10 Soyapa Farms, Mindanao
Danilo Carillon, 16 years old, climbs a bamboo ladder, pulling a plastic bag over each bunch of bananas. The bags are treated with a pesticide, Lorsban. Carillon wears a simple dust mask over his face when he unrolls each bag, one not capable of filtering out chemicals. He works in the Soyapa Farms banana plantation in San Jose Campostela, Mindanao, in the Philippines. The families on the plantation are paid so little that children have to work to supplement family income. The plantation was created by Stanfilco, the Philippine subsidiary of Dole Corporation.

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photographs and stories by David Bacon © 1990-1999

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