Occupational Safety and Health

How coffee farmers in Viet Nam are transforming compliance into a shield for Decent Work

Not only the bean, but safety and rights are essential ingredients for the resilience of their families and farms.

10 December 2025

BUON MA THUOT, ILO News – In the rolling red hills of the Central Highlands, Vietnam National Coffee Day is typically a time to celebrate the Robusta bean, the output that has placed Vietnam on the global map as a coffee powerhouse. The air in Buon Ma Thuot usually buzzes with talk of yields, prices, and export targets. However, for thirty farmers from Dak Lak and Dak Nong, the 2025 celebration offered more than just festivity: it provided a hands-on blueprint for a safer, fairer, and more resilient farming future.

Gathered through a joint initiative of the International Labour Organization’s Vision Zero Fund (VZF) and Nestlé Vietnam, the farmers arrived anticipating a standard refresher on labour law compliance and occupational safety. Having taken part in previous training sessions, they expected conventional lectures and technical briefings. Instead, they were engaged in a structured, simulation-based exercise designed to confront the gap between formal compliance requirements and the complex, time-pressured realities of managing a coffee farm during the peak harvest season.

The morning session quickly dispensed with the traditional classroom format. Formal presentations were replaced by scenario cards depicting real-world dilemmas drawn from the coffee sector and reflecting the time-sensitive decisions farmers routinely confront. The room soon became a space of concentrated discussion. Rather than merely reviewing legal provisions, participants examined their own established practices, working through complex issues such as engaging seasonal workers without written contracts or questioning the legality of requiring deposits from employees.

Around the table, teams weighed everyday farm situations, from labour arrangements to working conditions, turning discussion and debate into a lively learning challenge.

A farmer from the Dak Nong team noted that seemingly small, habitual oversights, like retention of ID card of employers to prevent them from leaving in mid-harvest or allowing older children to assist with heavy or even hazardous tasks, could unintentionally create significant liabilities. The takeaway was immediate and tangible: compliance is not a bureaucratic hurdle, but a practical shield that protects both workers’ rights and the farm owner’s business stability. The conversation shifted from what compliance meant in theory to what it looked like on their farm, in practice.

As the day advanced, the intellectual exercises gave way to more physical challenges The focus shifted from legal compliance to urgent aspects of physical safety, guided by specialists from the Viet Nam Red Cross. The seminar room was reconfigured into a simulation environment, staging visceral emergencies specific to the risks of the Central Highlands. The scenarios were high stakes: a farmer collapsing from smoke inhalation during a storage shed fire, a serious motorbike accident on a slippery harvest road, and a traumatic fall from a ladder resulting in a suspected fracture.

By this point, the emphasis moved from discussion to the development of practical skills. The atmosphere was marked by concentrated effort as participants worked to assess injuries, clear airways, control bleeding, and stabilize fractures. Errors occurred, were corrected, and became learning moments in real time. The farmers quickly recognized that in the critical minutes before emergency services can reach remote terrain, a calm and informed response can determine the difference between recovery and tragedy. One participant noted that the realism of the exercises enabled him to identify risks previously overlooked on his own farm, underscoring that prevention is a culture that must be deliberately cultivated.

Three teams, three scenarios—quick thinking, clear communication, and teamwork were put to the test in realistic, high-pressure situations.

This immersive event underscores the core mission of the ILO-VZF and Nestlé partnership, strengthening this proactive safety mindset across Vietnam's agriculture sector, moving beyond simple auditing to true empowerment. As Pham Phu Ngoc, Chief Company Representative in the Central Highlands Region, Nestlé Viet Nam, shared at the closing: “We work hard for our farms. Knowing how to protect our people, through compliance and in emergencies, helps us work better”. The day concluded with a simple but important reminder: decent work in agriculture is achieved through steady, practical improvements. With every scenario discussed and every skill practised, coffee farmers in the Central Highlands are contributing to safer, fairer and more resilient communities for seasons to come.