There are 218 million children laborers around the world – of these, more than 130 million work in agriculture, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said Tuesday.

“It is simply unacceptable that every day 132 million children 5-14 years of age are forced to work the land, often in unhealthy and hazardous conditions,” Jose Maria Sumpsi, FAO Assistant Director-General for Agriculture and Consumer Protection, said in a statement Tuesday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations marked the UN World Day Against Child Labor, June 12, with a blood-chilling statement.

FAO said more than 130 million children aged as young as five years old work in agriculture worldwide. Agriculture accounts for 70 per cent of the world's 218 million child laborers, according to the UN agency.

FAO stated most studies show the main reason children become laborers is poverty. The children must work for their survival and that of their families. Child laborers suffer from a lack of education, poor health services and limited alternative employment opportunities, the UN agency said.

“The true winning strategy against child labor is to reduce poverty in rural areas of the developing world, offering income opportunities, addressing health and safety in agriculture, improving pesticide management, and ensuring sustainable development,” Sumpsi added.

A press statement issued Monday said FAO had joined with six other international organizations to fight child labor in the agricultural sector, the U.N.'s International Labour Organization, agricultural groups and an international labor union of hotel and restaurant workers.

“The goal ... is to develop joint strategies, programs and activities against child labor in agriculture in the national and international levels,” the FAO said from its Latin American office in Santiago, Chile.