These labourers are frequently youths of 14 or 15 with no previous experience of work or conditions in the south, who leave their homes without the knowledge or consent of their parents. In some cases written agreements are made but in most cases it is only verbal. Labourers go of their own free will but in many cases they are deceived as to their destination and nature of the work. The system is open to grave abuse and there is already evidence of an undesirable type of recruiter in some of the larger towns. There is little doubt that the terms of whatever contract are frequently not observed by the employers who take advantage of the ingenuousness of the labourers (VanHear, 1982: 502) - 1930s, Ghana, extract from a colonial report on child labour on cocoa farms. © 2007 IOM.

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Theobroma cacao labor migration rural area Africa Sub-Saharan Africa child labor West Africa Burkina Faso trafficking