Identified in early 2021 along with several other major chocolate manufacturers as using child labour in Côte d’Ivoire (c.f. article No.12367), Nestlé, the Swiss transnational food and beverge firm unveiled a plan at the end of January to step-up ‘its long-standing efforts to tackle the risks associated with child labour in cocoa production.’ Starting this year, Nestlé will launch a financial aid program, initially piloting the program across 10,000 families in Côte d’Ivoire, before, following an independent evaluation, extending it to a further 160,000 families. Financial incentive payments will target support for schooling children aged 6 to 16, promoting good agricultural practices such as pruning, encouraging agroforestry activities, and helping diversify income through growing other crops or raising livestock. These incentives will amount to CHF500 (€477) per family per year for the first two years, which will then be reduced to CHF250 (€238) as the incomes of cocoa-producing families start to increase. Payments will be made via a secure mobile money service transfer and will be split equally between the male and female heads of the household, in order to ‘encourage gender equality,’ the company explains. More broadly, Nestlé intends to completely reform its cocoa sourcing to achieve ‘full traceability’ along its supply chain within five years. According to the company, this is ‘essential’ to combat child labour and contribute to ‘a just transition.’
