المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

أسهم هذا العضو في:

    • ENDING CHILD LABOR IN AGRICULTURE WITH THE HELP OF AGRICULTURAL STAKEHOLDERS

      Labor is an inseparable component of agriculture. Every stage; subsistent or commercial requires the service of a man. 

      Who is “a child”?  Legal definition, according to the National Welfare Policy of 1989 defines a child as anybody who is twelve years (12) or below

      Wikipedia presents age-related development periods and intervals as follows: Newborn (ages 0-4 weeks); Infants (ages 4 weeks-1year); Toddlers (ages 12 months -24 months); Prescholars (ages 2-5 years); School aged (ages 6-13 years) and Adolescents (ages 14-19 years).

      Article 1 of the convention on the rights of the child by WHO, 1989 defines “A child” as human being below the age of eighteen (18) years.

      The United Nations Convention of on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) also corroborates by defining a child as everyone under the age of eighteen (18).

      From the foregoing, it can be said that anyone from age eighteen (18) and below is “A Child”. Therefore, involving any of such categories in farm activities as labor violates the right of a child.

      Why do people engage children as labor in agriculture?  Historically, family used to be the primary source of farm labor in Africa; and success of many farmers was often determined by the number of family members participating in planting, harvesting, packing and sales of produce irrespective of age. Farmers in some Western parts of Africa raised many children basically for that purpose. Feeding was never a problem.

      They did this probably to reduce cost and increase production and these are my own perspectives. Ending child labor totally in agriculture may not be realistic across board as long as the reasons for which it happens still persist.  Considering the current global crises, economic meltdown and the impact of the dreaded Covid 19 pandemic, it may be exaggerating to completely eradicate child involvement in agriculture across board for obvious reasons.

      However, Stakeholder’s recognition of the rights of a child and the need to protect it adequately would be prestigious. Also, policies that will reduce poverty among farmers and enable then do more without the need of childs’ involvement are required from government all level. 

      It is also important to make agricultural practices “SMART” through digitalization of labor-dependent operations such as: picking, sorting, lifting, and cleaning among others especially those into which minors are employed.

       Quality and affordable education for children, insurance for farmers, security of life, property and safety, development of smart technology for production, processing and storage as well as local content assurance would go  long way mitigating child labor and    provision of good primary  health care facilities for the vulnerables should be prioritized by policy makers.

      I started accompanying my late parents who were low income earners to farm since the age of ten. It was tedious but I had no choice. I decided to do it in a better way when I grow up and chose to study agriculture at the University. Experiences of twenty years as farming professional have shown that every participant in agriculture is vulnerable to abuse and their rights have to be adequately protected.

      Thank you!

      Lawal, Musibau Olajire

      Nigeria

    • Pulses have to contend with several alternatives such as meat, eggs, and other aniimal sources when importance is narrowed down to being sources of protein and amino acid. Of couse this could only be "true" should it not posses alter nutritional attributes. Moreover, experience in West Africa especially Nigeria, my country is different where some are given more preference than others. Only cowpea is is more recognized domestically than others, Soybean, probably for industrial use while consumers have no awareness about others. To enhance consumption, awareness must be created about others as so was the case of soybean by IITA, Nigeria since 1980s. This have to be followed by value-addition and possibly replacing some wih egg albumin in confectionaries and the likes.

      In places where not consumed, create awareness through orientation projects, empower farmers with inputs to encourage production and launch campaign. For those already having it diet, research into breeding for high yield, pest and disease resistance are "key" as well as empowering farmers.

      In view of comparison with others in respect of cropping systems, there may be differences in opinion. If soil fertility improvement is the focus, pulses are better for nitrogen fixation, errosion management etc. This may not be so when considering monetary returns comparatively with some common vegetables. However, there must be one comparative advantage or the other on both sides.

      I recently personally commenced cropping systems that comprise soybean and three common Nigerian vegetables in intercrop with plantain in this regard.

      To strenghten the value-chain, rolles of middlemen has to be checkmated to make price more consumer-friendly in some cases as it is in Nigeria where by virtue of high consumption rates of cowpea, price in recent time have doubled within three months (June -Sept.) owing to economic recession and other socio-economic reasons.

      I witnessed the national advocacy for soybean when first introduced to Nigeria. People learned to prepare soymilk, soup, Iru (Local season) and the rest. It latter advanced to use in complementary foods etc. but I currently have no idea of any country doing such nowadays even Nigeria. This is not too good for global benefits.