It would be mutually beneficial for farmers in the West to recruit agricultural interns from Africa

While it is true that Africa faces some serious problems beyond lack of technical know-how, it is nevertheless very important that the efforts existing NGO's are making to help develop agriculture in the region are enhanced by not only a trained workforce, which can be built up locally, but also an experienced workforce of former agricultural interns returning from their work placements in the West. 2. My opponent, quite rightly, compared agricultural internships with the most widely used method of enslaving people today: bonded labour. According to Anti-Slavery International "bonded labour, or debt bondage, has existed for hundreds of years. In South Asia it is rooted in the caste system and flourishes in agriculture, in cottage industries, and in factories. Debt bondage was also used as a means of trapping indentured labourers into working on plantations in Africa, the Caribbean and South-East Asia, following the abolition of the slave trade. " Bonded labour has fallen out of favour in the West over recent times but the International Labour Organisation estimates "a minimum 11.7 million are in forced labour in the Asia-Pacific region, the majority of whom are in debt bondage. " Bonded labour is illegal in most developing countries, but the practice remains widespread because the law is rarely enforced. Similarly, the unpaid graduate internships that are commonplace in the West, especially within large companies and investment banks, are technically illegal because the interns are unpaid and, therefore, do not receive the statutory minimum wage. Notwithstanding, the law is not generally enforced, indeed, the British Government even has an online portal which puts candidates in touch with 'employers' offering unpaid internships, where the worker (or more usually his or her parents) pays his or her own travel and living expenses but receives no income. So what's the difference between an unpaid agricultural intern and a bonded labourer? If a bonded labourer is a "slave" then so is an "intern", wether it be a graduate or an agricultural intern. Regarding the issue of debt, whereas a graduate intern would normally borrow money from the Bank of Mum and Dad to pay living expenses, an agricultural intern borrows the money from the farmer - unless he is a particularly fortunate young African who has parents rich enough to pay for his trip overseas to study Western agriculture. 3. Think of it this way, lots of people voluntarily obtain tattoos that identify them: most notably members of criminal gangs; but others proudly display tattoos of their favourite sporting teams, car or bike manufacturer or other popular affiliations - and for the agricultural their tattoo will represent a permanent souvenir of their trip to the West and best of all it's for free! 4. The reduction in the cost of Western crops would not necessarily lead to the African market being flooded with cheap food, but even if did this might be a good thing for the many people living on that continent that are malnourished. More likely, the reduction in the cost of food production in the West would have one or more of the following affects: a) The resulting increase in Western farmers' profit margins would reduce the need for state-funded agricultural subsidies, and these savings could be diverted to state aid for Africa which could be used to buy agricultural machinery. b) Lower food production costs in the West would mean that Western wholesalers would no longer import food from Asia where bonded labour is used to produce cheap crops. This would mean, for example, that rice produced in America would be as cheap as rice produced in India and American farmers could compete on a level playing field (or paddy field as the case may be). Again, this would lower prices, increase profits and reduce the need for state subsidies, thus allowing funds to be diverted to Africa. Of course, if some farmers were unscrupulous enough to exploit their interns by imposing unreasonable financial burdens on them, then charities could step in to pay off their debts: this would be a much more efficient way of helping Africa than channelling donations through corrupt regimes that skim money off to fund the lavish lifestyles of ruthless tyrants and their cronies. So, in conclusion, my agricultural internships would be good news for Western farmers, consumers and taxpayers plus Africans in general - in fact the only losers would be corrupt African dictators. Thank you. Sources: ---------- Bonded Labour: . http://www.antislavery.org... Unpaid Internships: . http://careers.guardian.co.uk... Government Intern Portal:. http://graduatetalentpool.direct.gov.uk...