Harvesting Hunger - Plantation Workers and the Right to Food
Although specific data on the nutritional situation of plantation workers is sparse, it can be estimated that roughly 200 million agricultural workers are chronically undernourished.
Even though they are often integrated in global food chains, plantation workers form part of the larger group of agricultural workers affected by hunger.
This paper provides an overview of the discriminatory working conditions and human rights violations on plantations worldwide where the raw materials are produced for those food companies who control the world’s food systems, and increasingly present themselves as champions of the fight against hunger and malnutrition.
The paper then outlines ways to strengthen the power of plantation workers, and the trade unions that represent them, and proposes policy steps towards an agenda on rights for plantation workers that would ensure their human right to food.
Published in October 2014 by FIAN, IUF and Misereor