Cocoa cooperatives to improve living conditions of cocoa farmers - Gender Ministry

Sena Owusu-Gibson, Deputy Director at the Human Trafficking Secretariat of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has stated that cocoa cooperatives implement farmers' development programs aimed at improving the living conditions of cocoa farmers and their families. According to her, To guarantee improved living conditions, it is imperative that cocoa farmers make sure there is no form of child labour and child trafficking in their farming practices. Ms. Owusu-Gibson told a gathering at sensitization and capacity-building training in Kasoa on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, that "due to the various dimensions of poverty, Africa, has been caught in the dilemma of either keeping the child in school, enlisting them in skills acquisition or pushing them out onto the farms or onto the streets to work to fend for themselves and also help supplement family incomes. "Through this act, many children have become victims of various form of exploitation including human trafficking which is one of the worst forms of exploitation. In January 2022, Joy news released a documentary on children in cocoa labour. The documentary was disheartening and cast a spell on Ghana’s cocoa on the International market. "Despite all the interventions put in place by government and Civil Society Organizations to keep children from being exploited, some unscrupulous individuals continue to breach the laws and employing children on cocoa farms due to their need for cheap labour." To her, as a country, we cannot look on unconcerned as every act that negatively affects children, affect the economic fortunes of this country in the long-term. "We need to put measures in place to curb the phenomenon of seeing children as work hands in our farms, factories, offices, streets etc. The work of the Department of Cooperatives in registering, auditing inspecting, arbitrating and sensitizing cooperatives among others is very crucial to us in the fight against trafficking and child labour because, the cooperatives have the power to halt or curtail the engagement of unqualified hands, and the resulting consequences of exploitation and its many other ills. "This is the reason the Human Trafficking Secretariat under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in collaboration with Expertise France and the leadership of the Department of cooperative thought it prudent to organize this capacity building training and knowledge sharing encounter. The Ministry and its other stakeholders are not resting on their oars in continuing to carry out such interventions. "Let us always remember that, there can be no justifiable reason for engaging and endangering the lives of our children on our farms, factories, offices etc and especially in tasks that do not bring them any beneficial permanence. I believe that with your active participation, the specific objectives of this training would be achieved," Sena Owusu-Gibson stressed.

Sena Owusu-Gibson, Deputy Director at the Human Trafficking Secretariat of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has stated that cocoa cooperatives implement farmers' development programs aimed at improving the living conditions of cocoa farmers and their families. According to her, To guarantee improved living conditions, it is imperative that cocoa farmers make sure there is no form of child labour and child trafficking in their farming practices. Ms. Owusu-Gibson told a gathering at sensitization and capacity-building training in Kasoa on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, that "due to the various dimensions of poverty, Africa, has been caught in the dilemma of either keeping the child in school, enlisting them in skills acquisition or pushing them out onto the farms or onto the streets to work to fend for themselves and also help supplement family incomes. "Through this act, many children have become victims of various form of exploitation including human trafficking which is one of the worst forms of exploitation. In January 2022, Joy news released a documentary on children in cocoa labour. The documentary was disheartening and cast a spell on Ghana’s cocoa on the International market. "Despite all the interventions put in place by government and Civil Society Organizations to keep children from being exploited, some unscrupulous individuals continue to breach the laws and employing children on cocoa farms due to their need for cheap labour." To her, as a country, we cannot look on unconcerned as every act that negatively affects children, affect the economic fortunes of this country in the long-term. "We need to put measures in place to curb the phenomenon of seeing children as work hands in our farms, factories, offices, streets etc. The work of the Department of Cooperatives in registering, auditing inspecting, arbitrating and sensitizing cooperatives among others is very crucial to us in the fight against trafficking and child labour because, the cooperatives have the power to halt or curtail the engagement of unqualified hands, and the resulting consequences of exploitation and its many other ills. "This is the reason the Human Trafficking Secretariat under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in collaboration with Expertise France and the leadership of the Department of cooperative thought it prudent to organize this capacity building training and knowledge sharing encounter. The Ministry and its other stakeholders are not resting on their oars in continuing to carry out such interventions. "Let us always remember that, there can be no justifiable reason for engaging and endangering the lives of our children on our farms, factories, offices etc and especially in tasks that do not bring them any beneficial permanence. I believe that with your active participation, the specific objectives of this training would be achieved," Sena Owusu-Gibson stressed.