The great majority of children in agriculture work as part of a family unit. In lieu of paying workers on a salary basis, many plantations pay workers either by the weight or the quantity of the product collected. In some cases, minimum amounts of a product must be collected in order for any compensation to be paid. To ensure that this minimal amount is collected, or to maximize earnings, parents turn to their children. Many children who work on farms and plantations attend school when they are not working, but the quality of rural schools is often low, the duration of children's attendance short, and the ability of children to concentrate and thrive in school, when they must perform arduous physical labor either before or after school, may be severely taxed.
Work days can be extremely long.
Eleven hour days are reportedly the norm for children working on sisal plantations in Tanzania. Girls in one fish cleaning plant in India may work 12 hour days, while some children who shell shrimp in Thailand may work for 15 hours or longer, mostly squatting on the floor or sitting on a small bench. Children in agriculture face many safety and health risks. Poisonous and disease-carrying insects and reptiles are constant threats to children on plantations. Fatigue is an ever present problem.