Stakeholders represented by the National Focal institutions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Multinational Enterprises (MNE) Declaration, including the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), and Labour Department and Workers Union have called for the formalization of the agric sector to help end child labour.
The stakeholder groups observed that the largely informal nature of the agriculture sector, which is a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) creates a huge bottleneck to tackling child labour and other issues pertaining to decent work.
The stakeholders Identified absence of formal wage structure in the primary value chain, ineffective policing of farming activities due to logistical constraints and the lack of interest in the sector to ensure compliance with decent work goals as contributors to child labour issues.
At an NME national dialogue on promoting sustainable responsible and inclusive business practices in Ghanaian industries, Ms Priscilla Bioh, a Research Officer at GIPC, noted that most of the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) are geared towards the agricultural sector as compared to services and manufacturing.
“However, if you check the number of projects that are registered in the agricultural sector compared to the manufacturing and services, you will realise that other sectors have more projects that are extensive and capital intensive than agriculture.”
Ms Priscilla Bioh
Ms Priscilla Bioh opined that most MNE in the agriculture sector are inclined to export trading, agro-processing.
“When an MNE is directly involved in the agriculture sector, then they are partnering with local farmers or partners. And if you find a local farmer you source raw materials from, you sometimes might be tempted not to check the kind of labourers they use.”
Ms Priscilla Bioh
Issues of Child Labour
Mr Dawuda Braimah, Acting Chief Labour Officer of the Labour Department, said issues of child labour tended to go beyond the operations of MNEs who sourced their raw materials from farmers who operated informally.
The Informal nature of the sector, Mr Dawuda Braimah said, made policing of farmers to adhere to decent work parameters very challenging due to financial and logistic constraints.
Mr Dawuda Braimah, moreover, noted that MNE’s over the years, his outfit has been partnering key institutions to build capacity of inspectorates to reach out and educate farmers on the relevance of promoting decent work.
According to the ILO, decent work is productive work for men and women in condition of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.
Mr Kinsley Laar, an economist from the GEA, on his part, said the country must be interested in the challenges and opportunities that NME faced as they formed about 60 per cent of key economic activities.
Mr Kinsley Laar noted that most NME’s dealt with incoherent labour laws in host countries and cultural barriers that inhibited their desire to implement cross-national policies. He thus said, “there are times their actions are actually misinterpreted and cause some form of conflict”.
Meanwhile, the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy also known as the MNE Declaration is an ILO political statement that is not subject to ratification or to a formal adherence process by a member state.
The statement, adopted by governments, employers and workers serves as guidelines/orientations based on the ILO foundational texts and relevant Conventions and Recommendations that reflect good work practices for all.
It Is also intended to avoid introducing or maintaining inequalities of treatment between multinational and national enterprises while encouraging positive contribution to economic and social progress.
The principle covers five areas – employment, general policies, training, conditions of work and life and industrial relations.
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