Is cocoa production a main driver of child labor in Ghana? by Goedele Van den Broeck

Louvain-La-Neuve

March 30, 2023

13 h

Salle rivière B001

Child labor is considered to be a major concern among cocoa farm households. Studies have extensively documented the prevalence of child labor in the sector and evaluated how cocoa supply chains and farm household livelihoods shape child labor. Yet, the question to what extent cocoa production is a main driver of child labor has not been covered. This is important to study as well to avoid that initiatives that solely target the cocoa sector might transpose child labor to other sectors. Using data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey 2017, we estimate how cocoa production influences the probability of child labor. We specify child labor in different ways, accounting for the various activities children may be involved in. To reduce potential bias from unobserved heterogeneity, we use instrumental variable models and coefficient stability approaches. We find that cocoa production increases some types of child labor, especially for older children. The effect of cocoa farm size is positive but decreasing for child work in agriculture, suggesting an inversed U-shape relationship, which is linked to a positive income effect and a negative labor effect. Other livelihood strategies, however, are more important drivers of child labor, such as livestock ownership.