Recent declines in world cocoa prices are likely to place additional pressure on already financially-constrained smallholder cocoa farmers in West Africa if they result in sustained lower farm-gate prices paid to farmers. Several studies indicate that the majority of cocoa farmers live in extreme poverty, earning a per capita daily cocoa income of between $0.40-1.60. Any further lowering of farmer incomes as a result of declining cocoa prices could exacerbate the risk of child labour for a number of reasons.
