Cote D Ivoire Poverty

Cote d 'Ivoire is a country in Western Africa whose economy is largely market-based and is mostly dependent on agricultural and other related activities, contributing to 35% of the country’s GDP and almost two thirds of its export revenues. (World Atlas, 2016). It is one of the largest producers and exporters of cocoa, coffee and palm oil. (UNICEF, 2006). In Cote d’Ivoire, many farmers are devoted to growing these crops that is profitable for governments and traders. However, this causes the wages for the farmers who produce it to be below-poverty levels. They are unable to hire the labour needed, and resort to child trafficking and the use of child labour. In Cote d’Ivoire, child labour can be found in the cocoa, tea and tobacco industry,

Over the years, the demand for cheap cocoa has grown. In Cote d’Ivoire, 46.3% of the population live below the national poverty line. (The World Bank, 2015). Cocoa farmers earn an income of less than $2 a day, which is below the poverty line. (Borgen Project, 2015). Thus, in order to keep their prices competitive, the cocoa industry often turn to the use of child labor. The children of Western Africa also face intense poverty. Although many trafficked children come from countries such as Burkina Faso and Togo, most of them come from Mali. Having a GDP of $850 per capita, Mali is among the poorest countries in the world. (Samlanchith, 2002). Therefore, people often go to Cote d 'Ivoire to find jobs to support their families, many of which believed the traffickers that they would be paid well on the cocoa

Without an education, the children of the cocoa farms are unable to break the cycle of poverty. Based on Brookings Center for Universal Education (CUE), an approximate of 61 million African children will not be able to acquire the basic literacy and numeracy skills when reaching adolescence. (Watkins, K., 2013). Thus, this lack of education causes them to be unable to break the cycle of poverty. In Cote d’Ivoire, 46.3% of the population live below the national poverty line. (The World Bank, 2015). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Ivory Coast was worth 31.75 billion US dollars in 2015, representing 0.05 percent of the world economy. (Trading Economics, 2015). However, the annual GDP growth rate has been unstable, with a -4.4% growth in 2010. Therefore, with the deprivation of education, this problem of poverty will persist in the country, causing a vicious cycle of poverty and impeding the growth in the country’s economic