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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

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. They run between 20 and 30% of coffee-producing economic units, their participation being increasingly recognized.

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 materials and information on good practices; and 
  • Encourage collective action among coffee stakeholders to address persistent safety and health challenges in the coffee supply chain.

The campaign takes an integrated approach to fundamental principles and rights at work, emphasizing that these rights are essential for achieving decent work and sustainable economic growth. It underscores the importance of implementing interrelated and mutually supportive strategies to promote and protect all five fundamental rights at work which include:

  • Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
  • The elimination of forced or compulsory labour;
  • The effective abolition of child labour;
  • The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation; and
  • The right to a safe and healthy working environment.

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.

In 2024, the campaign is prioritizing the implementation of awareness-raising and learning activities at the global level (learning webinars and dissemination of the #CoffeePeople documentary), and in Brazil and Uganda.  In addition, the Fund is implementing activities in Colombia and launched a new country project in Indonesia.

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. They may also have an increased risk of lung cancer, related to the practice of burning foliage at the time of cane cutting. In recent years, research has pointed out to the relationship between workers’ kidney injury risk and sugar cane workers with strenuous jobs. The results point to the need to increase efforts to prevent kidney injury among sugarcane workers, and other heat-stressed workers, by improving access to water, rest and shade.

In 2024, the Fund is conducting research on the 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 supply chain. Research findings will inform the development and implementation of social dialogue and capacity development activities to remove OSH deficits.

This project is co-funded by the European Union.

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 trainings on decent work conducted 
  • 83 people trained on OSH issues (50% women) 
  • Launched the #FamiliasCafeteras awareness-raising campaign 
  • 24 promotional materials developed (webpage, brief, video, press release, SM cards) 
  • +2,000 people reached through the campaign activities, including a global webinar organized by the ILO that promoted project activities