Sugar Cane Cutters in Colombia

FLORIDA, COLOMBIA - MAY 30: A sugar cane cutter sharpens his machete on a plantation near Florida, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, 30 May 2012. The Cauca River valley is the booming centre of agriculture and sugar cane cultivation in Colombia. Although the main part of the crop is still refined into a sugar, the global demand of biofuel and ethanol has intensified the sugar cane production in the last years. 85 percent of Colombia's cane crop is still harvested the manual way, employing approximately 30,000 workers. Working six days a week, under harsch labor conditions, the sugar cane cutters earn $4 for every ton of cane they cut, with no access to social benefits due to the tricky system of intermediary contractors and cooperatives. (Photo by Jan Sochor/Latincontent/Getty Images)