GENEVA (ILO News) – Experts from governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations have adopted new guidelines to promote decent work in the agri-food sector. The agreement will support efforts to improve the lives and livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion workers and support sustainable enterprise development in the sector.
The promotion of decent work in the sector will also help address major global challenges such as rising food insecurity, affecting hundreds of millions of people globally; increasing levels of poverty, which are particularly pronounced in rural areas and especially among the agri-food workforce; and environmental degradation and climate change, caused in part by current food systems, which themselves are affected by such changes.
Based on relevant International Labour Standards and international agreements, the guidelines cover the four pillars of the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda - rights at work, decent and productive employment, social protection, and social dialogue.
They will act as guidance for ILO constituents and other relevant stakeholders that design and implement policies to promote decent work in the agri-food sector, as part of efforts to build sustainable and resilient food systems able to feed the world’s growing population,- without compromising the economic, social, and environmental foundations for present and for future generations.
The guidelines have been agreed at a meeting of experts in Geneva, bringing together global experts representing governments, employers and workers’ organizations, as well as FAO, IFAD, and CARE International, to discuss the challenges facing the sector.
