A/HRC/43/44/Add.2 facing formidable barriers to the realization of their right to food, often working without labour and employment protections, and under dangerous conditions. 107. In Zimbabwe, farm workers, particularly of foreign origin, are the invisible and unheard victims of the current food crisis. Following the implementation of the Fast Track Land Reform programme and the subsequent expropriation of commercial farms, people working the lands were left without any safety nets, with no social protection or minimum wages. Currently, the second generation of farm workers are the most vulnerable and forgotten part of the society. 108. Many workers are employed in one of two ways: informally (e.g., without a contractual agreement to guarantee, among other things, a fair wage, safe working conditions and available remedies), or, as in the case of family members, without any financial compensation. To date, workers in commercial farms receive monthly wages as low as 300 to 400 Zimbabwe dollars (25 United States dollars), putting them below the World Bank levels of extreme poverty. Many small-scale farmers working in the tobacco, horticulture and cottons sectors are contracted by commercial farming and therefore not in a position to negotiate the prices of their harvest or to pay their own farm workers owing to a combination of extremely low earnings and high inflation. 109. Moreover, in some parts of the country, agricultural workers and smallholder farmers – particularly those working on tobacco and sugar plantations – are exposed to toxic pesticides: from spray, drift or direct contact with treated crops or soil; from accidental spills; or owing to inadequate personal protective equipment. Given that agricultural workers often lack social protections, including health care, compensation, long-term disability insurance and survivor benefits, such accidents may propel agricultural workers and their families into deep poverty and prevent them from realizing their right to food. 110. The Special Rapporteur also received information that children as young as 7 were doing hazardous work for meagre sums on sugar or tobacco plantations, performing tasks that threatened their health and safety or interfered with their education. The Special Rapporteur commends the Government of Zimbabwe for its ratification in May 2019 of the Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), of the International Labour Organization, which demonstrates the country’s commitment to combating forced labour in all its forms. Governments that have enacted strong laws against child labour, and provided extensive information about hazards and how to provide protection, have witnessed some progress in keeping children out of the fields and protecting other workers. Child labour and other human rights abuses on tobacco farms in Zimbabwe severely tarnish the contributions of the tobacco and sugar industries to the country’s economic growth and improved livelihoods. B. Women and children 111. Women and girls play an essential role in providing food and nutrition security for their families and communities. Zimbabwe is among the countries experiencing a “feminization of agriculture”, as women are increasingly left to carry the full burden of agricultural work in addition to their load of unpaid responsibilities at home (see A/HRC/26/39). 112. Zimbabwean women are responsible for 70 per cent of subsistence farming and food production in the country. Within the agricultural sector, labour is divided as 45.4 per cent men and 54.6 per cent women, with the percentage of females being high because they are mostly unpaid family workers. It is worth mentioning that in Zimbabwe the unpaid contributing family worker rate stands at 39.4 per cent men and 60.6 per cent women. Approximately, 86 per cent of women in Zimbabwe depend on the land for their livelihood and that of their families. 113. While women constitute the majority of the food producers in Zimbabwe, they encounter more barriers and challenges to sufficient and sustainable agricultural livelihoods, including limited access to land and productive resources (capital, labour, land, and mechanization and irrigation infrastructure). Poverty levels among female-headed 17