Eliminating hunger to eliminate child labour in agriculture in Africa: the role of digital tools.

FAO recently held a digital campaign to assess perceptions on child labour in fishing communities. The majority of respondents said they think children should never play a role in fishing operations or only light duties compatible with school attendance. But this view belies the reality.

Today, as we commemorate World Day Against Child Labour, we highlight that in Sub Saharan Africa, agriculture continues to account for 7 out of every 10 children engaged in child labour, which negatively affects their health, safety, and education.

One of the reasons may be found in the 2024 Status of Food Security and Nutrition report which indicates that one in every five Africans is hungry, and hunger continues to rise. It is a primary driver of child labour in agriculture.

Hunger combined with poverty and other systemic challenges must be addressed urgently, especially among rural communities.

The elimination of child labour remains out of reach, as reflected in our collective failure to stay on track to meet SDG Target 8.7 which calls for the elimination of all forms of child labour by 2025.  Rising temperatures, conflict, trade barriers, reduced global humanitarian aid, and weak government and civil society commitment all compound the issue.

These challenges demand innovative solutions, stronger safeguards, and increased investments, particularly in improving livelihoods for smallholder farmers. These actions must also support effective monitoring systems to help stakeholders make informed decisions and implement direct interventions in the agrifood sector.

In response, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is leading with innovation. Through digitalization, FAO is striving to address a key gap by offering up-to-date and precise data on where children are more likely to be found in child labour in agrifood systems. In Uganda, FAO together with the Government and through a multi-stakeholder participative process, is piloting the DigiChild initiative. which is a geographic information system (GIS) child labour risk estimation index. It combines geospatial data with administrative level data to offer greater granularity and territorial coverage to show potential hot spots of child labour on the national map of Uganda thanks to FAO’s ‘agroinformatics’ platform.  

FAO has also piloted the use of mobile technology to empower fishing communities in Mali, Ghana, and Malawi. The initiative delivered key messages through mobile phones to raise awareness on child labour prevention, collected data and shared weather updates to mitigate risks linked to climate change.

Together, these digital tools are opening new frontiers in the fight against child labour, leveraging digitalization for better data collection and early action. These initiatives show great promise for real-time monitoring and early detection of child labour hotspots.

In spite of the general slow progress made on ending child labour, , there is still optimism that more can be done: we must strengthen the capacities of all agricultural stakeholders, invest in mechanization to reduce child labour and increase productivity, upgrade social protection systems, and mobilize more resources to tackle hunger.

 Let us eliminate hunger to eliminate child labour in agriculture.