Open AccessASSESSMENT OF FARMERS’ KNOWLEDGE REGARDING CHILD LABOR IN AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF COTTON GROWERS IN DISTRICT BAHAWALPUR
Author(s) -
Muhammad Zeeshan,
Usman Tariq,
A. H. Makhdoom,
Asad Imran,
Liaqat Ali Khan,
Nawab ud Din
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of mountain area research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2518-850X
pISSN - 2518-8496
DOI - 10.53874/jmar.v2i0.22
Subject(s) - agriculture , work (physics) , agricultural science , business , dignity , descriptive statistics , socioeconomics , descriptive research , geography , agricultural economics , engineering , political science , social science , economics , mathematics , sociology , mechanical engineering , statistics , environmental science , archaeology , law
The work which affects the education, dignity and health of a child is known as child labor. It exists in agriculture sector of Pakistan mostly in the form of hazardous work. The main objective of the study was to investigate the degree of knowledge of cotton growers on child labor issue with special reference to Decent Work of International Labor Organization (ILO). The study was conducted in Bahawalpur district where Decent Work has been implemented by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Pakistan since 2013 as a part of its Sustainable Agriculture Program. Three categories of farmers were identified among a total of 388 selected cotton growers i.e. Farmers having high level of awareness, farmers having basic level of awareness and farmers having no awareness of child labor. Farmers were also categorized into three groups on the basis of their land holding i.e. (Category ‘a’) 1-7 acres, (b) >7-20 acres and (c) >20-50 acres. The data was analyzed through descriptive statistical method. Among category ‘a’ 7.5%, 88.7% and 3.7% of the farmers had advance, basic and no awareness, respectively. Among category ‘b’ 7.2%, 88.5% and4.2% farmers had advance, basic and no awareness, respectively. Among category ‘c’ 5.8%, 90.2% and 3.9% farmers had advance, basic and no awareness, respectively. Since there was a large proportion of those farmers who have only basic level of awareness on child labor among all the three land holding categories, therefore, there is a need to educate farmers on preventing child labor at their farms to promote sustainable cotton.