Low pay to Indian cotton farmers by seed companies is leading farmers to use child labour, a recent study revealed.

The Price of Childhood found multinational companies including Bayer, Monsanto and Syngenta and India's Nuziveedu Seeds, Raasi Seeds and Ankur Seeds are paying farmers in Andhra Pradesh 40 per cent below what is needed for them to hire adults at minimum wage.

The report by the India Committee of the Netherlands, the International Labor Rights Fund and Eine Welt Netz NRW, found at least 100,000 children worked 13 hour days for less than 60 US cents per day. Many were in bonded labour.

The hazardous work exposes children to pesticides, causing illness and even death.

Although the multinationals acknowledge substantial child labour in this sector, they deny its link to their payment to cotton seed farmers.

It is vital companies recognise the full impact of their policies on the use of child labour and their responsibilities throughout the supply chain.