Group photograph of the participants and the facilitators
A-one-day round table forum on labour issues and human resource management associated with oil palm plantation and palm oil production in Ghana has been held in Accra with a clarion call on oil palm farmers to desist from the practice of using children to work on oil palm farms.
Mr Walter Atiako, Personal Assistant to the General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), who was also the facilitator for the forum, gave the caution in an interview with journalists at the opening of the workshop.
“Children are expected to go to school therefore it is illegal to allow them to go to the farms and work. That is cheap labour and we all need to crusade against that practice.
…Sometimes the children get tired after being used for that arduous task and they end up sleeping in class when they go to school,” Mr Atiako lamented.
He further hinted that plans are afoot by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to certify growers, millers, processors as well as other stakeholders along the supply chain to enable them to hit the international market.
“The certification by the RSPO has become necessary because the growers, millers, processors, farmers among others are targeting the international market therefore there is the need to certify them in order for them to operate within the required international standard.
The RSPO was established in 2003 to address bad practices in oil palm cultivation and palm oil production.
…Oil palm was seen first in the tropical areas of West Africa and has long been recognised in West African countries, and is widely used as cooking oil. Our target is to get to the international stage and show the world what we in the oil palm sector has got to offer,” Mr Atiako pointed out.
The forum brought together the major palm oil producers of Ghana that included the Ghana Oil Palm Development Company Limited (GOPDC Ltd.), TOPP and BOPP Ltd, growers, out-growers, millers, processors as well as the Ministry of Employment, the Ghana Employers Association, the Labour Commission and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), to discuss critical issues like labour since it was within the principles and criteria document for certification.
The event was sponsored by Solidaridad of the Netherlands, Chemico Limited and GOPDC Limited.
STORY: WILLIAM BEEKO
