Child Poverty in Mozambique. A Situation and Trend ... - Unicef

Box 5.6: Informal child labour among small-scale tobacco farms
In 2005, a study was undertaken by the ECLT Foundation to assess the incidence
and nature of child labour among small-scale tobacco-growing farms in several
districts in the provinces of Tete and Niassa, which are two of the seven tobaccoproducing
provinces in Mozambique. 76 The study found that:
• Prevalence of child labour: 80% of the tobacco-growing households put their
children to work on the tobacco farms. This represents 68% of the children
aged 6 to 14 years old and 90% of the children aged 15 to 17 years old.
• Activities and working conditions: More than half of working children aged
15 to 17 contributed to all tobacco related activities during the crop season,
while 75% of the children aged 6 to 14 performed tobacco related tasks
occasionally. The children were engaged in tasks such as picking, curing and
marketing of tobacco leaves. Assessment of the working conditions of the
children found that there were various hazards faced by the children, ranging
from simple cuts to exposure to chemicals or extreme climactic conditions.
• Payment for work: 40% of smallholder tobacco growers gave a wage to
working children aged 15 to 17. 18% of working 6 to 14 year-olds were paid.
• School attendance: 81% of the surveyed children aged 6 to 14 and 63%
of the children aged 15 to 17 were attending school. All of the school-going
children were attending only one shift (of a maximum of five hours a day). The
age against grade (distortion) rate was found to be very high (on average it
took 10 years to reach level five). Drop-out was also a significant problem and
many children were not able to complete a basic education. The main reasons
given for not sending children to school were the distance from school (40%),
the failure to meet cost requirements (21%) and early marriage or pregnancy
(20%).
• Main reasons given for child work: 39% of the interviewed households
considered that child labour was necessary to help the family and to increase
the work force. 23% indicated that working was a learning process for the
children.
• Gender issues: Overall, 65% of the families had boys working on small-scale
tobacco farms and 51% had girls working. Girls were much more involved in
domestic work than boys.
Three main variables were identified as determining the frequency of child
labour among the surveyed farms:
1- Use of non-family labour
Overall, more than half of the smallholder tobacco growers hired permanent
and/or seasonal adult workers (57%). Comparing households that did not employ
additional labour from outside the family with households that did employ
additional labour the study found that:
- Households that did not employ non-family labour were more likely to make use
of the labour of children aged 15 to 17 compared with households that did employ
non-family labour (51% versus 39%).
- Households that did not employ non-family labour were more likely to put their
children to work on the farm all year long compared with households that did
employ non-family labour (children aged 6 to 14: 28% versus 23%; children aged
15 to 17: 54% versus 47%).
2- Distance from school
Approximately 40% of the respondent families lived more than 1.5 km from a
primary school. Those tobacco-growing households living more than 1.5 km from
a school were found more likely:
- To have their children out of school (children aged 6 to 14: 23% at over 1.5 km
versus 9% at under 1.5 km; children aged 15 to 17: 35% at over 1.5 km versus
30% at under 1.5 km).
CHILDHOOD POVERTY IN MOZAMBIQUE: A SITUATION AND TRENDS ANALYSIS
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