The Center for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) has bemoaned the risks that tobacco production poses to children in the country, despite it contributing significantly to the country’s revenue and employment opportunities.
CTPD Executive Director Isaac Mwaipopo says his organization undertook a survey which reveals that 45.4% of tobacco farmers in four provinces in the country use household labor to produce the crop.
Mr. Mwaipopo says the survey, done on 220 farmers in Central, Eastern, Southern and Western provinces, shows that a number of children are being used for cheap labor in the tobacco sector.
He warns that Zambia is at risk of exposing the children to green tobacco as 68.6 percent of the surveyed households have between four and ten members.
The ED notes that his organization is aware that the tobacco sector is informal and hence household labor is expected.
Mr. Mwaipopo warns that Tobacco is a harmful product and the children involved in its cultivation risk their health especially that more than fifty Percent (50%) of the farmers hardly use any protective gear.
He observes that using children in tobacco production also lessens the chances of them getting educated as parents find it less economical to educate their children if they are considered to be cheap labor in the household production activities.
Mr. Mwaipopo has therefore urged the ministry of Labor to further investigate the extent to which children are engaged in the production of tobacco in the country.
He says “according to The World Health Organization, about 1.3 million children aged below 14 were working in tobacco fields in 2011 and, according to the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO), the numbers are rising with a shift in tobacco growing from the developed to the developing countries.”
“Zambia’s labor Laws stipulate that “A child between 13 and 15 years may be engaged in light work which is not likely to harm that child’s health or development; or which is not prejudicial to that child’s attendance at an institution of learning or participation in vocational orientation.” Therefore, engaging children in growing tobacco is in violation of the Employment Act and The Employment of Young Persons and Children Act, both due to health risks and reduced educational prospects”, Mr. Mwaipopo adds.