Catherwood LibraryILR School

According to research conducted by Human Rights Watch in 2017, tobacco farms in Zimbabwe regularly employ children between the ages of 12-17 during their harvest and processing seasons. Moreover, the organization reported that farm workers are often made to work long shifts with no overtime and sometimes forced to go months without pay. A boom in tobacco sales in the Global South and Asia is fueling the exploitation, and the Zimbabwe government is looking the other way as farmers do everything in their power to take advantage of the growing demand. Last November, Robert Mugabe was ousted as president and replaced with more business-friendly Emmerson Mnangagwa, who vowed to reform agricultural policy by relaxing the regulatory environment and returning control to local farmers. Pricing inequities in the marketplace which stem from non-transparent trading practices often leave tobacco farmers severely underpaid, compounding other factors that exacerbate the exploitation of child labor.