OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ON GHANAIAN COCOA FARMS BASELINE REPORT
Cocoa farming is a hazardous occupation, just like many other types of farming. A general lack of quality data on occupational safety and health (OSH) issues in cocoa farming means the issue is under-exposed, making it difficult to estimate its socioeconomic impact and to plan interventions. OSH issues in Africa’s agriculture in general, and in cocoa farming in particular, have received little research attention except for those of child labor and irresponsible pesticide use. With this report IITA/STCP seeks to provide broad baseline information on OSH issues in the cocoa sector in Ghana, based on both a quantitative survey and supplementary qualitative research techniques.
The survey focused on a sample of 420 adult cocoa farmers in four major cocoa producing regions of Ghana, using a multistage random sampling design. The survey questionnaire design – in the absence of existing formats for OSH surveys in developing countries – has been built on the basis of the IITA/STCP training manual on OSH for cocoa farmers, and on qualitative data coming out of semi-structured expert interviews a nd focus group discussions with farmers. The information and insight coming from those exchanges also served to put the survey results into context. An innovative mobile research tool was used to collect data and monitor the field work in real-time. It allowed for enumerator friendly skip-logic, the elimina tion of a data-entry phase, and the use of many open-ended questions where otherwise the use of a complicated paper questionnaire would have been needed. Much effort was put into distinguishing cocoa farm work from farm work for other crops.
Area of focus: Cocoa
Organisation/institution: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)