Mr. Rossetto,

Is Tcho (i.e., are you) concerned about child labor in cacao production, or just child slavery?

If you are concerned about child labor, then how do you address consumers' reasonable concerns about the practice in cacao production in Ghana (whose cacao-producing regions in the western part of the country border cacao-producing regions in southeast Ivory Coast)? See this peer-reviewed journal article, for the latest information. And see the muted, but still troubling, report by the official Ghana Statistical Service. And then the 2002 IITA study.

There may be more child trafficking and slavery (i.e., forced labor without pay) in Ivory Coast than in Ghana. But, according to every study out there, child labor is common enough (and hazardous enough) in cacao production in Ghana to be of concern to the government of Ghana, the US Agency for International Development, the US Department of Labor, the International Labour Organization, the International Cocoa Organization, ethical chocolate manufacturers, and educated consumers.

So, Mr. Rossetto, are you aware of the problem of child labor in cacao production in Ghana? If so, are you at all troubled by it? And, if so, what assurances can you give your customers that their chocolate wasn't obtained from plantations where children clear land, spread pesticides, crack open pods with machetes, and so on?

Heigh