Promotion of Decent Work for Agricultural Workers in Bangladesh

Agriculture is the single most important sector of the Bangladesh economy providing the major source of livelihood in the rural areas where about 78 percent of the population lives. The sector accounts for 47 percent of the total labour force and contributes approximately 16 percent of the GDP. The performance of this sector has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty alleviation, human resources development, and food security. Participation of women workers in the agriculture sector of Bangladesh is increasing with visible discrimination at workplaces.

The agriculture sector in Bangladesh is presently suffering from an acute decent work deficit. The basic characteristics of the informal sector of Bangladesh are no policy and legal framework; absence of employer-employee relationship; poor wage; long working hours; high occupational health and safety risks; no social protection/safety-net and lack of fundamental rights of the workers at workplaces, low organising capacity, and initiatives by trade unions, etc.

This project instigates to build the capacity of the workers who those are working in the agriculture in both project areas towards organising as well as raising awareness on occupational health and safety to prevent occupational hazards and diseases. Through the project activities, BLF also contributed to the improvement of the working conditions, reduce gender discrimination, and build awareness and capacity regarding trade unionism, FOA in the agricultural industry in Bangladesh.