Towards a Sustainable and Equitable Food Future: Reshaping Food Systems Around Small-scale Producers

In her introductory remarks, Sarah Hunt, Policy Director of the Development Cooperation and Africa Division in Irish Aid, welcomed Dr Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). She remarked that rural communities are facing exceptional challenges in 2023 in terms of food and nutrition security. More frequent extreme weather events, conflict, and fiscal pressures have come together and have severely impacted global food and nutrition security. She affirmed that Ireland is working to respond to said challenges as a long-standing champion of efforts to eradicate global hunger and malnutrition. Ireland’s international development policy, A Better World, recognises the central role agricultural and food systems will play in achieving a sustainable future and committed €800 million for nutrition programming in 2021 and a further €50 million to combat childhood wasting in 2022. She commended IFAD’s role in supporting small-scale farmers and rural communities and said that Ireland and IFAD can achieve a lot together, given the alignment in their priorities and areas of intervention. She concluded by introducing President Lario as a Doctor of Financial Economics with many years of experience in academia, the private sector, the World Bank, and the UN.  

Reshaping Food Systems is Key to a Sustainable Food Future, Jobs, and Education

Dr Lario then delivered a speech entitled Towards a Sustainable and Equitable Food Future: Reshaping Food Systems Around Small-scale Producers. He began his address by emphasising that over 700 million people worldwide are facing hunger, and 3 billion people cannot afford healthy diets. IFAD is witnessing failures in food systems, including food production, distribution, commercialisation, storage and transport, and a lack of investment in the system. In Africa alone, more than 10 million young women and men search for employment in this field every year, while there are less than 4 million new jobs available. The role of climate change and agriculture-induced greenhouse emissions from bigger farms is a challenge which merits consideration. For IFAD, the key issue is to support communities in transitioning from subsistence farming to commercially viable farming so they can generate an income, which translates into schooling for their children, better nutrition, and, in many cases, changes to entire communities. 

The Link Between Poverty, Food Security, and Food Systems

In conversations with many world leaders, Dr Lario said he has noticed a great focus on food sovereignty and not being vulnerable to the local value chains. In his view, investing in food security is crucial, as he sees that the link between food security, food systems, agriculture, and climate change is getting stronger. He continued by highlighting some challenges and key facts in the relationship between poverty, food security, and food systems. First, most of the world's hungriest people live in rural areas of developing countries, meaning 80% of poverty and food security occur there. Second, most depend on small-scale agriculture. For example, more than 70% of the food consumed in Africa and Asia is produced by small-scale farmers. Third, more than 3 billion rural people rely on small farms for their food, with the additional challenge that many of these small farmers are also going hungry, proving that food systems do not serve those producing the food. At the same time, there has been an escalation in the conflict, where it is unclear whether hunger is causing the fighting, or vice versa. He remarked that IFAD had also noticed forced migration and few job opportunities in many of these rural areas. Often, families that go hungry are forced to decide between very challenging options to get fast cash, which invariably leads them to the illegal extraction mining industry or to join terrorist groups. 

Failure to Target Climate Finance and Investment has Greatest Impact on Poor Countries

Dr Lario warned that, midway on the Road to 2030, poverty rates have risen back to 2015 figures when the Sustainable Development Goals were set. He believes the culprit for this is not any specific shock, such as the war in Ukraine, but underinvestment. To achieve food system transformation, 300 to 400 billion in investments are needed, yet the G7 have only invested 5 billion. Furthermore, he addressed how small-scale farmers fit into the equation. According to Oxfam, small farmers receive only 6.5 cents for every dollar of food they produce. They also receive less than 2% of the overall climate finance despite being one of the most impacted groups. 

Benefits of Supporting Small Farms as a Business and Drawing on Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples

Dr Lario said that many parliaments ask him why they should care about farmers beyond their borders. In his view, small farms are important because they produce around one-third of the world's food on less than 11% of the farmland, considering they are 2 hectares or less in size. They also have a much lighter footprint on essential ecosystems and in terms of greenhouse emissions, while they preserve biodiversity in a quite different way than bigger farms. Indigenous peoples and other communities work with nature. He pointed out that many of them have employed regenerative agriculture practices for centuries, while the developed world has only recently begun talking about them. In terms of farming as a business and as an income generator, productive and profitable small farms work hand in hand with micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, which provide farmers with vital input, seeds, and fertilizers and generate income for the community. They also help to process, store, and market the food.  

Scope and Wide Impact of Food Systems Transformation

Food systems transformation also goes beyond agriculture, he said. Unpaved rural roads, and villages without electricity, health clinics or clean water will continue to result in people migrating to cities, where they cannot find decent employment, or further to neighbouring countries and other continents. According to Mr Lario, this decades-old reality will remain the same unless there is a change in current investments, whether by balancing humanitarian and development aid or by attracting more private sector investment. 

Investment in Resilience of Rural Areas Less Costly than Emergency Relief

Dr Lario’s most compelling message was that the initial investment in rural areas and small farmers in the present will strengthen their resilience for the future, which is less costly than having to respond to emergencies which may arise. For every dollar spent on this type of resilience building, we can save up to ten dollars in future emergency and humanitarian costs, he said, showcasing the clear return of investment and value for money. He also called for more fiscal space and government support in developing countries, where citizens are experiencing an increase in food prices, proving that the food crisis is affecting us all. 

Tools to Tackle the Challenges

To tackle the above challenges, Dr Lario pointed to many tools and solutions, a lot of which are related to digital technologies, such as a simple mobile phone to access markets and prices. He also mentioned financial services-based solutions like financial inclusion, the ability to have savings and to be able to have a contract. Renewable energy and PV panels, which have become cheaper and can be installed locally offer another solution.  

Role for Private Sector Investment

Before concluding, Mr Alvaro pointed to the growing importance of attracting the private sector in these endeavours, as official development assistance is only a small drop in the ocean of all investment. He gave three examples of success stories on how IFAD partners have helped small-scale farmers.  

• In Rwanda, a partner with private factories buys directly from farming cooperatives, each of which has 4000 members, who also participate as equity shareholders in the factory.  
• In Nicaragua, trees are planted to shade the coffee and cocoa crops, which has sequestered carbon, reduced temperature, and enhanced the land productivity of farmers.  
• In Niger, they have helped design a programme that encourages farmers to plant grasses and trees, restore watersheds, and conserve soil and water. This project has produced a 40-78% increase in yields of onion, cabbage, and tomatoes, millet. 

Sustainable Solutions are Not Short-Term Fixes

Mr Lario concluded by saying that, for a small-scale family farm, it is not only about individual projects but about building the ecosystems and food systems around them. This is a challenging development, as it requires more than a one-off intervention. It takes time, perhaps a year, he said to design a programme, and 5-6 years to implement it. However, IFAD’s goal is to transform a community over time to ensure it is sustainable and able to generate income when they leave. In reality, he said, “there is no other choice”. 

Disclaimer: The ideas, opinions and comments in this blog are entirely the responsibility of its author and do not necessarily represent or reflect Irish Aid policy.