Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Child labour on Lake Volta, Ghana

Reference is made to questions 2 and 6, related to environmental degradation and domestic value chains. The Volta lake case study led to the conclusion that insufficient fisheries-management effort is made and that thus cheap child labour is required for food and nutrition security. Improved management could strengthen the domestic value chain considerably.

The dam in Ghana on the Volta River was completed in 1965. The reservoir filled up slowly and started to deliver the products it was meant for, hydropower and irrigation. A side product appeared to be fish and large quantities of fish were landed since the fishery established. Like in all African reservoirs the fisheries production increases in the first few years after impoundment and then starts levelling off, and eventually the number of fishers is too large for obtaining decent incomes from the catches. The master fishermen cannot longer afford adult assistants and resort to child labour. Children from remote provinces are “recruited” by specialized agents paying the parents a small sum of money. The young boys of 10 to 14 years of age are taken to the lake, where they have to assist their “masters” in fishing activities. Paddling, bailing water, setting and hauling the nets are not very dangerous activities. The nets, however, are set in between the old tree trunks that hardly reach the water surface. The nets may get entangled in the underwater branch of the tree stumps and then the boys have to dive underwater to remove the net from the obstacles. The boys do not use goggles or flippers and thus it happens that they get entangled in the nets and fail to timely reach the surface. ILO estimates the total number of children below 18 years of age in the lake fisheries at approximately 20,000. Interviews led to the conclusion that many children knew about other kids that drowned during the fishing operations; obviously not much attention is paid to such unfortunate events. The children receive some sort of payment for their labour, which is hardly sufficient to pay for shelter (often belonging to their masters) and for some food. Deals have been made that children should return to the shore on time for school, but often they are too tired and/or hungry to pay attention to the teachers. On top of that, they cannot pay the examination fees and thus they leave school without any certificates. The above reasoning indicates that child labour exists due to overexploitation of the fisheries resources. One of the solutions could be better managing the fishery through strengthened co-management so that catches per boat increase and older “assistants” can find employment in the fishery. Other elements in the fish supply or value chain can then also be improved, like the auctioning, processing and marketing of the fisheries products. In order to avoid post-harvest losses and to add value to fisheries products, the fish is smoked. Improved smoking techniques will contribute to safer products with a much longer shelf life.