IFAD and other international organizations will observe the World Day Against Child Labour on 12 June 2007. This year’s event focuses on the elimination of child labour in agriculture, especially the most hazardous types of work.

The largest number of working children worldwide is found in the agricultural sector. More than 150 million girls and boys under the age of 18 play important roles in crop, livestock and food production. Children often start working in agriculture at early ages, as young as 5 years. When children have to work long hours in the fields, their ability to attend school or skills training is limited, preventing them from acquiring an education that could help lift them out of poverty in the future. Girls are particularly disadvantaged as they tend to undertake household chores in addition to working in the fields.

Not all work that children undertake in agriculture is bad for them or qualifies as work that needs to be eliminated. Indeed, many types of work experience for children can be positive, providing them with practical and social skills for work as adults. Improved self-confidence, self-esteem and work skills are attributes often found in young people engaged in some aspects of farm work.

But agriculture work that harms children’s well-being and hinders their development must be stopped. Children are rarely recognized in official labour statistics so the real extent of their work often goes unnoticed by policymakers. Moreover, agriculture tends to be an under-regulated sector in many countries, meaning that labour laws – even child labour laws, if they exist – are often less stringent than for other types of work.

IFAD and other international organizations working in agriculture have a responsibility to highlight the problems of child labour at the global, regional and national levels and to use their close contacts within governments, civil society and research institutions to ensure that action is taken. Last September, IFAD jointly hosted the second Consultation on the Development of Policy Coherence on Elimination of Child Labour in Agriculture, in Rome with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The consultation further explored how the elimination of child labour can be mainstreamed into ongoing initiatives supported by agricultural organizations.

Child labour is both a cause and an effect of poverty. IFAD works to break this cycle by improving poor rural people’s access to the resources they need to increase their incomes. When poor rural households achieve higher incomes, they are less likely to send their children to work and more likely to pay for school fees. By supporting value-added production through improved agricultural technology, children are also less likely to be needed for low-skilled and hazardous labour.

IFAD’s focus on women and their economic empowerment is another way to help eliminate child labour. The amount of influence women have over household decisions has been shown to positively impact the nutrition, health care and education of their children. Increasing employment opportunities for rural youth – people between the ages of 15 and 24 – can also encourage poor families to send their young children to school to prepare for the near future.

As more attention and resources are allocated to rural development, child labour in agriculture will certainly decrease. IFAD is committed to working with other organizations and governments to ensure that the conditions that create the need for child labour in agriculture are eliminated.