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How could we deal with child labor at coffee farms?

Is there child labor in coffee?

“Child labor is common in almost all coffee producing regions; the lack of education infrastructure, opportunity and poverty are the main reasons behind thousands of children working at coffee plantations all over the world.”

This topic is highly controversial and polarizing, some people prefer not to deal with it, either by avoiding it, ignoring it or denying it. Unfortunately, dodging the subject doesn’t seem to solve or mitigate the problem, this is a pressing issue, despite how uncomfortable it is. If we actually want to do something about it, we must debate it openly and repeatedly.

The painful truth is: child labor is ubiquitous and intrinsic to our coffee industry, regardless the country, the continent, smallholder or estate coffee farm; wherever you look, you will see kids working. Certifying and organizing coffee farmers to follow code of conducts have shown to have very little effect on controlling child labor, especially among the most unprivileged coffee workers. The problem is too complex, it doesn’t have a single solution. It’s a phenomenon we must first understand, before we could do anything about it.

In more developed nations, children officially become adults at age 18-21; before then, they are protected by the law; most of them don’t need to work, enjoy health care, nutritious food, technology and quality education; however, it doesn’t mean growing up is problem free. Sometimes, kids are neglected by their parents or despite our best efforts, children don’t turn out to be the exemplary citizens we hoped for. Besides, key factors like love and education, we still haven’t figured out the intricacy of proper parenting and what the basics are, for kids to accomplish a successful childhood. Therefore, we shouldn’t rush to judge and draw premature conclusions about how other cultures and countries deal with childhood or child labor, because like us, they are baffle as well.

Sadly, for kids growing in poor nations in East Africa; maturing slowly until age 18 is a luxury they can hardly afford. The lack of family planning, due to limited access to contraceptives, ignorance or cultural reasons, have caused that at some areas, children outnumbered adults, lowering the average population age as low as 14. Obviously, the large number of minors, create a labor gap and demand of resources, communities have no other way to alleviate unless kids contribute with their own work. Likewise, life expectancy at the same areas could be just two thirds, the one enjoyed by richer nations; what makes every stage of life, including childhood shorter as well.

SEE ALSO: Why is the coffee market price so low?

It’s really hard for westerners to objectively define boundaries between proper child care and actual child abuse, when we deal with communities that have demographics so different from the ones we are used to.

Surprisingly, schools are common at these communities, but often, due to infrastructure restrictions, children of different age groups must receive lessons at the same classroom. Besides making it hard and challenging for the teacher, these schools can only provide education until a certain extend. Once kids have reached a specific age (9-10), they have to move to traditional schools where they can continue further with their education.

Education should be the first priority instead of child labor at coffee farms
Education should be the first priority for all children

Unfortunately, traditional schools availability is limited to towns and cities; therefore, kids from villages often need to travel long distances in order to attend to class. For some, the overwhelming sacrifice, cost and distance are enough reasons to drop out of school at an early age. Thus, besides working; there are very few other options for these kids.

In Central America, coffee farms and washing stations depend on migrant’s temporary labor to pick and process coffee. Each year, a large number of job openings become available during the harvesting season at coffee areas; seasonal workers, move from their places of origin to growing areas incentivized by employment availability. The migration patterns are well known; people from Guatemala move to the southern part of Mexico (Chiapas), workers from Honduras move to Guatemala and coffee workers from Nicaragua move to Costa Rica. Large number of these workers are women, most of them bring their children along. Although the kids are not directly hired by coffee farms or washing stations, they stay close to their mothers helping them, increasing their work capacity and revenue. In theory, farms and washing stations have not infringed any child labor regulation. However, in practice, numerous kids keep working unregulated in the local coffee industry.

Evidently, there is no easy way out; rejecting women from the work force is out of the question. It is considered by today standards a highly condemnable act of gender discrimination.

Fortunately, not all news is bad; a possible solution, might come out of the current coffee market circumstances and challenges. Despite what you have heard; the main thread the global coffee industry is experiencing today is labor shortage.

Coffee farmers are in average 50 years old or older, and there is no new generation waiting to take over after they retire. Globalization and economic growth have opened more opportunities for coffee workers than ever before, Nowadays, coffee workers don’t need to settle for below-subsistence wages and precarious living conditions at filthy barracks anymore. They can get better or equally good salaries at other activities that demand less effort.

SEE ALSO: Are farmers ready for the 21st century challenge?

Therefore, what the coffee industry is experiencing today it’s not exactly labor shortage. It is actually a shortage of people willing to work on undignifying conditions; and this is definitely a step forward in the right direction.

The coffee industry have heard the message, and it is making huge efforts to revert the situation, some seasonal workers are now making more money and living in better conditions than before. New schools have been established at places where coffee worker’s children could attend during working hours. Some coffee estate farms, in an attempt to find labor, have gone to the extent of accommodating seasonal workers permanently at their premises, sharing overall profits in return for labor. Seasonal workers have become partners at coffee estates and hopefully their children would become the future coffee farmers, the coffee industry desperately need.

Although, all this progress hasn’t reached all coffee workers just yet. The future looks optimistic for people and children who currently struggle at coffee plantations. Only coffee market prices and good will, would tell how far these modern and positive initiatives would go.

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