Investing in the Future of Our Children

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Investing in the futureof our children

The Bayer CropScience Child Care Program



“Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from

performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or

to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.”

Article 32 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights o f the Child

Students of Class IX in a Government High

School located in Maddakkanahalli village,

in Sira Taluq, Tumkur district, in the stateof Karnataka listening intently to a training

course of our “Introduction to Basic

Technology” project



“At Bayer CropScience we do not tolerate child labor.

This applies to our own operations and also in

our supply chain. Through our Child Care Program

in the Indian cotton seed production, we

have implemented targeted measures to effectively

eliminate child labor.”

SANDRA E. PETERSON

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN4 FOREWORD



Dear Reader

Bayer CropScience is a subsidiary of Bayer AG and one of the world’s leading crop

science companies in the areas of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control,

seeds and plant biotechnology. We have a global workforce of approximately20,000 and are represented in more than 120 countries.

In line with the Bayer Human Rights Position, we do not employ children and we do

not tolerate child labor in our supply chain.

With the purchase of Aventis CropScience in 2002, Bayer

CropScience entered into the seed business thereby acquiring,

among others, the Indian seed company Proagro, now

Bayer BioScience Pvt. Ltd. When Bayer CropScience learned

that children were often employed by contract farmers for

the manual poll ination of cotton plants, the company started a unique initiative toprotect the rights of children in its acquired supply chain, the “Bayer CropScience

Child Care Program”. The measures under that program include, among others,

a clear contractual ban on child labor and penalties for violations of that ban,

comprehensive monitoring of our cotton seed production in India, education pro-

grams aimed at improving the school and job prospects of disadvantaged children.

Our initiatives that we have taken over the past years in India have born fruit:

We effectively eliminated child labor in our Indian cotton seed production. This gives

me condence that we can make a difference, that we can support the education and

later job opportunit ies for disadvantaged children and that chi ldren can get a greater

chance for a brighter future.

Sandra E. Peterson

CEO Bayer CropScience

Foreword

Children can get

a greater chance for

a brighter future.

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN FOREWORD 5



INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN6 CHILD LABOR WORLDWIDE



Child labor worldwideHard work but no futureAn estimated 158 million children aged ve to 14 are engaged in child labor worldwide,

often in dangerous conditions, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

This is one in six children in the world.

Children from rural India in theGadwal region, located in the Indian

State of Andhra Pradesh

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN CHILD LABOR WORLDWIDE 7



Although almost every country in the

world has ratied the United Na-

tions’ Convention on the Rights of

the Child, child labor has not van-

ished. In many developing countries, farm

work or even light industrial labor is seen as

part of the domestic culture and is thus toler-

ated and commonplace. Stil l in 2006, at least

33 countries had no legislation on minimum

age for employment. However, there is no need

for nger pointing, as it used to be the same

way in the West. In the time as industrializa-

tion was to begin in the western world, childlabor used to be also widely accepted in Eu-

rope and the United States: 30 percent of the

children in the UK in the 10 - 14 age group

were working in 1851. In 1880, the labor force

participation rate of male children, aged 10 - 15

years old was 32.5 percent in U.S.

Poverty and child labor

Poverty is one of the main reasons why chil-

dren are stil l forced to work. Often, families

need the additional income to make ends meet

or pay debts. But there are also other motiva-

tions for employers to use children, for in-stance in cotton seed production in India a

Child labor worldwide

(Estimation in percent of all children between five and 14 years)

30 percent or more

10–29 percent

Less than 10 percent

Data not available

Eastern EuropeCentral Asia

3 Mio

LatinamericaCaribbean

12 Mio

Middle EastNorth Africa

8 Mio

South Asia44 Mio

East AsiaPacific22 Mio

Sub-Saharan Africa69 Mio

Source: UNICEF (Data from 1999 – 2006, value refers to the most recent year)

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN8 CHILD LABOR WORLDWIDE



child’s small hands are seen as ideal for the

manual pollination of owers, likewise their

height. Children are also considered to be

“easier” to handle than adults. Urbanization,

a poor school infrastructure and labor intense

crops are also catalysts for child labor. Labor-

ing children are also deprived of an educa-

tion. Long working hours make school atten-

dance impossible, and if working children do

go to school, they are often too tired to suc-

ceed. Their future looks gloomy.

Tackling a complex problem

For Bayer CropScience ghting child labor

in the seed supply chain is a key corporate

responsibility. Experience clearly shows that

child labor can only be successfully ended

through the joint efforts of all stakeholders:

Governments and authorities, civil society

and the private sector.

However, eliminating child labor is a complex

challenge that needs comprehensive solu-

tions. In order to tru ly benet children, chi ld

labor prohibition needs to address the dual

challenges of providing families with suf-

cient income and their children with long-

term job prospects. Preventing chi ldren from

working alone is only one step towards

change. Crucial for the long-term success is to

achieve a change in the mindset of the peo-

ple. Sensitizing the local communities about

the il ls of child labor and offering educational

opportunities for children is therefore of par-

amount importance to achieve a long-term

success. After al l, it is education that is able to

break the cycle of poverty and help these chil-

dren and their families to a better future:

Fighting the exploitation of children is of

course also about monitoring and control. But

this gauges only the success, the output of the

measures implemented to solve the problem.Last but not least, the farmers also must be

convinced that they can work their elds prof -

itably without children.

Children in Gadwalin the Mahbubnagar

district, located in

the Indian State of

Andhra Pradesh

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN CHILD LABOR WORLDWIDE 9



A Child Care Program eld ofcer interacting

with women working in Bayer CropScience

contracted hybrid cotton seed farms located

in Yarrakota village, Chintamani Taluq in theIndian State of Karnataka

Corporate Social

ResponsibilityFocus areas of engagement at Bayer CropScienceAs a founding member of the United Nations’ Global Compact, Bayer and thus Bayer

CropScience actively promote sustainability and social responsibility principles and support

the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights.

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN10 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AT BAYER CROPSCIENCE



S

ocial commitment is a key element of

the Bayer Group’s mission under the

motto “Science For A Better Life”.

Bayer CropScience is committed toimprove the quality of people’s lives. This in-

cludes our employees, their families, the local

communities in which we operate and society

at large. We do this through the responsible

conduct of our business, by maintaining high

ethical standards and through voluntary out-

reach and action which bring direct and tan-

gible benet to people.

Our perception of corporatesocial responsibility

Putting our passion for people into every day

work forms the basis of our social commit-

ment as a corporate member of society. Our

responsibility as a member of society is not

simply philanthropic. It serves a greater pur-

pose within the context of social interaction

and engagement. It contributes to a stable so-

cial and a positive economic environment

thereby helping to achieve and secure pros-

perity, social equity and economic growth

within society. Our actions thereby help to

earn and maintain our company’s “license to

operate” and we engage with our stakeholders

to actively seek or provide feedback and to

further improve our social activities.

“Monitoring alone is not enough. An integrated approach is required to prevent

child labor on a lasting basis. We are helping to achieve this with the Bayer

CropScience Child Care Program”

Suhas R. Joshi, Head of Child Care Program, Bayer CropScience India

Highest efciency in key areas ofexpertise

Activities conducted under our social commit-ment are closely related to our core areas of

expertise as a science and innovation driven

company. We strongly emphasize and pro-

mote science education and training especial-

ly for young people. Our “Learning for Life”

initiative extends to include early childhood

education and a student lab in Germany

through to vocational education in India.

By further focusing on the advancement of a

resource efcient agriculture and the safe useof our products we want to contribute to the

protection of our environment and nature at

large. Prominent here are our Agrovida cam-

paign in Latin America and the “Target 400”

program in India.

Final ly, we initiate and promote programs or

projects which tend to people’s health and so-

cial needs as part of our outreach to commu-

nities in deprived rural areas. Bayer Crop-

Science helps farmers to directly access the

market in India and takes care of a micro

credit scheme.

The Bayer Human

Rights Position

“We follow a clear

zerotolerance to childlabor’ policy in ourbusiness opera-tions worldwide.We do not toleratechild labor in oursupply chain ei-ther, where wetake action againstknown cases ofviolation.”

Link

Bayer CropScience “Sustainability & Commitment”

www.sustainability.bayercropscience.com

The Bayer Human Rights Position

www.bayer.com/en/bayer-human-rights-position.aspx

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AT BAYER CROPSCIENCE 11



Students at Balala Vedika, at one of

the facilities run by the Naandi

Foundation located in Gadwal, in

the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh.

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN12 THE BAYER CROPSCIENCE CHILD CARE PROGRAM



The Bayer CropScienceChild Care Program

Our approach to the child labor challenge througha comprehensive program of targeted activitiesIn 2002, Bayer CropScience entered into the seed business acquiring, among others, the Indian seed

company Proagro. When Bayer CropScience learned that children were often employed by contract

farmers for the manual pollination of cotton plants, the company started a unique initiative to pro-

tect the rights of children in its supply chain.

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN THE BAYER CROPSCIENCE CHILD CARE PROGRAM 13



Indian cotton farmers have traditionally

employed children to manually pollinate

the owers of cotton plants for hybrid

seed production. Since this process re-

quires delicate hand labor, children were

deemed most suitable for this kind of activity.

While many farmers in India still feel that

there is a need for children to work, many ru-

ral areas lack the necessary infrastructure to

allow or attract chi ldren into schools. In addi-

tion, the expertise of teachers and the curric-

ulum is often not suitable to attract and retain

children at school. Due to the decentralized

production in dif ferent regions and states,

supply chains in agricultural seed production

are less accessible and more difcult to moni-

tor than most industrial supply chains in dis-tinct and often enclosed locations.

Children taking part

in a training course

in the “Introduction

to Basic Technology”

Center in the

Maddakkanahalli

Government High

School in Sira

in the Tumkur

district of the Indian

State of Karnataka

The program steps of the Bayer

CropScience Child Care Program

The Program comprises the followingaction points:

• Raising awareness of the ills of childlabor among local communities and

farmers

• Improving children’s access to educa-tion through our “Learning for Life”initiative

• A clear contractual ban of child laborcombined with incentives and sanctionsfor farmers

• A comprehensive eld monitoringprogram

• Stakeholder dialog to continuously im-prove the program




Raising awareness of the ills of

child laborAwareness is the key to change. Our aim is to

change people’s mind-set and not to penalize

farmers. We want to educate parents about

the benets of enrolling their children in

school instead of sending them to work in cot-

ton seed elds. The Bayer CropScience Child

Care Program therefore constantly communi-

cates the ills of child labor to local communi-

ties, farmers, children and their families.

In parallel, Bayer CropScience has engaged in

a stakeholder dialog with local non-govern-

mental organizations and politicians. These

dialogs aim to strengthen local networks and

identify possibilities for cooperation, to ex-

change experiences, and to highlight the is-

sue of child labor in the community.

“The practice of children working in the elds

is deeply rooted in rural culture. We need to

change the way families think. Our communi-cation strategies aim to get the message

across that education means a better future,”

explains UVL Ananda, Communications &

Public Affairs Manager, Bayer CropScience

India.

Improving children’s accessto education

Simply taking children out of the elds is not

enough; they need to get back into the class-

room. That’s why a key component of the

Child Care Program is the “Learning for Life”

initiative. It includes several measures aimed

at providing children with access to education

from improving school enrollment through to

vocational training. This cannot be achieved

by Bayer CropScience alone but only in a joint

effort by all relevant stakeholders: children,

parents, as well as the pertinent authorities

and non-governmental organizations.

School enrollment and reintegration

Bayer CropScience has partnered, for exam-

ple, with the Naandi Foundation. Naandi is a

well-known Indian non-governmental organi-

zation with profound expertise in integrating

children into India’s mainstream school sys-

tem. We started our collaboration in 2005 bysetting up Creative Learning Centers in the

Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Funded by

Bayer and successful ly run by Naandi, the

centers provided effective school enrollment

and school reintegration support. As part of

the collaboration Bayer CropScience today

supports 23 “Early Child Education Centers”

and 23 “Academic Learning Centers” in the

23 project villages.

Bayer CropScience

Organizer

Grower

Labor Contractor Labor

Contractwith grower

Hiring of laborHiring of labor

Organizer’scontract withgrower

Contract withorganizer

Vinod has attended

a Creative Learning

Center and is the

pride and joy of his

father and mother,

Paulose and

Amritha

The supplychain for hy-

brid cotton-

seed produc-

tion in India

consists of

up to four

tiers.

The Cotton Seed Production Supply Chain

➔




Reducing school drop outs

But what about kids who are losing interest in

school? In India, many rural schools are il l-equipped and poorly staffed. In addition chil-

dren often miss the link between the content

of the curriculum and the issues of daily life.

This often frustrates children, causing them

to drop out of school to start working instead.

Bayer CropScience has tried to tackle these

problems by adding a little spice to the curri-

cula of local schools, in the form of the “Intro-

duction to Basic Technology” (IBT) courses.

We started this project in ve vil lages in the

Indian state of Karnataka in 2008.

Run in cooperation with non-governmental

organizations and school authorities, the “In-

troduction to Basic Technology” courses edu-

cate students in different vocations by intro-

ducing self-empowering “learning by doing”

courses in classes 8 to 10. Each Saturday, spe-

cially educated instructors from the commu-

nity teach students knowledge that matters in

their daily l ives – from making a soak pit, to

running and repair ing a biogas stove, to sew-ing a dress or a carpet. The content of the

curriculum e.g., in mathematics is related to

the training elements. This is not only fun,

but it also links students to their own commu-

nity, broadens their horizons, empowers them

with new skills and introduces them to a vari-

ety of vocations formerly not known to them,

thus increasing their chances of nding a de-

cent job later in life.

Also the above mentioned Academic Learningcenters run by Naandi reduce the school

dropouts by enabling weaker students to fol-

low the classes.

“The wide-spread presence of Bayer CropScience and its advisers is really

impressive. Even in tiny villages in the Indian South, in the middle of nowhere,

I met Bayer CropScience consultants who support the farmers, helping them

to solve their problems.”

Piyush Dhawan,

Student of International Management in the MBA program at Pforzheim University, Germany

Facts on child

labor in India

In India, childlabor is unfortu-nately still wide-

spread. India’sgovernment

recently estimatedthat some

12.6 million childrenfrom the age of

5 to 14are at work in

India in variousoccupations.

School eases the way to a later job:

Ravi is a 14-year-old boy from Hosur, a village in the south ofthe state of Karnataka. He used to go to school but his atten-dance became very irregular as a teenager. “I didn’t learnanything at school to help me earn my living in later life,”says Ravi. Having attended several lessons in courses underour “Introduction to Basic Technology” initiative, he becameparticularly interested in electrical installation.

Ravi now once again attends school regularly. “The coursesprovide useful know-how and I’m now also interested inlearning more about other subjects. My goal is to pass theclass 10 exam with a mark of 80 - 90 percent,” he adds.




Sanction scheme

We decided not to immediately cancel the

contract at the rst violation of the Bayer

CropScience “No child labor policy”, because

this approach would not lead to a change of the

child labor situation in the vi llages affected.

If a chi ld is found working on a farm the eld

owner loses his bonus in accordance with the

tiered sanctions scheme. Growers who repeat-

edly violate the agreement face pay cuts or a

cancellation of their contracts:

1st Incident: Oral Warning

2nd Incident: Written Warning

3rd Incident: Loss of Bonus

4th Incident: Cut of procurement price

5th Incident: Cancellation of Contract

In the main season 2010/11 we only had to

declare oral warnings.

Incentives for our growers

Bonus in addition to the procurementprice

Working without children has a positive effect

on farmers’ paychecks – each farmer who

complies with our policy against chi ld labor is

paid an incentive at the end of each season.

The message is clear: Producing without chi ld

labor pays off! Economically successful farm-

ers are under less pressure to hire cheap la-

bor in the form of children.

Micro credits for our partners

To further ease the nancial pressures which

seasonal work puts on farmers, Bayer Crop-

Science used to cooperate with public sector

banks to offer micro-credits. In addition, the

company has decided to offer low interest

loans directly to their partners – the contractfarmers.

In India, farmers

can now get infor-

mation about

market data, prices

for their harvests

and weather

reports from their

local post ofces.

In the photo, the

postmaster in

Korrati village,

Mr. M.S. Gorwar,

updates the infor-

mation.




Knowledge transfer on crop cultivation

Farmers can take part in “Target 400”, atraining program aimed at increasing their

productivity and protability as well as their

awareness of the safe use and handling of

plant protection agents including empty

packages. Its name is derived from the ambi-

tious target of increasing the seasonal yield

to 400 packages of cotton seed per acre from

typically 260–300 packages.

Direct market access for farmers

In cooperation with the Multi CommoditiesExchange of India, we have also opened ser-

vice centers (Gramin Suvidha Kendra) in 15

post ofces of villages in the state of Karnata-

ka from December 2008 onwards. Here, farm-

ers may consult weather reports, obtain

weather insurance, crop protection products,

details on commodity prices and quotations

for the costs of temporary storage of their

crops. Comprehensive crop production con-

sultancy services are also available. This

initiative enables the farmers to directly

access the market as an alternative to the

traditional and inefcient ways of trade.

Field monitoring program

To make sure that the agreements between

Bayer CropScience and the contract farmers

are honored, we closely monitor the seed pro-

duction activities of our partners. Our employ-

ees from the Child Care Program together

with technical experts of the company visit

farms unannounced at least six times a year.

They work together in verifying each worker’s

age, documenting and archiving the entire

The Bayer CropScience Child Care Program … “can

therefore be regarded as an outstanding practical examplefor the contribution of a company to the eradication of

child labor.”

9th Human Rights Report of the Federal Republic of Germany

The measures of the Child Care Program

Directed at children:

• Raising awareness

• Early Child Education Centers

• Academic Learning Centers

• Bayer Ramanaidu Vignana JyothiSchool of Agriculture

• Increasing attractiveness of regular school throughinclusion of vocational elements in the syllabus –“Introduction to Basic Technology” courses

Directed at farmers:

• Raising awareness

• Monitoring and control

• Sanctions and incentives

• Micro-credits

• Productivity and safety training for farmers

• Direct market access

Price information services:

“I’m getting price information on a daily basis at my village.Taking leads from board price information, I sold groundnutat Gadag and beneted. Gramin Suvidha Kendra price infor-mation helps all our village farmers with future price infor-mation for Bengal gram, maize and wheat. Sunower futurerates should also be given in coming days.”

Sanganbassapa Shankarappa Ronad,

Farmer in the village Savadi/Gadag district

➔




monitoring process. Our teams do not simply

rely on appearance to identify children under

the age of 15. They insist on seeing dened

age proof certicates and verify them, if nec-

essary, at the source. Individuals whose age

cannot be unambiguously identied are treat-

ed as child laborers. If a child is found working

in the elds, this case is immediately followed

up: We not only make sure that this child is no

longer working but we strive to put the child

back to school. We visit the parents to con-

vince them that school attendance is better for

their future and the future of their children.

And through each monitoring visit under the

umbrella of the Child Care Program, addition-

al know-how transfer is provided on crop cul-

tivation.

Stakeholder dialog

Bayer CropScience also invited a group of re-

nowned international experts in the eld of

social sciences, education and workers rightsto serve on an Advisory Council, established

in February 2008. The council is working to

develop new ideas to enhance and expand the

program as the company’s seed business in

India continues to grow. This council meets

once or twice a year. It communicates its pro-

posals direct ly to the Bayer CropScience and

Bayer Group top management.

Upon frequent request, we have also started

to share our experience publicly e.g., at con-

ferences with a broader audience including

politicians and the media. Examples include

the Forum ENVICOMM in Germany, in April

2010 in Stuttgart, the 30th Strategic Manage-

ment Conference in Italy in September 2010 in

Rome and a Corporate Social Responsibility

Meeting organized by “The Associated Cham-

bers of Commerce and Industry of India” in

India in July 2010 in New Delhi.

In addition to this, we fostered the dialogprocess with national and international civil

society organizations, peer companies and

government representatives introducing the

Bayer CropScience Child Care Program to them

by a workshop jointly organized with the Fair

Labor Association in Hyderabad on July 27, 2010.

We have also been asked to support the intro-

duction of the Bayer CropScience Child Care

Program into university education. To this

end, the Richard Ivey School of Business ofthe University of Western Ontario, Canada,

has elaborated a case study for student curri-

cula. Further to this, a company Project with

the University of Pforzheim, Germany, has

been started to look into the challenges of ru-

ral agriculture development.

The Advisory

Council to the

Bayer CropScience

Child Care Program

at its invitation to

the residence of

the German

Ambassador

Thomas Matussek

(8th from left side)

on December 10,

2010 in New Delhi




Link

Protecting children’s rights:www.childprotection.bayercropscience.com

Bayer Sustainable Development Report

www.sustainability.bayer.com

In a leading role, jointly with other seed indus-

try peers under the umbrella of the global fed-

eration of CropLife International, Bayer Crop-

Science developed a position on child labor.

Not only industry peers but also non-govern-

mental organizations like the Fair Labor Orga-

nization (FLO) and inter-governmental organi-

zations like the International Labor

Organization (ILO) and the United Nations In-

ternational Children’s Emergency Fund (UNI-

CEF) have been involved. It was published by

CropLife on the occasion of the “World Day

Against Child Labor” on June 12, 2009.

Last but not least, we openly share with exter-

nal stakeholders the activities and projects of

the Bayer CropScience Child Care Program

and actively involve them upon request.E.g., staff from the Norges Bank Investment

Management had the opportunity to come and

visit the Child Care Program Team in India.

A MBA student from the University of

Pforzheim, Germany, visited us in India in

Summer 2010 on a project on rural agricultur-

al development. We have been invited by the

Bertelsmann Foundation to provide the Bayer

CropScience Child Care Program as a case

study in the framework of its global corporate

social responsibility program. The open dialog

process with the German Government led to the

positive recognition of the Bayer CropScience

Child Care Program in the goverments 9th Hu-

man Rights Report, published 2010.

Monitoring form

used by the eld

monitoring teams

during their

unannounced

inspections to

check the age of

the workforce on

the contracted

cotton seed

production plots




The systematic approachOrganization and management systemThe measures are bearing fruit. There is no more systematic child labor in our cotton seed

supply chain in India. This success was only possible thanks to a highly committed project

team and an efcient management approach.

Children in an “Introduction to

Basic Technology” training courseon crop cultivation in a greenhouse

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN22 THE SYSTEMATIC APPROACH



Milestones of ourChild Care Program

2002 / 2003 2004 2005 2006• Acquisition of Proagro • Formation of Child Labor

Elimination Group (CLEG)• Bayer CropScience starts

and propels forward multilevel program under CLEG

• Collaboration with NaandiFoundation starts

• Incentive and sanctionsystem launched in BayerCropScience operations

• Knowledge transfer tofarmers intensied (Target

400)

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN24 MILESTONES



No more systematic child laborWe are glad to say that our multi-faceted approach against child labor has proven successful. Over

the past six years, incidence rates of child labor in our cotton seed production have dropped continu-

ously to a now virtual level of zero in our cotton seed supply chain. And thanks to our education ef-

forts, many children are back where they belong – at school.

Adults working in hybrid cotton

seed farms contracted by Bayer

CropScience in Yarrakota village,

Chintamani Taluq in the Indian

State of Karnataka

Facts and gures in Indiancotton seed production

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN26 FACTS AND FIGURES



A Bayer

CropScience

employeeproviding a

farmer with

intense instruc-

tion in good

agricultural

practice

But it is also a win situation for the company.Fighting child labor also makes business

sense: Besides ensuring children’s rights,

combating child labor has a positive effect on

Bayer CropScience’s business:

• The program’s implementation helps boost

the company’s rapport with production

farmers – and this in turn enhances their

loyalty to Bayer CropScience. Farmers usu-

ally stay with us as business partners not

only for a season or two but enter into a long

term relation. This minimizes our resources

to familiarize our supplier with our require-

ments.

• The agricultural knowledge transfer as a

side effect of our systematic eld monitoring

improved the quality of our seed production

signicantly.

That child labor cases have considerably de-clined since 2005 has also been veried by

yearly external surveys from the audit rm

Ernst & Young.

We have also succeeded in teaming up with

the local Indian agriculture company Rasi to

extend the reach of our Child Care Program.

We are happy that Rasi is helping to combat

the problem.

A win-win situation for all


is a win-win situation for all involved.

Working children are put back to school

now receiving an education for a better

future. The farmers benet from the intense

knowledge transfer on crop cultivation

within the framework of the program. As

Bayer CropScience is paying market prices

per weight unit, higher yields translate into

higher income.

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN28 FACTS AND FIGURES



“I am happy that the Child Care Program proved very successful and

eliminated systematic child labor in our cotton seed production in India.

It constitutes a win-win situation: The children go to school and have the

chance of a better future, the farmers get the chance to improve their

productivity and protability, and Bayer CropScience gets loyal partners.”

Jörg Rehbein,

Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Bayer CropScience ChildCare Program India

• The implementation of the sound Child Care

Program Management System trains our

production personnel in a system-driven ap-

proach of doing business affecting also oth-

er areas of our operation through e.g., job

rotation.

• Corporate responsibility measures strength-

en our relationships with local communi-

ties, non-governmental organizations, state

government ofcials and members of the

local administration and thus sustain our

license to operate.

Overview on existing projects

under the Learning for Life Initiative and incentive measures for farmers

Project Name Short Characterization Partnering Organizations Start State Number of

Villages

Achievements

Cooperation

with the Naandi

Foundtion

Bayer CropScience today supports 23 Early Child

Education Centers and 23 Academic Learning Centers

in the project villages.

Naandi 2005 Andhra

Pradesh

23 1,402 children

(re)integrated into the

government school

system since 2005.

Bayer Ramanaidu

Vignana Jyothi

School of Agricul-

ture

Provides vocational training to become a farm

assitant. Until 2009 a one year course was provided,

from 2010 onward two half year intense courses

for 30 participants are offered. This doubles thenumber of possible alumni per year.

Vignana Jyothi 2008 Andhra

Pradesh

Entire state

of Andhra

Pradesh

108 students graduated

(Graduation in 2009,

2010 and 2011)

Introduction to Ba-

sic Technology

Occupational instruction for students in classes 8 -10

in government schools provided by local instructors.

Vigyan Ashram

Prajayatna

2008 Karnataka 5 1,949 students partici-

pated as of March 2011

Direct Market

Access for Farmers

Information on crop cultivation and agricultural

services are provided via the internet access in local

post offices through a project coordinator like e.g.,

market prices or wheather insurance.

India Post

Multi Commodity Exchange

India

2008 Karnataka 23

(within

15 post

office

branches)

681 Farmers registered

for the project (until

March 2011)

Microcredits Credits are provided using sincere interest rates

(“Prime Lending Rate” provides the benchmark,

today mostly provided by the company).

Bank of India if required 2006 All ca. 400 15 Mio INR provided in

2007/2008

Target 400 Productiv ity increase through knowledge transfer in

crop cultivation. Also used to introduce and supportthe use of modern plant protection agents.

n.a. 2006 All 577 10,703 farmers trained

as of March 2011

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN FACTS AND FIGURES 29



W e are committed to continue

raising awareness, monitoring

our cotton seed elds and help-

ing to get as many children as

possible back into the regular school system.

Increasing the reachof the program

In addition, Bayer CropScience and the Bayer

Group have taken a board-level decision to ex-

tend the Child Care Program to all our vege-

table and rice seed production, where we haveidentied a need to act.


in cotton seed production served as a model

for the extension to vegetable seed produc-

tion. The implementation process was started

in 2008 by establishing the required in house

organization, systems and procedures. As

soon as we have backed the results of the sys-

tematic eld monitoring by external verica-

tion we will also disclose these encouraginggures.

In 2010 Bayer CropScience has started the

program implementation in its Indian rice

seed production.

We also invite other companies to benet

from the Bayer experience. “Our project in In-dia has demonstrated how much can be

achieved for the good of children in the face

of difcult conditions,” says Dr. Michael

Schneider, Initiator of Child Care Program at

Bayer CropScience.

Girls and boys of a

Government High

School located in

Maddakkanahalli

village, in Sira Taluq,

Tumkur district,

in the Indian State of

Karnataka learning

carpentry skills in a

practical class of our“Introduction to Basic

Technology” project.

“We will continue our activities in India while striving to further reach out to

other countries to address potential child labor challenges in a risk based

approach. In a concerted effort with other internationally operating

companies and stakeholders in the agricultural sector we have started to

share our experience and encourage efforts to contribute to the eradication

of child labor.”

Dr. Michael Schneider, Initiator of the Child Care Program at Bayer CropScience, Monheim am Rhein, Germany

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN OUR GOALS FOR THE FUTURE 31



Bayer CropScience AGCorporate Communications

Alfred-Nobel-Str. 50

D-40789 Monheim am Rhein

Germany

Investing in the Future of Our Children

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