Tainted Chocolate? A Systemic Review of the Cocoa Industry in Ghana and Brazil

This Chapter is a desk-top review of publicly available documents on the regulatory regimes adopted by Ghana, a world producer of cocoa from the African continent and Brazil, which ranks among the top ten world cocoa producers from South America. The reason for a comparative study between these two countries is to learn the similarities and differences in the regulatory regime adopted to minimise child slavery in cocoa plantations. The finding of this study reveals non-surprisingly that the core reason for child slavery is premised on poverty. The general observation that can be made is that enforcement of laws and regulations concerning children in the worst form of labour is more effective in Brazil than in Ghana. However, more data is needed to ensure a conclusive result. The finding of this research may need to be corroborated by future primary study projects where empirical data is collected and analysed.