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Global Compact International Yearbook 2013
In India child labor can still be found in
many parts of everyday life. Some years
ago, the International Labour Organiza-
tion (ILO) found that the subcontinent
has the highest number of working chil-
dren worldwide, with an estimated 5.6
million working in agriculture alone.
In the face of this enormous social chal-
lenge, can companies make ameaningful
contribution at all?
Bayer in India has now been focus-
ing on this question for more than
10
years. In 2002, the company’s ag-
ricultural business unit, Bayer Crop-
Science, acquired an Indian company
that was active in seeds. In areas such
as the states of Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka – where child labor is par-
ticularly widespread– contract farmers
were growing cotton seeds on behalf of
the newly acquired company. Bayer –
one of the first companies to become a
participant of the UN Global Compact –
had long attached great importance to
respecting ethical principles, including
in the supply chain. In line with one of
the Ten Principles of Global Compact,
namely that businesses should uphold
the effective abolition of child labor, it
became clear very soon after the takeo-
ver that child labor among the contract
farmers was a significant issue.
A steep learning curve
Apart from all the other arguments
against child labor, it robs children of
almost all educational opportunities and
thus a range of possibilities to determine
their own lives. Yet implementing the
ban was easier said than done. What
evolved out of a steep learning curve
was probably one of the most compre-
hensive sustainability projects in Bayer’s
150-
year history: the Bayer CropScience
Child Care Program.
But let us start at the beginning: Soon
after the local Indian seed company
Proagro had been taken over by Bayer as
part of the larger international acquisi-
tion of Aventis CropScience, a potential
child labor issue at Proagro was raised
by nongovernmental organizations. And
our Indian seeds unit was subject to
critical scrutiny. Later, key institutional
investors called for more information
on how Bayer intended to combat child
labor among contract farmers in India.
Initially, Bayer started working together
with industry partners that were facing
similar problems. That resulted in the
foundation of the Child Labor Elimina-
tion Group (CLEG) under the Association
of Seed Industry, which in particular
used communication strategies in an
effort to persuade farmers to dispense
with child labor in the future. Bayer
also developed initial strategies to create
economic incentives, with farmers receiv-
ing bonuses for complying with the ban.
Yet because no significant progress was
made with the CLEG program, Bayer
decided to proceed alone in taking action
against child labor. It became increas-
ingly clear that more comprehensive
approaches with a longer-term impact
were necessary to bring about a real
change in mentality in village communi-
ties. Thus the Bayer CropScience Child
Care Programwas launched in 2007. The
program extends far beyond abolishing
child labor. Besides a contractual ban
of child labor, it includes monitoring
Combating Child Labor in
the Supply Chain in India
Bayer
Child labor cannot simply be eliminated by decree. To this day it remains deeply rooted in
many societies. In particular, subsistence farmers still frequently resort to child labor to
manage their fields. Implementing the effective abolition of child labor may be laborious
and time-consuming for businesses if child labor is the norm. Yet pursuing this approach
is worthwhile in every way, as shown by an example from India.
By Steffen Kurzawa, Bayer