Children in traditional and commercial agriculture

Abstract

Of all working children in the age category 6-17 years in Peru, the vast majority (70%, 1.4 million children) are known to work in the countryside, with a clear overrepresentation of children between 6 and 13 years old (CPETI and MTPE 2005:26). Child labour is particularly present in the sierra regions of Peru and the majority of working children and adolescents are involved with farming or herding. Although the vast majority of working children work in rural areas, almost all studies on child labour in Peru concern urban child labour. Of the few studies that have concerned rural labour, the focus has been traditional agriculture, mainly within the family context (Alarcon 2001, 2006). These reports, however, do not present any statistical data. Additionally, there are no studies at all on child labour in the commercial agricultural sector in Peru. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.