Nestlé has paid attention to the problem of child labor in cocoa-growing areas in Côte d’Ivoire and wants to prevent it by raising awareness in communities. This is a response to a report on the company’s cocoa supply chain in the West African country by the Fair Labor Association (FLA). Nestlé has developed an action plan to deal with the problem.

Photo: farmers gathering cocoa, from Nestlé photostream on Flickr

“The use of child labour in our cocoa supply chain goes against everything we stand for. As the FLA report makes clear, no company sourcing cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire can guarantee that it doesn’t happen, but what we can say is that tackling child labour is a top priority for our company,” said José Lopez, Nestlé’s Executive Vice President for Operations.

The FLA experts found that child labor is caused by poverty and the socio-economic situation of the farmers and their families. Nestlé does not have its own farms in Côte d’Ivoire but is “well positioned” to influence the situation positively due to the volume of cocoa beans it procures, the FLA says.

To help solving the problem of child labor, Nestlé will work more closely with its suppliers to ensure they receive special training on how to address child labor problem. Together with its partner, the International Cocoa Initiative, the company’s management inCôte d’Ivoire will prevent the new child labor initiatives. The initiative will be implemented in 40 communities covered by 2 co-operatives of cocoa farms during this year’s cocoa harvest. The company plans to include 30 more co-operatives by 2016, involving around 600 communities. The effectiveness of this model will be evaluated by the FLA over the next three years.

More than 6,000 cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire have received training in 2012 as part of the Nestlé Cocoa Plan and by 2015 Nestlé aims to train a further 24,000 farmers in the country.

Currently, the company is participating in the ‘Science Express’ initiative, which educates Indian students about climate change.