Points of View
Children in Agriculture
From tending sheep or harvesting crops to handling machinery or holding flags to guide planes spraying pesticides, children working in agriculture represent over two-thirds of the total number of working children. In regions where poverty is prevalent, the incidence of child labour is high and is more likely to involve children in hazardous or exploitative activities. However, farming is a way of life for many rural communities in developing countries and children are often involved in particular activities from a very young age.
What are the options for children that are forced to work? What contribution do their activities make to the household and to their lives in the future? What rights do they have and how should they be involved in legislation to protect them?
Defining child labour is difficult...the type of work undertaken by children
also varies greatly. Some work can help a child socialise, build self
esteem and develop skills. The income they bring home is often essential
to family subsistence, and arguably, the immediate alternative to work
- of increased poverty and malnutrition - is worse. However, working long
hours, particularly in cramped, unhealthy and even hazardous conditions,
threatens children's health and intellectual development.
Helping not hurting children, an alternative approach to child labour,
DFID Issues
Children are the most obvious victims of poorly regulated labour markets.
According to UNICEF, one in four children in the developing world is working.
Despite the publicity in recent years concerning child labour in export
industries, such as textiles and footwear, most child labour takes place
in the household or on family land. In India, estimates of the number
of child labourers vary widely, depending partly on age samples and definitions.
But a figure of 80 million children of school age is probably realistic.
The majority of these children live in rural areas, reflecting high poverty
levels and poor or non-existent education provision in village India.
Social Investment and Economic Growth, by Patrick Watt, published by
Oxfam
The largest proportion of child workers is in economic activities and
occupations related to agriculture. Although the average proportion of
children in agricultural activities and occupations is 70 to 74 per cent,
it can be as high as 90 to 95 per cent in some countries. The percentage
of girls in such activities is higher than that of boys...participation
rate of children in economic activity are on average twice as high in
rural communities as in urban centres. In addition, rural children, particularly
girls, tend to begin economic activity at an early age - up to 20% under
the age of 10 years.
Facts and figures on child labour, International Labour Organization,
1999
Most child workers actually work in what is called the informal sector
- selling things on the street, doing farm work or hidden away in houses
carrying out domestic chores. They are beyond the reach of official labour
inspectors and do not attract the attention of newspaper and television
journalists. We must not forget the tens of millions of children all around
the world who work, not in factories producing goods for export, but on
the street, on the farm and at home. They have to put up with many hazards
and dangers and are often taken advantage of, abused or exploited.
UNICEF website
Occupational health and safety experts consider agriculture to be among
the most dangerous of occupations. Climatic exposure, work that is too
heavy for young bodies, and accidents such as cuts from sharpened tools
are some of the hazards children face. Modern agricultural methods bring
further hazards in their wake: use of toxic chemicals and motorized equipment,
usually without the benefit of training or safety precautions. While generally
found only larger agricultural enterprises, small family farms also increasingly
make use of such methods... exposure to pesticides poses a considerably
higher risk to children than adults and has been linked to an increased
risk of cancer, neuropathy and immune system abnormalities. Exposure to
organic dusts is also widespread in farms and plantations.
Child labour in agriculture, International Labour Organization, 1999
Though household poverty and poor education are root causes of child
labour, the phenomenon also depends on adults - either employers or parents
- prepared to exploit children and benefit from their labour.
Social Investment and Economic Growth, by Patrick Watt, published by
Oxfam
Many children feel that stepping into the workforce at an early age provides
them with a better chance for survival. They still question the value
of education. They see schools as institutions for containment, not education.
Standards of teaching and facilities often leave much to be desired. This
raises the fundamental question of the elimination of child labour. What
kind of security needs to be provided to children so that they perceive
education and childhood as being important?
K.R Mangala Kannan and Lakshmi Vikraman, CEDAR writing in Landmark,
Jan/Feb 2000
In agricultural communities, particularly in Nepal and Pakistan, some
families are trapped in debt bondage to their employer. It is not uncommon
for families to use a child's labour to secure a loan from an employer,
or to sell the child for a lump sum.
Helping not hurting children, an alternative approach to child labour,
DFID Issues
Children's contribution to development goes unrecognised. Children are
seen as providing a silent and obedient labour force.
Footsteps, March 1999 published by Tearfund
AIDS has created hundreds of thousands of orphans in Africa, and will
create many more as its impact is felt beyond Africa, in India and China
in the coming decades. In each place that its social and economic impacts
are experienced a certain burden will fall on children - a burden of work,
which goes beyond what is normal in their society and culture.
Professor Tony Barnett, School of Development Studies, UEA, writing
in Landmark, Jan/Feb 2000
With the spread of AIDS it is expected that the numbers of orphans will
increase and the shortage of money for food, clothing and education will
become more acute. In the circumstances, a legalistic approach to preventing
child labour is unlikely to work. Broader approaches based on the principles
of development, social security and community involvement must be adopted.
David Steele, Ethical Trading Initiative, writing in Landmark, Jan/Feb
2000
Protective legislation is limited in agriculture. In many countries,
the places where children work are excluded as family undertakings or
work in agriculture is excluded altogether from legal protection. Even
when there is legal protection, enforcement of child labour legislation
is difficult, given the geographically dispersed nature of the agriculture
industry.
Child labour in agriculture, International Labour Organization, 1999
To be successful, measures to tackle child labour must generate sustainable
income replacement and/or provide alternatives to work. Indeed, the most
sustainable outcomes may involve allowing children to work, but controlling
their conditions and hours and linking work to high quality education.
Helping not hurting children, an alternative approach to child labour,
DFID Issues
Education is an important component in the prevention of child labour
but it is misleading to promote it as a straightforward alternative to
child labour. Whilst access to education is important the emphasis must
be on quality and in some cases community awareness work may need to be
done to promote the value of education. Even freely provided and appropriate
education has a cost - clothing, pencils etc need to be provided by the
family, not to mention the opportunity cost to that family of the child
not working.
Save the Children Briefing Paper: Eliminating the worst forms of child
labour - what needs to be done? May 1998
The major determinant of child labour is poverty. Even
though children are paid less than adults, whatever income they earn is
of benefit to poor families. In addition to poverty, the lack of adequate
and accessible sources of credit forces poor parents to engage their children
in the harsher form of child labour - bonded child labour. Some parents
also feel that a formal education is not beneficial, and that children
learn work skills through labour at a young age. These views are narrow
and do not take the long term developmental benefits of education into
account. Another determinant is access to education. In some areas, education
is not affordable, or is found to be inadequate. With no other alternatives,
children spend their time working.
Child Labour in India: Causes, Governmental Policies and the role of
Education by Mitesh
Badiwala
In every country, rich and poor, it is the nature and conditions of children's
work which determines whether or not they are exploited - not the plain
fact of their working.....work for a few hours a day that contributes
to the family's well-being - whether by performing domestic duties or
helping in the family fields - is more likely to foster a child's development
than to damage it.
Keynote on child labour, New Internationalist, July 1997
In many regions the surplus of cheap child labour has depressed the already
inadequate adult wage to the point where a parent and child together now
earn less than the parent alone earned a year ago. As long as children
are put to work, poverty will spread and standards of living will continue
to decline.
Child Labour in Pakistan by Jonathan Silvers
