previously faced criticism from pressure groups for profiting from child labour.
In 2012 Nestle joined the fight against the problem with an information campaign and school construction programme in the areas where it works most.
The company has built 40 schools in four years, according to Nestle-Ivory Coast鶹APPs sustainability projects coordinator, Omaro Kane.
In Goboue, the small Nestle-sponsored school has changed the lives of the residents in this town dependent on cocoa production.
鶹APPMore and more, we send the children to school,鶹APP said Gneprou.
Before 2013, the town鶹APPs children walked eight kilometres (five miles) every day to reach the school in a neighbouring village.
The village of Goboue, where the school now has 224 students
鶹APPIt was difficult. The youngest children were unable to go to school because the road is very long,鶹APP said Jean Oulai, a cocoa farmer in his 60s and father of six children.
His youngest son, Oulai, 10, is now in his second year of studies at the town鶹APPs school.
The modest building with three classrooms, located at the entrance to the village, has become a victim of its own success, struggling to accommodate its 224 students aged between six and 10.
鶹APPThe first year I effectively had a record with 80 students in the first grade,鶹APP said headteacher Denis Kouakou Angoua, who spoke in the school鶹APPs courtyard overlooking the very cocoa fields where his pupils would once have been destined to work from a young age.
鶹APPAfricans believe that a child is someone who will replace them tomorrow,鶹APP said one cocoa planter.
鶹APPSo they want the child to learn the same work that they did. That鶹APPs why they take their children with them to the fields.鶹APP
Students with their textbooks in French at the school in Goboue
But now the law bans the custom and punishes offenders harshly.
As many as 23 people were convicted, of whom 18 were jailed, for child labour offences between 2012 and 2014, according to Ivorian authorities.
Cocoa farmer Peter takes the threat of imprisonment seriously.
鶹APPIt鶹APPs finished, we don鶹APPt send children to the fields anymore. The government said that it鶹APPs forbidden and that if we do it then it鶹APPs prison,鶹APP he said.
© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse
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