At least 132 million children around the world are forced to work in fields and on farms, the United Nations said on Tuesday, appealing to the world's politicians to make fighting child labour in agriculture a priority.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), based in Rome, said it was "simply unacceptable" that children as young as five were obliged to work in unhealthy and hazardous conditions on farms.
FAO believes that children account for one third of the global agricultural work force. The appeal to politicians to take urgent action came on the UN's World Day Against Child Labour.
"The winning strategy is to reduce poverty in rural areas of the developing world, offering income opportunities," said José MarÃa Sumpsi, FAO Assistant Director-General for Agriculture and Consumer Protection.
Sumpsi was keen to debunk a common justification for using child workers: the so-called 'nimble fingers' argument which says small hands are better at delicate tasks such as picking flowers and tea leaves.
"Studies by the International Labour Organization in hazardous industries like glass production or diamond polishing have shown this not to be the case," he said.
"In agriculture, as in other sectors, there is no work that an adult cannot do equally well, if not better, than a child," he added.
"The simple truth is that children require fewer guarantees, are far easier to exploit and - most of all - are considerably cheaper," Sumpsi said.
He said it was also vital to improve health and safety in agriculture and to ensure sustainable development.
The ILO reckons that child labour involves at least 218 million children worldwide - 70% of them in agriculture.
Most studies see poverty as the main cause of child labour. Children are obliged to work both for their own survival and for that of their families.
Problems associated with poverty - such as lack of education and poor health services - contribute to the problem, experts say.
FAO noted that some poor countries have scored notable successes in reducing child labour.
India's Kerala state is one such example. The Latin America and Caribbean region has also shown noteworthy declines in the overall number of child workers, from 16% to 5% between 2000 and 2004.
