Malian migrants have long worked on cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire,[31] but in 2000 cocoa prices had dropped to a 10-year low and some farmers stopped paying their employees.[31] The Malian counsel had to rescue boys who had not been paid for five years and who were beaten if they tried to run away.[31] Malian officials believed that 15,000 children, some as young as 11 years old, were working in Côte d'Ivoire in 2001.[21] These children were often from poor families or the slums and were sold for "just a few dollars" to work in other countries.[21] Parents were told the children would find work and send money home, but once the children left home, they often worked in conditions resembling slavery.[2] In other cases, children begging for food were lured from bus stations and sold as slaves.[32]