Consumption without child labor:
Nuts, spices, fruits, juices
Worldwide, almost 70 percent of child laborers work in agriculture. Most of them help on their parents' farms, tending animals or assisting with the harvest. Approximately ten percent of child laborers toil for export, on plantations and farms that produce for the global market. Hardly any fruit, vegetable, spice, or grain is not grown and harvested by children.
In Turkey, for example, children work in the cultivation and harvesting of cotton, hazelnuts, citrus fruits, sugar beets, cumin, peanuts, lentils, apricots, melons, and cherries, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In the U.S., according to the private National Farm Workers Ministry, between 500,000 and 800,000 children work in agriculture. Precise figures are unavailable, and Human Rights Watch criticizes legal loopholes that allow children as young as 12 to work full-time on farms.
Child labor in agriculture is often difficult and dangerous, as children carry heavy loads, have to climb shaky ladders, use sharp machetes or knives, and work from sunrise to sunset, thus for far too long. They are also frequently exposed to toxic substances such as pesticides and fungicides. In the USA, there are approximately 4,700 child labor accidents in agriculture , some of which are fatal.
Seventy-five percent of the world's hazelnuts are grown in Turkey. During the harvest season between August and September, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers pick the nuts. According to the certification organization Rainforest Alliance, 40 percent of the harvesters are between 15 and 18 years old, and ten percent are younger than 14. In total, around 200,000 children and young people work in the hazelnut harvest. They often travel to the harvest with their parents. Many of them are Kurds from the impoverished east of Turkey, or refugees from Syria or Iraq. Harvesting nuts is hard labor and therefore prohibited for minors in Turkey.
Children work harvesting oranges in Brazil, the world's largest orange producer. They are also frequently employed on banana plantations. Because jobs are scarce and people are poor, most pickers work for starvation wages and on piecework. Often, entire families move from harvest to harvest. In total, about half of Brazil's 998,000 child laborers work in agriculture, cultivating and harvesting açaí, bananas, citrus fruits, cocoa, coffee, corn, cotton, cassava, yerba mate, pineapples, rice, sisal, soy, sugarcane, and tobacco. Child labor on banana and orange plantations is among the worst forms of child labor. The work is too strenuous for children and is sometimes dangerous and hazardous to their health because they come into contact with toxic substances (pesticides). The worst forms of child labor are prohibited in every country in the world.
The market price for spices often doesn't even cover production costs. Child labor has been documented .
- Cumin in Turkey
- Chili peppers in Mexico and India
- Garlic from Argentina
- Sesame from Paraguay
- Vanilla from Madagascar and Uganda
Further human rights risks and environmental impacts
Adult farm and harvest workers often work excessive overtime, are paid far below the minimum wage, and receive no social security, such as health or accident insurance. This is one of the reasons why parents bring their children into the work: together they harvest more and thus earn a little more money. Harvest workers are often migrant workers and are not registered at their place of work. As a result, farmers and their communities do not feel responsible for, for example, healthcare or childcare. The harvest workers often live in makeshift tents without clean drinking water or sanitation, and without any childcare or educational opportunities. The use of pesticides in the cultivation of spices and fruits is particularly harmful to the farm workers, who are exposed to various toxins day after day, often without realizing it.
Agriculture is a major driver of global biodiversity loss and is responsible for about one-third of total greenhouse gas emissions. Unsustainable intensive agriculture, factory farming, and the conversion of forest into arable land (for example, for the cultivation of soy and palm oil) lead to massive ecological damage.
You can pay attention to this when shopping:
Fair trade products
Fair Trade offers bananas, spices, nuts, dried fruits, juices and smoothies, wine, and flowers. It supports small-scale farmers and plantations that adhere to fundamental labor rights, such as the prohibition of exploitative child labor. Unlike social labels, Fair Trade pays higher prices for agricultural products: small-scale farmers and plantation workers earn fairer wages. Better pay alone combats child labor. Parents who earn enough can send their children to school and don't have to take them to work in the fields.
Fair Trade also pays a premium. This money is used by cooperatives to finance things like schools and medical clinics. Many Fairtrade products are organically grown. Compared to conventionally produced products, many Fairtrade products have a better carbon footprint.
Fair trade products can be found in almost all supermarkets, organic and world shops, online shops and delicatessens.
Further information: Fairtrade product and retailer finder :
Other Fairtrade certificates and dealers:
- GEPA - The Fair Trade Company
- El Puente
- World shop
- Fair for Life
- Ethiquable
- Naturland fair
- Contigo
- Weltpartner eG
Rainforest Alliance
The green frog on the seal of Rainforest Alliance stands for sustainable agriculture and the preservation of biodiversity. The Rainforest Standard contains ecological and social criteria, including the core work standards including the ban on child labor, integrated environmental management systems, water and animal protection.
