The first allegation that child slavery was used to produce cocoa appeared in 1998. In 2017, approximately 2.1 million children in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire were involved in cocoa harvesting, carrying heavy loads, logging forests, and being exposed to pesticides.
In 2018, a 3-year pilot program was announced by Nestle with 26.000 farmers located mainly in Côte d'Ivoire, which resulted in a 51 percent reduction in the number of children engaged in hazardous work in cocoa farming.
