COCOBOD steps up campaign against child labour

Achina (Ash), Aug. 18, GNA - The Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease Control Unit (CSSVD-CU) and the Quality Control Company of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) had stepped up campaign against worst forms of child labour in cocoa growing communities. As part of the measures, the two bodies had jointly held a rally to sensitize farmers at Achina in the Ahafo-Ano North District about the need for all stakeholders to act together to tackle the menace. Mr Thomas Ampem, the District Extension Coordinator, urged them to desist from engaging children in on-and-off-farm activities that were hazardous and unhelpful to their growth. Under no circumstance should they involve them in tree felling, bush burning and application of agro-chemicals. He asked the farmers to make sure that children were provided with protective clothes whenever they accompanied them to the farm. The District Social Welfare Officer, Mr Bismark Abeiku Nyarko, said it was unlawful to engage children in any work that was either harmful to their health or deprived them of their education and development.

He said poverty, single parenting and sheer ignorance could not be used as excuses by anybody to force children into doing things that were not permissible by the law.

Mr George Adusei, the District Quality Control Officer, urged the farmers to give premium to the education of their children and ensure that they were provided with all their basic needs. He said it was by doing this that they could be assured of better and secured future.