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The Committee notes the Government’s report. It also notes the annual general inspection report for 1997. The Committee notes that neither the Government’s report nor the annual report provide information on the human and material resources available to the labour inspectorate to discharge its functions in the agricultural sector. It also observes the information in the annual report that, during the period under consideration, no inspections were carried out in agricultural establishments, even though the number of physical work-related accidents amounted to 188. The statistics on occupational diseases provided in the annual report are not disaggregated by branch of activity or economic sector, and do not therefore indicate the number of cases which occurred in agricultural activities. The Government indicates in this respect in its report that appropriate statistics will be provided when they become available. The Committee concludes from the above that the agricultural sector suffers from an absence of any inspection and that the Convention is not applied. It wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the fact that inspections in agricultural enterprises are the most effective means of ascertaining their occupational health and safety situation. The total absence of such inspections is bound to encourage employers to neglect measures of prevention and for the protection of workers against employment accidents and occupational diseases. Furthermore, lack of knowledge of the scope of application of the relevant legal provisions does not facilitate the implementation of policies or measures to improve health and safety conditions in the agricultural sector, and contributes to marginalizing workers in the sector in relation to national policy in these areas. The priority is therefore to take the necessary measures to ensure that the inspection services discharge their function, in accordance with Article 21 of the Convention, of inspecting agricultural enterprises as often and as thoroughly as is necessary to ensure the effective application of the relevant legal provisions. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures as soon as possible for this purpose and to ensure the inclusion in annual inspection reports of separate statistics for the agricultural sector on each of the subjects enumerated in Article 27(b) to (g).

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2001.]