Kampala — THE escalating number of children of school-going age working as labourers is threatening to disrupt Uganda's agricultural exports to the international market.

A recent Child Labour report by the International Labour Organisation and the ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics indicates that more than 2.7 million children in Uganda are employed as workers.

It stated that 28 percent of these children work on the employers' premises and 18 percent work on plantations.

The problem, according to the report, is most common in the coffee sector, which is the country's major contributor to export earnings.

The Federation of Uganda Employers (FUE) has called for policy makers and implementers to ensure compliance to the ILO and national legal requirements of not employing children. "At an international level, child labour can have a lot of consequences to employers including sanctions or boycotts of products," Mr Aloysius Ssemmanda, the Chairman FUE, said in a speech read for him by Mr Isaac Munabi, the Secretary General of the Uganda Tea Association, at the opening of a one-day FUE council and staff meeting on child labour at Hotel Africana on July 5.

Impact

Mr Swizen Kyomuhendo, a lead consultant, warned that the problem is likely to affect our export commodities.

"We have to be careful because whatever little is mentioned can lead to a slap on the Ugandan coffee exports," Kyomuhendo said.

The survey was conducted with 197 employers from the ten coffee growing districts of Masaka, Mbarara, Wakiso, Mpigi, Bushenyi, Jinja, Mukono and Kayunga among others.

He said the age bracket they came across in the survey was between 5-17 years old and majority were in the 12-17-age bracket and 46 percent are still in school but go to look for school fees.

"Part of the problem is caused by poverty, the HIV/Aids challenge and lack of information. Most of the employers claim they employ children to help them to raise school fees," Kyomuhendo said.

But the findings of the survey do indicate that much as the children are helped to raise school fees, when it comes to payment they are exploited.

However, Mr George Tytens the General Manager of the Entebbe Handling Services, argues that employers should work towards eliminating child labour by improving the general standard of living for their workers.