The report notes that up to "14% of all
occupational injuries in the agricultural sector and 10% of all fatal
injuries" can be attributed to pesticides. In several countries the
fatal accident rate in agriculture is double the average for all other
industries, with agrochemicals accounting for a large number of the accidents.
Establishing a precise link between agricultural injuries and
direct or indirect exposure to agrochemicals is compounded by both poor
reporting and the difficulty in establishing a correct diagnosis. Workers may
never see a doctor as none is available within a reasonable distance. In
addition, general practitioners tend to underestimate work-related poisoning
because symptoms are non-specific and the effect often cumulative. Even in
countries or regions with good reporting systems, under-reporting is likely. In
California, which is recognised as having one of the best reporting systems, it
is still so cumbersome that a worker must first consult a doctor, who must
determine the illness is pesticide-related and file a workers' compensation
claim. This in turn must be certified by a county agricultural commissioner and
forwarded to the Department of Food and Agriculture. Between 1982 and 1988 the
department rejected 58% of doctors' pesticide-related injury cases. These
patterns are repeated elsewhere.
Agriculture is ranked by the US National Safety Council as
among the three most hazardous occupations in the country. In 1991, the death
rate was 44 per 100,000, which was higher than in mining, and it also had the
highest rate of disabling injuries. In Washington State, the insurance claim
rate by agricultural workers was approximately 50% higher than by
non-agricultural workers. Of the claims, 29% were for various forms of
dermatitis (the most likely cause of which is allergy to agricultural chemicals)
and 23% for systemic effects due to toxic materials.
There are approximately 1.1 billion workers active in
agricultural production world-wide, and nearly half are in wage labour. Women
represent an increasing proportion of the agricultural workforce, now accounting
for 20-30% of total agricultural waged employment. Child labour in some
developing countries is as much as 30% of the workforce. The ILO report
found that many millions of these workers earn wages that place them on the
bottom rung of the rural poverty ladder, and even below minimum subsistence
level, in spite of rising agricultural trade and labour productivity world-wide.
The poverty of agricultural workers is exacerbated by casual labour, precarious
working conditions, shortage of work and little or no social protection.
Poverty and poor conditions intensify the problems of working
with pesticides, making safe handling of hazardous chemicals almost impossible.
The report is convinced, for example, that the lack of protective equipment,
ill-adapted to local weather conditions and hence little used, is a contributing
factor to pesticide-related illness. Improper use of protective equipment
through inadequate training seems frequent, as is inadequate maintenance of
spraying equipment.
International trade in agricultural commodities expanded by
roughly 3% annually throughout the last decade, but agricultural wage workers
rarely shared in this growth. A sample survey of 45 countries from all regions
shows that real wages declined for agricultural workers in 18 of the countries,
with no substantial changes in eight others. Only six of the 45 countries
(Argentina, Colombia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Philippines and Sweden) showed a strong
real wage increase of 30% or more, whereas 13 countries showed a drop of 30% or
more.
Trade is being further liberalised, and the agriculture
agreement will be renegotiated in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1999.
Social concerns are inadequately tackled in the WTO, and if liberalisation of
agriculture is to be supported, governments must demonstrate that they are
prepared to take a stronger position on these matters. The ILO report
demonstrates the urgent need to improve the living conditions of the
poorest agricultural workers and ensure that the hidden health costs of
pesticides use are reflected in the price of the commodities traded.
Recommendations from the ILO report include the need for:
strong labour-intensive growth in agriculture stimulated by investments in infrastructure to generate more employment in and around agriculture;
a major drive in support of more and broader collective bargaining;
a sustained effort to improve working conditions, from transport to occupational safety and health;
a much reduced incidence of child labour;
effective application of basic labour standards;
extension of basic social security benefits to agricultural wage workers. (BD)
Wage workers in agriculture: conditions
of employment and work, Report for discussion as the Tripartite Meeting
Improving the Conditions of Employment and Work of Agricultural Wage workers in
the context of Economic Restructuring, International Labour Organisation
Sectoral Activities Programme, TMAWW/1996, Geneva, 1996, 97pp. Copies are
available from ILO, Vincent House, Vincent Square, London SW1P 2NB, £10.40
or from ILO Geneva.
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 35,
March 1997, page 11]