Sustainability and Social Justice
Document Type
Book Chapter
Abstract
In 2022, the World Bank estimated that roughly 27% of Sri Lankans worked in the agriculture sector. This chapter focuses on the lives of agricultural workers who cultivate their own farms or work as temporary labourers. It provides an overview of the factors that influence their agricultural livelihoods including but not limited to the structure of the country's agricultural economy and wages. The chapter discusses the risks and uncertainties that climate change, government policies, and agrochemical use present to workers and how they adapt. The chapter's final focus is the incorporation of workers including women into commercial agriculture and export-oriented value chains.
Publication Title
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Sri Lanka
Publication Date
2025
First Page
231
Last Page
241
ISBN
9781040043509
DOI
10.4324/9781003300991-23
Keywords
Sri Lanka, agricultural workers, agricultural economy and wages, labor
Repository Citation
Caron, Cynthia, "The Work and Lives of Agricultural Workers" (2025). Sustainability and Social Justice. 567.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_idce/567
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
