Although some farmers use their own children to help raise cocoa, many other farmers use children that they hire for very low pay, or who work as slaves in the field. However, Ghana has been delayed in monitoring up to 50 percent of its cocoa farms to certify that cocoa is not produced by unfair child labor practices. And despite recent efforts to stop the practice and to verify that cocoa is not produced using unfair labor practices involving children, the deadline for certifying cocoa...

Plump raisins by placing them in a bowl and covering them with boiling water. Allow raisins to sit for 5 minutes. Add to butter mixture alternately with water from the raisins. Bake 16-20 minutes or until cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. Drain water, saving 1 cup and set raisins and liquid aside. In mixing bowl, combine confestioners' sugar, butter or margarine and milk. Mix well and pour over warm cake and spread evenly. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Combine flour,...

Product labeling helps convince consumers that local products are fresher than imported offerings and are worth higher prices. Hawai'i's production of fresh fruits and vegetables has roughly doubled since the 1960s as farms have shifted away from plantation crops to staples such as tomatoes, bananas, cabbage and sweet potatoes. The drop in market share for local producers comes as farmers grapple with an array of challenges including urban encroachment, high land costs, stiffer...

This causes problems for the commercial fruit grower and can lead to the greater use of pesticides to control pests or even a failure to keep the fruit pest-free and marketable. Owners of backyard fruit trees and certain fruit-bearing ornamental trees should be "good neighbors" and make the effort to adequately control cherry fruit flies in cherries and codling moth in apples, crab apples, and pears. So what options do you have if you have a fruit tree with wormy fruit, but don't want to...

But even if prices are rising, most farmers in Ivory Coast are unable to cash in on the bull market. Adjust font size: NEW YORK (Reuters) -- An unusually harsh harmattan -- a seasonal cold, dry wind that carries clouds of dust from the Sahara -- was the first sign of trouble for West African cocoa farmers. Stiff competition between buyers for scarce beans as the October-March main crop limped to a close pushed farm gate prices in some areas over 500 CFA francs ($1. Ivory Coast cocoa...

But many children on cocoa farms don't get to school, some exchange their childhood for work, a roof over their head and a meal a day. Eight years since reports of child labour and slavery in Ivory Coast - the world's largest cocoa producer - first emerged, progress in eradicating child labour has been slow. In the time that has passed, war, cultural differences and the importance of cocoa revenues to West African economies have all served to obscure the debate. Now chocolate firms are...

Jammu and Kashmir is famous the world over for its quality apples but given its immense growth in three years strawberries just might 'upset the applecart' Shyam Singh a traditional wheat farmer switched to strawberry farming has helped his make double the money he invested. Three years ago, backed by the state horticulture department, he started strawberry farming across 36 kanals of land with an investment of Rs 20,000. Low temperatures and bright sunshine have attracted over 200 farmers...

He grows about 40 acres of fruit, including apples, strawberries and grapes. Some fruit is for sure damaged, but just how much remains to be determined. Bauman said his orchards total about acres. Diedrick said apple trees only need about 5 percent of their buds to produce a successful crop. Maurer said ideal April temperatures would be no lower than 40 degrees at night and in the 70s during the day, but that hasn"t been the case this month. When temperatures approach the freezing point,...

Forty-seven parties are fielding a total of 3,748 candidates for 111 national assembly seats -- although only a handful of parties have put up candidates nationwide.compaore has ruled the former French colony since he seized power in a 1987 coup and, like other rulers across West Africa, introduced multiparty politics under foreign pressure in the 1990s. Forty-seven parties are fielding a total of 3,748 candidates for 111 national assembly seats -- although only a handful of parties have...