Child labour in agriculture is a complex phenomenon with many interlinking root causes – no single factor can fully explain its prevalence or persistence. While the issue of high prevalence of child labour in coffee production is well known in development world, the topic is often being avoided in the coffee industry.
Coffee is traditionally an important source of income for rural families in Eastern Congo. However, with high levels of poverty in the region, family sizes being large and most coffee fields remote and scattered, there is a high risk of child labour in the area. In 2020 When the opportunity presented itself by Agriterra to unite forces for a project with our partners at RAEK, supported by RVO’s Fund Against Child Labour (FBK), to better understand the child labour issues in the coffee value chain in Kabare, and the suitable mitigation measures, we decided to take on the challenge.
-
Before we started, it was clear that child labour is a complex phenomenon with many interlinking root causes – no single factor can fully explain its prevalence or persistence. We decided that in order to best conduct research in our target area, a mixed-methods baseline study should be conducted for the first phase of this project in May and June 2021, during the main coffee harvest season. The objectives of the study were to assess child labour prevalence and risks, collect baseline figures for key indicators related to farmers’s income from coffee and other sources, child labour and education, identify underlying root causes and propose possible mitigation measures.
The key findings on child labour include:
• Nearly 56% of children living on surveyed RAEK member farms are in child labour, of whom 41% work predominantly in coffee. The majority of these children do unpaid work for their own families. A further 21% of children face a high risk of child labour. In total, nearly 77% of children on surveyed RAEK member farms are either in child labour or face a high risk of child labour.
• More boys are engaged in child labour than girls, making up 55% of children in child labour. Children aged 12 to 14 make up the largest share of children in child labour (38%), followed by children aged 5 to 11 (35%) and children aged 15 to 17 (27%).• The vast majority (96%) of working children – those who had done at least one hour of work during the reference week – are in child labour. The line between children’s work and child labour is therefore very thin.
• The most common reason for being in child labour is performing hazardous work, followed by the amount of time children spend working. The most common hazards in the coffee value chain (in descending order) are working in extreme heat, using sharp tools, exposure to dust, carrying heavy loads and working at a height.
• Children are involved in every step of the coffee value chain in Kabare, but the risk of child labour is highest for certain activities: land preparation, weeding, picking cherries, sorting cherries, fetching water, and transporting coffee. During the small season, there is a higher risk of child labour for pulping and drying.
• The proportion of children in child labour is higher in remote areas, on larger farms and among male-headed households.
• Nearly 79% of children are currently enrolled in school, but school absences are common, with work being a frequently cited reason for children to miss school. Of children who missed school due to their work activities during the two months prior to the survey, half were participating in the coffee harvest.
• The most frequently cited reasons for letting children work are to supplement household income, help out on the family’s farm and acquire new skills.
-
72% of RAEK members are living in extreme poverty and 92% say they struggle to have enough income to meet their basic needs during certain periods of the year, coinciding with the dry season (June, July, and August) and most of the small season (September, October, and November).
84% of households had suffered a fall in income in the last year because of crop failure, sickness or injury, loss of livestock, falling agricultural prices and COVID-19 measures.
Social protection mechanisms are almost non-existent in Kabare. To cope with income shocks, farmers will most often take out a loan, sell livestock, sell, or rent land, rely on financial assistance from family or friends, and sell coffee trees.
Many farmers rely on their own children’s unpaid contributions to farm work to generate income. If they resort to employing children who are not part of their household it is because they are cheaper to hire than adults, not because there is a shortage of adult labour.
Because of poverty many children are not enrolled in school or, if they are enrolled, frequently miss school. Children with unpaid fees are chased from school and not allowed to come back until the fees have been settled.
The inability to pay for education was the biggest reason why children have been absent from school in the last 2 months, have never been enrolled in school or were enrolled but dropped out. 87% of RAEK members said that they find it difficult to meet the costs of education for their children.
-
Although the availability and security of schools do not seem to be a problem, the inaccessibility of schools and the poor quality and perceived lack of relevance of education are.
Many children are absent from school during the rainy season because there is no organized transport available, and it is too difficult to get there on foot. Children spend up to four hours walking to and from school every day.
The quality of school infrastructure and teaching is perceived to be very poor.
Poor teaching quality is linked to the government’s policy of tuition-free primary education, which has resulted in a decrease in teachers’ salaries and therefore low motivation.
Even though many children have aspirations linked to education and few parents think education has no value at all, the education that is available is believed to have comparatively little relevance to the lives of children and families when compared to the perceived benefits of working. Many people think that school does not prepare children sufficiently for the future.
-
The expectation that children will work for their families and the belief that work is beneficial for children are deeply ingrained in local customs and habits. These norms were echoed by both parents and children, although children themselves seem to have a more balanced view of the disadvantages and advantages of work than their parents.
There is an important gender dimension to child labour and education. More boys (55%) are engaged in child labour than girls and are overrepresented among children in child labour because of the amount of time they spend working or because they are involved in hazardous work. Girls, on the other hand, spend more time on household chores.
Girls are enrolled and complete school at lower rates than boys and the drop-out rate for girls is higher. Although roughly equal numbers of boys and girls had missed school in the two months before the survey, more boys than girls do not attend school during certain times of the year and more boys have been frequently or severely absent in the last school year.
It seems to be a common view among parents that girls are less in need of education than boys because they will marry young, and that the return on investment for girls’ education is therefore lower than that of boys.
Gender differences in child labour play out at the level of households too. More children in male-headed households tend to be in child labour compared to the children in female-headed households.
“I don’t like these activities because they are tiring and do not correspond to the activities children our age should do. However, we do them because we have no choice – they are necessary to survive and meet our basic needs – and out of respect to our parents.”
“After conducting the baseline study in 2021, we came the realize the shocking situation - the vast majority of children are engaged in child labour, and many of them perform hazardous or dangerous work. ”
After in-depth stakeholder consultations and brainstorming internally within the consortium, it was decided to focus on 2 main root causes of child labour in the area - poverty and economic vulnerability of farmer communities, as well as poor accessibility, quality and low relevance of available education in the area. We have devised an activities plan addressing both of these root causes, with the cross-cutting theme of regenerative agriculture, which is the one of the main pillars of This Side Up's work with its origin partners.
-
We are convinced that regenerative agriculture can solve many problems that farmers face. "Regenerative" is the opposite of "extractive". In other words, the shift from cultivating coffee: "how can I harvest the most possible coffee from my land" to cultivating the soil "how can I nourish the soil so it brings me great coffee - and countless other benefits". Practically, this means restoring the life of the soils by avoiding chemical products, inter-cropping, efficient water management, increasing biodiversity, following the principles of agroforestry and permaculture etc.
As the baseline study in Phase A has shown, most farms in Kabare area need rehabilitation, and low quality and yield of the coffee trees contribute to low income of the farmers. In the challenging context of DRC, development of regenerative agriculture is an opportunity to develop sustainable coffee communities with improved economic, social and ecological security.
Through the baseline study it was clear RAEK members wanted to have improved access to training, capacity building and technical support, focusing on regenerative agriculture principles. This fund will invest in improvements of cooperative's infrastructure helping them expand capacity for washing, drying and collecting coffee.
Further, we will strategize with them to work on cooperative's governance, management and operational processes, that would help RAEK to find new buyers and sell more coffee (thus buying more coffee at better prices from the farmers). Lastly, efforts to support farmers with alternative income generation, beyond coffee production will also be brainstormed.
The baseline study, as well as further stakeholder discussions have revealed the urgent need to improve the availability, quality, relevance and accessibility of education available to children from farmers' communities.
We are continuing to work on identifying the most suitable approach to the activities that we will implement in this pillar. Activities include supporting existing school(s), creating regenerative farm plot at school where children can practice regenerative farming and produce food, improvements to school infrastructure, availability of school materials, transport, teachers, teacher training, and vocational training for youth.
-
Members are expected to go undergo training in different areas such as:
Regenerative agriculture training (bio composters, organic fertilisers, water management, agroforestry, intercropping)
Increasing awareness about coffee quality, picking of ripe cherries and SCA cupping lessons
Strengthening the capacities of agricultural monitors for the supervision of model farmers and conduction of FFS (farmer field school)
Farmer-to-farmer knowledge transfer on increased productivity and farm management
-
Construction of micro washing stations at Muganzo allowing RAEK to work with more farmers
Investment in drying capacity and additional collection points
-
Support RAEK with accounting and bookkeeping
Creating a long term business plan with RAEK to ensure sustainability of the cooperative
Marketing and communication
Digitalization of cherry collection
Continuous monitoring of implementation of the second payment directly to farmers
-
Purchase and distribution of seedlings (legumes, bananas) for women to intercrop with coffee
Setting up a community savings and credit system
-
Support provided to 5 schools in each of RAEK’s sub-cooperatives through
Regenerative agriculture training for schools and establishing school gardens
Vocational training for youth
Provision of necessary learning materials
Support teacher training
TOTAL INVESTMENT: € 526,985
Subsidy by Fonds Bestrijding Kinderarbeid, part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. 30% of this amount is own contribution, and the subsidy is divided between the three project partners This Side Up, RAEK and Agriterra evenly.
-
Total costs for Phase A of the project, mostly consisting of the hiring of the research team and coordination of the field research. 30% own contribution.
-
This will be spent on farmer trainings, setting up field schools, working with model farmers who will double as field officers. Farmers will also have access to quality trainings through cuppings and collaborating with agronomist to work on what soil needs to improve quality.
-
Construction of the new washing station in Muganzo which improves RAEK’s capacity to work with more farmers. Further the other two operational washing stations will be refurbished with better drying beds. There will be more cherry collection points that are easily accessible by the farmers.
-
Mathieu (from TSU) will cooperate with RAEK’s team on the ground to set up a full fledged accounting system that is easy to use/maintain. Presently the traceability of cherries has been documented manually on paper, through this project there will be funding to digitalize these efforts. From 2022 onwards, RAEK maintains a digital tally of harvest along with demographic data of which farmers sold their cherries to RAEK and how much they were paid. Farmers were offered a unique identification number that was used to trace their produce. The second payment or the “bonus” payment is an important step in fostering farmer loyalty. This budget will be used to set up a system to make this happen.
-
Purchasing and distribution of seedlings (legumes, vegetables) to women farmers for income diversification and training them to intercrop through an agroforestry approach making it sustainable.
-
Working with ANAPECO to refurbish infrastructure at the selected schools, setting up garden plots, teacher trainings and vocational training for youth.
PROJECT IMAGES:
Feel free to use when supporting this initiative.
As the project evolves, we will regularly post updates about the progress on the planned activities. If you have any questions, or ideas on how to support the project, you can reach out to Karina, the project coordinator on TSU side (karina@tsutrade.com).