US child labour claims threaten Kenya’s exports

Kenya faces more hostile tea and coffee export markets following a US report that names it among 58 countries which use children in the production of goods meant for sale overseas.

The report says Kenya exploits children to produce its world-renowned tea and coffee in violation of international labour laws that prohibit use of child labour or forced manual work.

Miraa (a stimulant plant), rice, sisal, sugar cane and tobacco are also produced through children’s toil, says the survey by the US labour office, which does not mention the multinationals that profit from the products, only saying its intention is to inform Americans that the items are produced through the exploitation and abuse of children.

But the Kenya government and multinationals involved in the sectors rejected the claims with Labour permanent secretary, Beatrice Kituyi, saying the State had reduced instances of children working for profit or family gain in farms.

“The multi-national enterprises do not engage children in their undertakings and this has been continuously monitored by the inspectorate staff of the Ministry. Employment of children is found in the informal and agricultural sectors where children are monitored by their parents as they accompany them to work,” she says.

Figures from the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey says one million children aged between five and 17 years were in 2006 engaged in work-for-profit compared to 1.9 million in 1999.

Child labour coupled with environment conservation have lately attracted global attention with children rights activists and environment lobbyists campaigning for boycott of goods deemed to have been produced through undue exploitation of the two resources.

BAT Kenya head of corporate and regulatory Affairs Julie Adell-Owino says the company has contracted specific suppliers who work under special guidelines which include the non-use of children in tobacco fields.

“We have contracted 5,000 tobacco farmers in Nyanza and we have given them a strict code of ethics against child labour. We insist that children of tobacco farmers must attend schools,” she says.

The programme coordinator for Action Aid Kenya, a non governmental organisation, Mr Lucas Chacha, says tobacco farming has done more harm than good to residents in Kuria district since it fetches little money for farmers although it is labour intensive and exposes children to health problems.

The report by the Bureau of International Labour Affairs could hurt Kenya — the world’s biggest black tea exporter at a time that global demand for tea is looking up and volumes are projected to rise with the onset of the short rains.

Kenyan tea prices jumped to a new record high at last week’s auction on renewed demand with the average price for Best BP1s leaping to $5.02 per kg from the previous week’s record of $4.47 per kg and another high of $4.31 per kg at the previous sale.

Kenya exports most of its black tea to Middle East markets which are viewed as more accommodating with regard to the ethical label.

Despite output thinning by 11.6 per cent in volume compared to the same period last year, earnings from tea exports rose 13 per cent to Sh43.1 billion.

The Kenya Tea Board has projected overall earnings for 2009 to increase to Sh66 billion as buyers stock up over fears that drought will cut production.