ILO Social Protection (2026) Agricultural and rural workers in different types of employment face several challenges and barriers due to the largely informal nature of their employment, their exclusion from national social protection legislation, policies or practice, their vulnerabilities to economic, social and environmental crises, and lack of access to information and administrative procedures. This brief presents the key challenges in extending coverage to workers in the agricultural sector and sketches out possible solutions and good practices countries are employing to expand coverage to this sector.