Seventy percent of the world’s working children are in agriculture. From tending cattle to harvesting crops, handling dangerous machinery and spraying pesticides, over 132 million children aged 5 to 14 help produce the food we eat and the clothes we wear. Minette Rimando who works for the ILO’s Subregional Office in Manila reports from the Philippines.

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             Rudy is the fifth in a family of seven children. At 15, he dropped out of high school to help his father on the farm. His two elder brothers had died in a tragic accident shortly before.

 

             Rudy felt he was duty-bound to help provide for his younger siblings. “I was afraid that my younger brother and sister would also have to quit school and work because we didn’t have enough money”, says Rudy.

 

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              According to a survey conducted in 2001, more than 60 percent of working children aged 5 to 17 work on farms in the country. An estimated five million families depend on seasonal contract work on sugarcane plantations, which causes many children to drop out of school.

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             Under the IPEC-SIFI program, working children were given technical skills training and scholarships for further schooling while over 100 family members working on sugarcane farms participated in seminars to enhance their business skills.

 

             Rudy joined over 80 others who were given skills training. After a 75-day, on-the-job training in a company that leases heavy equipment for construction work, Rudy was hired by the same company as a mechanic assistant. As Rudy is still under age 18, tasks and conditions are still to be monitored since he is not to do dangerous work according to ILO standards on child labour.