According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), tobacco is grown in at least 120 countries, employing approximately 40 million workers in tobacco growing and leaf processing alone. While global estimates on the number of children employed in the tobacco farming sector are often lacking and/or rare, there are some individual country studies which have indicated that a significant number of children aged 7–18 years participate in tobacco agriculture, in a wide variety of tasks, which may differ based on the local farming, the labour context, as well as national child labour legislation. Typical children’s activities in tobacco growing have included planting, harvesting as well as handling (e.g., bundling) tobacco leaves.
There does exist key data at the company level on the situation of child workers among a select group of farmers, especially within a company’s supply-chain, but the information from a sectoral perspective in Indonesia remains scarce. Therefore, a broader survey on child labour in agriculture, with a priority on tobacco growing areas, has been recommended and is considered to be of value.
In general, this study addresses the main question of “What are the potential sustainable solutions to address child-labour issues in agriculture sector, especially in small-scale tobacco farms?”
In answering this main question, this study will be directed to answer the following detail questions:
- What is the situation of child labour in agriculture, especially in small-scale tobacco farms? (in terms of the prevalence, the type of work that they are engaging, the exposure to hazardous environment, the economic value of their work to their household, and their access to education, health services, and social protection programs)
- What are the root-causes of child labour in small-scale tobacco farms, and what factors have contributing to this problem? (including the push and pull factors and awareness)
- What resources are available and/or have the potential to be leveraged to help address the root causes and support awareness-raising efforts on child labour
The term “children”, which will be the focus of this study, is defined as population aged below 18 years old—following Indonesia’s Child Protection Law (Law number 23, 2002 and amended by Law number 35, 2014). Regarding the definition of child labour, this study will be in principal using ILO’s definition used in the 2009 ILO-BPS survey of child labour in Indonesia, which defines child labour as: (i) all working children aged 5–12, regardless their working hours; (ii) working children aged 13–14 working more than 15 hours per week; and (iii) working children aged 15–17 worked more than 40 hours per week.
The data collection and analysis will be using a mixed methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative/participatory approaches. The qualitative study will be complemented with quantitative analysis using secondary datasets (Susenas 2015 and Supas 2015) and primary data collected through questionnaire-based surveys. The primary data collection will cover a total of around 1,000 agricultural households (500 households in each district).
