[Could child labor be eradicated in commercial agriculture in Zamora?]

to describe the sociodemographic parameters of child labor and to characterize the work profiles involved, analyze training and early incorporation to work, and discuss the paradoxes from restricting this work.

a qualitative-quantitative study based on the results from a survey in 472 school-aged children living in neighborhoods near agricultural fields. In depth interview to 32 agricultural workers during a field observation, an analysis of the official discourse in the local press, and a comparison with legal precepts were done.

adolescents begin participating in labor in the agro-fields before the age of twelve under the supervision of the family group. Their parents are manual laborers (construction, packing plant and agricultural). Since Colony time, legislation has established limits on child labor, but those limits are rarely respected.

Wage labor among children takes place with family approval as a need for complementing household income, thus it will not be eradicated through legal measures as long as the wage conditions of adult workers do not improve.