Here’s why most farmers use children as labourers

Employing a minor to work on your farm is a crime – Head of human trafficking

Farmers are abreast of the law on human trafficking, Abena Annobea Asare

Poverty one of the major causes of human trafficking, Report

In Ghana, most farmers are seen with underage children working as labourers to help them go about their daily farming activities.

Though the act is against the law and clearly stated, it is a crime for farmers to use children as labourers yet these farmers overlook it for their selfish gains.

Head of Human Trafficking at the Gender and Social Protection Ministry, Abena Annobea Asare, has disclosed that the reason these farmers breach the law to employ these children is that they are seen as cheap labour.

She however wondered why farmers do not use their own children as labourers but rather send theirs to school to acquire education.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express programme, Abena Annobea Asare, “As we move on with various interventions and issues we’ve realized that yes, as you can see in the documentary, most of the farmers know that using children is a crime, but because they wanted cheap labour, they intended to use the kids.”

“When you investigate, you realize that they never use their own children, they went for other children to use them. And so they know the importance of education but decided to deny others this education,” she added.

She noted that poverty is one of the leading causes of child trafficking in the country.

Her comments come on the back of JoyNews’ Hotline documentary that shows how traffickers hire underage children to work for them and are given a total of GH¢800 as their yearly income.