Editing Debt bondage (section)

==== Rice harvesting ====
[[File:Storing rice, India, 1956 (16795758519).jpg|thumb|Workers storing rice in India in 1952]]

An essential grain to the South Asian diet, rice is harvested throughout India and Nepal in particular.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":4" /> In India, more than 20% of agricultural land is used to grow rice.<ref name=":4" /> Rice mill owners often employ workers who live in harsh conditions on farms.<ref name=":4" /> Workers receive such low wages that they must borrow money from their employers causing them to be tied to the rice mill through debt.<ref name=":4" /> For example, in India, the average pay rate per day was $0.55 American dollars as recorded in 2006.<ref name=":4" /> Though some workers may be able to survive minimally from their compensation, uncontrollable life events such as an illness require loans.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":16" /> Families, including children, work day and night to prepare the rice for export by boiling it, drying it in the sun, and sifting through it for purification.<ref name=":4" /> Furthermore, families who live on rice mill production sites are often excluded from access to hospitals and schools.<ref name=":4" />