Agricultural Supply Chains
Improving Safety and Health in Agricultural Supply Chains
Food and agricultural supply chains represent a high percentage of global trade, both in terms of value and volume. Compliance with fundamental principles and rights at work is of direct relevance to the agri-food sector and the rural economy, both in terms of guaranteeing labour rights and for accessing market/trade purposes.
Agriculture is one of the three most hazardous sectors of activity. Every day, agricultural workers face a wide spectrum of risks at work. However, they do not always understand the risks to which they are exposed as part of their work, and often lack the knowledge or the means to prevent OSH accidents and injuries.
Sector
Team
Maria Munaretto, Project Coordinator
Schneider Guataqui Cervera, National Project Coordinator
Juliana Lira da Silva, National Project Officer
When
October 2022 to December 2023
February 2024 to May 2025
Development Partners
European Union
All Japan Coffee Association
Project code
GLO/23/34/EUR
GLO/22/12/EUR
Expected outcomes
Working in partnership with government agencies, employers’ and workers’ organizations, and private sector companies, Vision Zero Fund is now implementing an initiative to enhance stakeholders´ commitment to promoting occupational safety and health in the coffee and sugar cane supply chains.
Coffee
Coffee is produced in more than 50 developing countries across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. It is an important source of income for 20 to 25 million families worldwide. Women constitute an estimated 70% of the workforce in the sector.
Since 2018, Vision Zero Fund has been working to improve workers’ Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in the coffee supply chain through country-specific projects in Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam.
In 2023, the Fund launched the #CoffeePeople campaign, to promote the right to a safe and healthy working environment.
The campaign aims to:
- Raise awareness about OSH by disseminating knowledge and information on good practices;
- Encourage collective action among coffee stakeholders to address persistent safety and health challenges in the coffee supply chain.
A central aspect of the campaign is its focus on partnerships. Key partners to date have included the International Coffee Organization (ICO), the European Union, the French Ministry of Labour, the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the United States Department of Labor, the All Japan Coffee Organization, the European Coffee Federation (ECF), the Global Coffee Platform (GCP), and the International Women in Coffee Alliance (IWCA), among others.
The campaign prioritizes the implementation of awareness-raising and learning activities at the global level (learning webinars and dissemination of the #CoffeePeople documentary), and in Brazil, Uganda, and Colombia. In addition, the Fund is implementing activities in Viet Nam and Indonesia.
COLOMBIA
AJCA – ICO – ILO collaboration
In 2023, at the World Coffee Conference, AJCA, ICO, and the ILO formalized their partnership to support activities to promote decent work in the Colombian coffee supply chain. With co-funding from AJCA, the following results were achieved:
- Adoption of a Call to Action statement by coffee stakeholders from the “Regional Committee of the Coffee Supply Chain of the Huila”
- +2,000 people reached through the #FamiliasCafeteras campaign
Sugar cane
Sugarcane production has steadily increased over the past several decades, doubling over the last 20 years.
Workers involved in the production of sugar cane are affected by a number of occupational accidents and are exposed to the high toxicity of pesticides.
The Fund completed a study of drivers and constraints for improving OSH in the sugarcane supply chain in Colombia and on the health and working conditions of vulnerable workers in the panela sector (in Spanish).
UGANDA
To date, campaign activities have engaged over 350 women and men in awareness-raising and training initiatives, including a 5km SafeDay Run and participatory, action-oriented training for coffee growers in Bukomansimbi, Masaka, and Kalungu. The training content and awareness materials were developed in close collaboration with the National Union of Cooperative Commercial Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUCCAAW). Download the materials below.
Understanding what drives and limits OSH in Agricultural Supply Chains
This project is co-funded by the European Union.
