We all eat. If you’re lucky, you eat every day. Many of us simply take food for granted.
But did you know that, for each bite you take, hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of people helped bring that food to your mouth?
1.3 billion people on Earth—16 percent of the world’s population—work somewhere in the agricultural food system. Unfortunately, 160 million of them are children on farms helping grow food, rather than going to school or just being children.
Some of the most prevalent and horrific labor abuses, like forced and child labor, occur in the food sector. Most agriculture workers are in the “informal economy,” which means they are invisible and unprotected by laws. Many work more than 60 hours a week, but still live in poverty. That’s why protecting the rights of men, women, and children who work somewhere along the food production chain is a priority for CARE. And recently our advocacy produced an incredible win for millions of people!
