The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the Setting Adequate Wages in Agriculture (SAW-A) Project last week, with support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation & Development (BMZ), seeking to promote fair wage policies, enhance collective bargaining, and support the establishment of minimum wage mechanisms to improve the livelihoods of agricultural workers. The sector employs over 80pc of Ethiopia’s workforce, making it the country's largest employment sector. Khumbula Ndaba, ILO Country Director for Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan, accented that many workers in this sector face low wages, informal employment, and limited social protection. Ethiopia is one of the few African countries without a national minimum wage, he stated, leaving agricultural workers vulnerable. The SAW-A project aims to support the development of statutory minimum wages based on evidence of workers' needs and economic factors. It also seeks to strengthen collective bargaining mechanisms, enhance compliance with international labour standards and EU due diligence requirements, and promote living wages and income security for both waged and self-employed agricultural workers. The backers state it aligns with the Homegrown Economic Reform (HGER 2.0), the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the African Union Agenda 2063.
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