FAO.org

Childrens participation in their own family farm activities helps them learn valuable skills and contribute  to the generation of household income, which has a positive impact on their livelihoods. Such participation is important for children and builds their self-esteem. Because of poverty, the breakdown of the family, the demand for cheap labour, family indebtedness,  household shocks due to HIV and other reasons, many younger children end up doing work that  poses a risk to their physical and psychological development or to their right to formal education. The prevention and mitigation of child labour has always been an implicit element of the JFFLS approach  through its emphasis on child protection as a guiding principle and through its aim to promote decent work in agriculture for youth. Furthermore, JFFLS can reduce children’s vulnerability to all farms of exploitation, through its linkages to formal school and its focus on achieving food security and by enabling better decision-making skills for participants.