NEC rolls out new agriculture job grading system

HARARE, Aug. 30 (NewsDay Live) — The National Employment Council for Agriculture (NEC-Agriculture) has rolled out a new occupational grading system as part of efforts to modernize labour regulation and align job classifications with changes in the agriculture sector.

The council has also launched initiatives to translate collective bargaining agreements into local languages to promote inclusivity and improve workers’ awareness of wages, workplace safety and their rights.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show, NEC-Agriculture chief executive officer David Madyausiki told NewsDay that the new grading schedule followed a job re-evaluation conducted between 2022 and 2024 using the Patterson job evaluation system.

The previous evaluation was conducted in 1999.

Madyausiki said the new system had been introduced to reflect changes in the industry, including new technologies, equipment, occupations and crops.

“The new grades are helping the industry in the sense that the old grading schedule we had did not have all the jobs that we now have,” Madyausiki said.

“We are now aligned to the current jobs that are in the industry, now with the modern technology and the new equipment that are coming, and new crops that are being grown.”

He said the council began the re-evaluation process in 2022, with the new grading system taking effect on Sept. 1, 2025.

“In 2022, 2023 and 2024, we embarked on that journey. We did a re-evaluation of the jobs and, effective Sept. 1, 2025, we implemented the new grades,” he said.

Madyausiki said NEC-Agriculture was also stepping up awareness of its Occupational Safety, Health and Environmental Code across the sector.

“We also have an occupational safety, health and environmental code, which deals with issues of health and safety at the workplace,” he said.

He said the council was increasing its outreach across the agriculture sector’s sub-sectors, including agriculture, horticulture, coffee, timber and sugar cane.

NEC-Agriculture has been meeting stakeholders in the various sub-sectors to raise awareness of labour regulations, workplace safety and other issues affecting employers and workers.

Madyausiki said the outreach programme was particularly important in sub-sectors such as sugar cane, where many farmers are not permanently resident on their farms.

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