Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

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How can agricultural policies and strategies help to end child labour in agriculture?

Dear Colleagues,

Today, approximately 71% of child labour, or 108 million children worldwide, is found in the agriculture sector. More than two thirds of all child labour is unpaid family work where children do not attend or fully benefit from compulsory schooling and many of the tasks they undertake in agriculture are hazardous.

Children living in rural areas often become involved, early on, in agricultural tasks which allows them to develop important skills, capacities, contribute to the family household as well as gain a sense of belonging to the community. Unfortunately, for numerous children, tasks that children perform are not limited to educational tasks but correspond to what is defined as child labour.

While child labour in agriculture takes place in a wide range of different circumstances and work situations, a large portion of child labour in agriculture can also be found in family farming, especially when household poverty persists, few livelihood alternative are available, family income remains low or is susceptible to shocks and there is poor access to education. Child labour perpetuates a cycle of poverty for the children involved, their families and communities, where they are likely to be the rural poor of tomorrow.

In July 2019, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2021 the ‘International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour’. This online consultation represents one of many activities that FAO will organize to observe the International Year and to contribute to the progress in achieving target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2025.

The online consultation will take place for a period of three weeks, from April 27 to May 25. Your comments and inputs will be instrumental to identify and document good and promising practices for which evidence-based research and replication could be explored. The results of the consultation will be widely promoted throughout the International Year and beyond.

A comprehensive multi-sectoral approach[1] is often needed to address child labour in agriculture. Below are some of the many areas that can help address the issue in the rural sector. The following questions are applicable to all agricultural sub-sectors (Crop production, Fisheries, Aquaculture, Livestock and Forestry). The mention of agricultural stakeholders includes, but is not limited to, agriculture-related ministries, agricultural extension agents and officers, agricultural producers’ organizations and cooperatives, workers’ organizations as well as farmers at community level. 

Guidance on input:

  • Please share case studies, experiences and information on the effectiveness of policies and strategies related to each question, how they are implemented and what challenges may remain.
  • Feel free to choose a question(s) where you can share the most relevant experience, input and expertise. There is no need to address all questions.
  • When you answer, please refer in the title of your contribution to the number of the question and related thematic areas you are contributing towards (e.g. “Question 1: food security and nutrition policies”, “example of a policy improving lives of fisherman and reducing child labour” etc.).
  • Please try to adopt as much as possible a gender lens when writing your contributions: (i) did the policy or strategy have (also) a focus on the role of women, (ii) did the policy or programme take into account the differences in tasks, hazards, ages of girls and boys in child labour?

Questions:

1) Hunger and Malnutrition

In some circumstances, children work to meet their food needs. How has child labour in agriculture been addressed through food security and nutrition policy and programming (such as school meals, school feeding programs, home grown gardens, etc.) and what has been the role of agriculture stakeholders in this process?

2) Climate change and environmental degradation

Climate change and environmental degradation can make agricultural work more intensive and income less predictable. This may lead to the engagement of children to meet labour demand and support vulnerabilities of their families. Where have agriculture stakeholders been involved in climate-related policy (deforestation, soil degradation, water scarcity, reduction of biodiversity)[2] or programmes and where this has been effective in addressing child labour?

3) Family farming

Child labour in family farming is particularly difficult to tackle when family farmers are the most impacted by poverty and vulnerability, and face high levels of economic, financial, social and environmental risks. Which agricultural policies and strategies related to family farming have led to a reduction of child labour in agriculture?

4) Innovation 

Agricultural work can be labour intensive, harsh and require additional workforce that is not always available or affordable. Which policies or programmes related to labour saving practices, mechanization, innovation and digitalization have led to the reduction of child labour in agriculture? What has been the role of agricultural stakeholders in this process?

5) Public and private investment

Where and how has public or private investment in the agriculture sector been sensitive to addressing child labour? What is the role of agriculture stakeholders in this process?

6) Attention to domestic supply chains

Eliminating child labour in global agricultural supply chains receives significantly more attention and funding than eliminating child labour in domestic and local supply chains, yet there is a wide consensus that more child labour is found in latter. Which kind of agricultural policies and strategies could help to address child labour in domestic and local agricultural supply chains? Are there any cases where gender inequalities in local and /or domestic supply chains have been assessed in linking its impacts on child labour?

7) Cross-sectoral policies and strategies

  • In many contexts, agricultural workers do not benefit from the same labour rights as other more formalized sectors. Where and how have agricultural stakeholders complemented labour law compliance in order to successfully improve working conditions for agricultural workers and through this helped reduce the vulnerability of households that engage in child labour?
  • In which circumstance have agricultural and education stakeholders come together to formulate and implement policies or programmes on addressing child labour in agriculture ensuring that children have access to affordable and quality education in rural areas? Has this process been successful and what are the main challenges?
  • Social protection in rural areas can be a mechanism to provide support to vulnerable households and address child labour in agriculture. Are there any examples of social protection schemes that address the vulnerabilities experienced by migrant agriculture labour, since children can be at particular risk (including multiple forms of exploitation) in these scenarios?

 

For more information on child labour in agriculture, please visit: www.fao.org/childlabouragriculture/en

We thank you for your valuable contribution,

Antonio Correa Do Prado

Director a.i., Social Polities and Rural Institutions

 

[1] See Statement of the African Regional Workshop of rural workers’ trade unions and small producers’ organizations to exchange experiences of “Organizing against child labour” 2017: www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_IPEC_PUB_29755/lang--en/index.htm

[2] For example, a typical task that young children undertake is in relation to water collection and irrigation which may include heavy lifting and impede their access to school.

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In Brazil, children and adolescents are engaged mainly in agriculture and livestock activities. In 1996 the federal government launched the Child Labor Eradication Program with the specific goal of eradicating child labor. It started in selected states, and focused on children living in rural areas and engaged in dangerous activities. Later on the program was expanded nationwide and to urban areas. This program provided monthly cash payments to families with children between the age of 7 and 14 and with a per capita income below half the minimum monthly wage. The conditions are an agreement to withdraw the child from work and to maintain them attending regular school and after-school program, named Jornada Ampliada. In Brazil children stay only four or five hours a day in school. Thus the after-school program should lead with the families difficulties to take care of the children while they are not at school providing support to study for school, as well as sports, culture, artistic and leisure activities.

The program should also address the promotion and social inclusion of the families through the adult’s participation in socio-educative activities and in projects of professional qualification and to generate employment and income. According to the Ministry of Social Development, in 2005, one million children were beneficiaries of the Child Labor Eradication Program, with the government budget reaching 220 million US dollars. In that same year the operational part of the Child Labor Eradication Program as well as its cash transfer component was merged into the Bolsa Familia Program (larger CCT program in the world). In 2006, the Child Labor Eradication Program was integrated with the Bolsa Familia adding to this program the conditionality of having no children working in the beneficiary family.

CCT programs are important instrument to combat child labor.

 

Yesterday ACHA (Action on Children’s Harmful Work in African Agriculture) published the first of a series of mini-essays in which development professionals  reflect on their own experiences of working as children. It can be found here: https://acha.global/research_papers/childhood-experiences-of-work-reflection-1-ghana/.

If you would like to share your childhood experiences of work please send a short narrative (under 1,000 words) to ACHA ([email protected]). Please keep these guidelines in mind: approach it however you like; write as little or as much as you like, in whatever form you like; try to put yourself back into your frame of mind as a child; use 18 years old as a rough cut-off age, and think about harm. All narratives that are published on the ACHA website will be anonymised.

Thank you in advance!

The Northeast region of Brazil has the highest number of coastal and estuarine fishers, both men and women. During the last 10 years, unfortunately with minors improvement, efforts had been directed to build institutional and community capacity for improving the livelihoods and well-being of women and families that depend on clam and oyster extraction. Fisherwomen bravely fish for clam and shellfish extraction in Pernambuco State’s bravery estuaries, located in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Wooden rowboats are used mainly for transportation to and from clam fishery areas. Children usually help their mothers by starting to fish from childhood. Bravely fishing seems to be a synonymous, at least an analogy, for many small-scale fishers worldwide. Whether, or not, the only option for a living, and livelihood, a decision to fish requires a heart choice, in a daily struggle for life.

Improved knowledge about these fisheries is strategically important for institutions to recognize and support the socioeconomic, employment, and ecological contributions of SSF, particularly in isolated fishing communities, through developing three interdependent fronts of action: 1) participatory fisheries management; 2) socio-educational initiatives focusing on gender mainstreaming and promoting empowerment of women in fisheries occupations; and 3) value chain upgrading and democratization focusing on the decent work agenda; and proposing sustainable use of estuarine and coastal fisheries resources; improvement at institutional levels in monitoring and control mechanisms of the value chain; improved educational status and professional training of fishers and fishworkers; increased capacity building for the development of technologies and innovations in the full spectrum of the SSF value chain; and implementation of decent work policies in the north-eastern Brazil small-scale fishing, especially among women engaged in estuarine clam and shellfish fisheries.

Recognition of the unequal power relationships between value chain stakeholders and that vulnerable and marginalized groups may require special support to enhance their participation in decision making processes are also key elements of an approach to clam and shellfish fishery development, in line with FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines for SSF in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication. Legitimate, democratic and representative structures, access to market opportunities and increased transparency and information-sharing in the SSF value chain are pivotal expected outcomes of this implementation strategy. The strategy also promotes socio-economic-cultural assessment of small-scale fishworkers; fostering dialogue and communication at all institutional levels; and enhancing qualification and managerial skills of technicians closely related with small-scale fishing communities.

As a former Fishery Agent from the Brazilian Government, I directly engaged for the implementation of an established fishery policy in Brazil aimed at Professional Qualification and Social Valorization since it is through the education and qualification of artisanal fishing peoples -  men, women, children, and workers in general - that we can move towards the elimination of historical inequalities related to the reality of these fishing people and the entire context that surrounds it. One step further was precisely to carry out systematic socio-educational activities on the fishing world for fishers’ sons and daughters, recognizing the importance of strengthening historical culture and, also, minimizing the participation of these children in daily fishing.

Sergio Mattos

Fishery Engineer

Tropical Ichthyology Marine Group - IMAT

Child Labors in the Agricultural Sector

“India lives in its Villages” Rural was the backbone of our country. Agriculture, with its allied sectors, is unquestionably the largest livelihood provider in India, more so in the vast rural areas. It also contributes a significant figure to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Agriculture is one of the most important sectors in India, labor shortage one of the biggest problems in farming activities. Now days having child labor in all sectors including the agriculture sector also.

UNICEF estimates that in India, the largest population, the number of workers under the age of 14 is the highest in the world. The International Labor Organization estimates that 60 percent of India's child labor is engaged in agriculture, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 70 percent are involved in child labor agriculture and related activities. Child labor in the agricultural sector due to the reason inadequate access to modern farming technology, small landholdings, and unavailability of workers, increased wages, and low profitability are the main reasons for increase child labor in farming.

In India, one side's labor shortage problem another side unemployment. In this fact, first of all, we need more research focusing on both unemployment and labor shortage because of research only will be finding the permanent solution for the above problem, secondly focusing on child labor in the agricultural sector through filed study such as case the study, field visit, group discussion and also using PRA method.

Research-based policy recommendations are only helpful to permanently stop child labor in the agriculture sector. My kind request, Food and agricultural organization (FAO) please supporting and contributing research based on the above facts.

Thanks and Regards

C.Thatchinamoorthy

Ph.D.Research Scholar

Department of Agricultural Extension

Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University

Annamalai Nagar – TN. India.

See the attachments:

Child Labour in Agriculture – Trade Issues

by Christian Häberli[1]

Child Labour is still frequent

According to ILO/IPEC, Agriculture, including livestock production, fishing and aquaculture, is by far the most important sector where child labour is found, accounting for 59 per cent of all those in child labour, and over 98 million children in absolute terms. Moreover, agriculture is one of the three most dangerous sectors in terms of work-related fatalities, non-fatal accidents, and occupational diseases.[2] However, arguably both social concerns and the economic impact may be less dramatic in agriculture than in manufacturing, mining and other hazardous employment, because it consists primarily of work on smallholder family farms. Yet, an 2011 Agricultural Household Model study in Uganda, India, Paraguay and other countries found that in the absence of efficient labour markets, land ownership and land reform programmes can actually increase child labour at the cost of schooling and/or leisure time.[3] The biggest social concerns arise in respect of workers migrating with their families, and refugees in famine-prone areas without adequate support. Also noteworthy is the fact that age and gender matter in a debate on the social impact of child labour.

Do Agricultural Exports Increase Child Labour?

Agricultural policies and strategies help to end child labour in agriculture must not stop at the border. Small farmer family production may seldom reach export markets. Nonetheless, children of landless and contract farmers may also produce cash crops. Plantation owners may employ forced labour, including children. Hence, market interdependence and global food security concerns call for action at all levels. This has become an issue for trade in commodities and food processed by children in many poor countries. Calls for measures against ‘socio-dumping’ have brought the discussion to the international trade agenda – so far with little results.

The WTO lacks binding ‘minimum’ social clauses, and it protects (developing) countries against discriminatory practices in the guise of alleged labour or environmental concerns. However, a new generation of economic treaties concluded by the USA and, albeit to a lesser degree by the EU, foresees consultations, litigation procedures and even sanctions aiming at the respect of social and environmental commitments in those treaties. However, with the exception of the dismissal of a US complaint in a trade agreement including Guatemala, there has been no judicial ruling under any trade agreement in respect of labour standard violations. Sanctions even for the most flagrant international labour standard violations have only been implemented through (threats of) preference suspensions or withdrawals in Bangladesh and Cambodia. Both trade behemoths, the USA and the EU, still seem to consider ‘nudging’ as the preferred course of redress for labour standards violations, even where litigation procedures with the possibility of sanctions are available, on the condition that such violations also distort trade.

Nonetheless, despite the absence of agricultural labour-related trade conflicts on record, the measures and procedures foreseen in economic treaties appear to show a new way for reducing child labour. The race to the bottom at times supposed to accompany globalisation and trade liberalisation can be stopped, where “red lines” are drawn clearly and not merely for the protection of producers in the importing countries. Commitments to respect the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of the ILO (1998), for instance in new trade agreements entered into by Vietnam, can even initiate a race to the top, and protect exporters against abusive claims of politicians, trade unions and civil society in importing countries. The deal is ‘market access guaranteed in exchange for products and services respecting labour clauses’ in those treaties. Together with a ‘neutral’ involvement of the ILO, multilaterally accepted and monitored standards would also allow for better and non-confrontational stakeholder interaction than child protection standards self-defined by trade hegemons.

Peremptory, enforceable child protection standards could thus find a new common enforcement basis in the more recent economic treaties, without the fear of free-riding by third countries benefiting from globalised trade without a bottom line.

Christian Häberli (PhD, Law), WTI Fellow

World Trade Institute, University of Bern (Switzerland)

Weblinks: http://www.wti.org / https://www.wti.org/institute/people/44/haberli-christian/

You can access my papers on SSRN at: http://ssrn.com/author=1380616

[1] Cf. Christian Häberli, An International Regulatory Framework for National Employment Policies. in 50(2) Journal of World Trade 167–192 (2016)

[3] Diego Angemi, Child Labour (2011): Insights from an Agricultural Household Model

 

 

English translation below

1)    La faim et la malnutrition 

Depuis quelques années les cantines scolaires ont été initiées par les gouvernements en vue de pouvoir satisfaire les couches les plus défavorisées et par la même occasion lutter contre la faim et la malnutrition. Au Togo ce programme a été adopté et couplé avec une assurance scolaire. Le programme a permis de satisfaire près de 60% des besoins quotidiens en termes d’alimentation des enfants. Dans le même temps, le taux de fréquentation scolaire a augmenté jusqu’à 9,4% comparé à 7% dans les zones non bénéficiaires ; l’inscription des filles a augmenté de 12,6% alors que ce taux est de 5,5% dans les écoles non bénéficiaires. « https://autogo.tg/togo-les-cantines-scolaires-renforcent-la-scolarisation-des-enfants »

Nous pouvons alors dire que ce programme permettra de réduire le travail des enfants dans les champs et aussi de soulager les parents sur le plan de dépenses financières pour nourrir leurs enfants.

Avec le temps ces acteurs se sont accommodés à la nouvelle manière et ont adopté alors d’autres stratégies. Parmi celles-ci, le travail les week end, les mercredis soir et le jours off. Ils font recours à des prêts pour pouvoir solliciter l’aide des métayers et d’autres assurer leur production.

Le programme prend t-il en compte les moins âgés et les élèves au secondaire ?

Pour éviter le cycle générationnel de malnutrition, il va falloir que ce programme vise à prendre en compte les moins âgés attendant l’âge règlementaire pour commencer les classes dans les milieux reculés. Ces enfants de moins de 6 ans pris en charge dans le programme de cantine, permettra aux parents de mieux se concentrer sur d’autres besoins.

Bien qu’il ait des écoles primaires qui se trouvent à quelques kilomètres des maisons, les écoles secondaires quant – a elles sont pour la plupart des cas dans les centres villes, cantons, ou préfectures. Ces enfants sont obligés de quitter les parents pour loger plus près des écoles. Cette situation augment largement les dépenses des parents qui à ce regard sont bien obligés de garder leurs enfants dans le village pour travailler les champs pour nourrir quelques-uns de leurs frères toujours scolarisés.

--

Adebayo A. DEPO

Ingénieur Agronome

Technologue Alimentaire

1) La faim et la malnutrition

In recent years, governments have introduced school canteens in order to satisfy the most disadvantaged groups of the population whilst combating hunger and malnutrition. This programme has been adopted in Togo and linked to a school insurance scheme. This programme has made it possible to meet nearly 60% of the children's daily food needs. Simultaneously, the school attendance rate increased to 9.4% compared to 7% in non-beneficiary areas; girls' enrolment increased by 12.6% compared to 5.5% in non-beneficiary schools. « https://autogo.tg/togo-les-cantines-scolaires-renforcent-la-scolarisati… »

We can therefore say that this program will reduce child labour in the fields and also relieve parents in terms of financial expenses to feed their children.

Over time these actors have come along with the new way and have adopted other strategies. These include work on weekends, Wednesday evenings and the day off. They resort to loans to seek the assistance of tenant farmers and others to ensure their production.

Does the program take into account younger children and high school students?

In order to avoid the generational cycle of malnutrition, this programme must take into account the youngest children below the statutory age for starting classes in remote areas. Including these children under 6 years of age in the canteen program will allow parents to better focus on other needs.

While there are primary schools only a few kilometres from the houses, secondary schools are mostly located in the city centres, cantons or prefectures. These children have to leave their parents to live closer to schools. This situation considerably increases the expenses of the parents, who are obliged to keep their children in the village to work in the fields to feed some of their brothers who are still in school.

--

Adebayo A. DEPO

Agronomist

Food Technologist

Dear Moderator,

Thanks for opening the discussion forum on child labor in agriculture.

My intervention is in the area of child labor involving children of migrant farm labors.

My experience in West Africa reveals that most international migrants farm labors move to destination with their children (mostly young boys). These Migrants take annual or production season duration contracts. The children of these migrants participate actively in executing the farm contracts and are also involved in personal labor hiring for both farm and off-farm activities in the rural areas.   

Best

Mure

English translation below

5/ Investissement public - restauration collective

Le commerce équitable est un des moyens pour limiter le travail des enfants, notamment dans les produits alimentaires. En France, une loi est parue récemment pour contraindre les acteurs de la restauration collective à communiquer sur les mesures mises en place dans leurs systèmes de restauration pour développer les produits alimentaires labellisés commerce équitable. Synthèse ici : https://www.optigede.ademe.fr/sites/default/files/decryptage_loi_egalim…

A Mouans-Sartoux, c'est un des critères de choix dans les marchés publics et les commandes alimentaires pour fournir les cantines des écoles scolaires (principalement chocolat, bananes, sucre, riz...), mais aussi lors de réceptions ou protocoles (boissons, apéritifs salés).

5/ Public investment - collective catering

Fair trade is one of the ways to limit child labour, especially in food products. In France, a bill has recently been issued to force the actors of the collective catering sector to communicate on the measures implemented in their catering systems to develop fair trade-labelled food products. Summary is available here https://www.optigede.ademe.fr/sites/default/files/decryptage_loi_egalim…

In Mouans-Sartoux, this is one of the criteria of selection in public contracts and food orders to supply school refectories (mainly chocolate, bananas, sugar, rice...), but also during receptions or protocols (drinks, salted appetizers).

In January the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and a group of partners launched a 7-year research programme called "Action on Children’s Harmful Work in African Agriculture" (ACHA) (https://acha.global/). Last week we published a working paper entitled "Understanding Children’s Harmful Work in African Agriculture: Points of Departure". It can be downloaded here: https://acha.global/research_papers/understanding-childrens-harmful-wor….

Jim Sumberg (IDS)