Dear
Friends and Colleagues
Investments
in Small-Scale Sustainable Agriculture Best Way to Reduce Hunger and
Poverty
A
report by the More and Better Network gives an overview of the global
situation of investments in agriculture. It provides examples from
some countries and presents recommendations for future investments
in small-scale sustainable agriculture.
Most
of the about 800 million people suffering from hunger and extreme
poverty are peasants and their families. An estimated 2 billion of
the world’s poorest people live in households in developing countries
and depend on agriculture in some form for their livelihoods. Yet
small-scale farmers, artisanal fisherfolks, pastoralists, hunters
and gatherers provide food for the majority of the world's population.
Small-scale
farmers are facing many challenges, including the lack of financial
resources and climate change. They need capacity building, sharing
of experiences and training in agroecology and other forms of productive
and sustainable agriculture, production equipment suitable for such
forms of agriculture, storehouses, locally based processing equipment,
and better access to and conditions in the territorial markets.
Several
reports show that support to and investments in small-scale sustainable
agriculture in developing countries are by far the most efficient
ways to reduce hunger and poverty. However, most governments in developing
countries and the official development assistance/aid (ODA) from the
rich countries give little support for this.
Among
the 14 recommendations of the report are:
- Governments
should prioritize the development of sustainable forms of agriculture.
- Increased
investments should be tailored to directly benefit small-scale farmers.
Such investments should increase the autonomy of the communities
rather than their dependence on credit institutions. Special attention
should be paid to the role of women and youth in the investment
schemes.
- Investments
dedicated to small-scale food producers should pay particular attention
to farmers’ rights, especially access to land, social and labour
rights.
- New
schemes should pay particular attention to climate mitigation and
adaptation and facilitate the access to practices that can be beneficial.
- Governments
should work in close coordination with the small-scale farmers’
organizations and other CSOs to ensure that an increased support
to agriculture effectively benefit people on the ground.
With
best wishes,
Third World Network
131 Jalan Macalister
10400 Penang
Malaysia
Email: twn@twnetwork.org
Websites: http://www.twn.my/ and
http://www.biosafety-info.net/
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INVESTMENTS IN SMALL-SCALE SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
The
More and Better Network
September 2017
http://www.moreandbetter.org/en/news/new-report-on-investments-in-small-scale-sustainable-agriculture-by-the-more-and-better-network
Summary
This
report gives an overview of the global situation of investments in
agriculture, provides examples from some countries and present recommendations
for future investments in small-scale sustainable agriculture. Our
aim is that this report will
-
Increase knowledge, awareness and discussions about investments in
small-scale sustainable agriculture among farmers’ organizations,
NGOs, institutions and investors working in agriculture, especially
in developing countries, as well as decision makers and institutions
in OECD-countries dealing with official development assistance (ODA).
- Contribute to increased public and private investments in small-scale
sustainable agriculture.
- Contribute to build links between organizations for small-scale
farmers and investors.
The
report provides facts about the current situation for investments
in agriculture, shows the need for more investments in and support
for small-scale sustainable agriculture, gives an overview of some
of the most important financial institutions involved in agriculture
and of the recent development in research for innovative investment
schemes. It also gives some examples of investment schemes for small-scale
sustainable farming.
The
governments of the world have agreed on ambitious sustainable development
goals (SDGs).
Many of them are linked to agriculture, and goal no 2 is directly
about agriculture; End hunger, achieve food security and improved
nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. To reach this and
the other sustainable development goals, more investments in small-scale
sustainable agriculture are needed.
FAO’s
publication: The State of Food and Agriculture 2016 underlines that
“meeting the goals of eradicating hunger and poverty by 2030, while
addressing the threat of climate change, will require a profound transformation
of food and agriculture systems worldwide. Achieving the transformation
to sustainable agriculture is a major challenge.… available finance
for investment in agriculture falls well short of needs…The time to
invest in agriculture and rural development is now."
Small-scale
food producers – farmers, fisherfolks, pastoralists, hunters and gatherers
– provide the food to the vast majority of people in the world, and
small-scale farmers is the largest occupation / group of economically
active people, and more than 40% of them are women.
Investments
in small-scale sustainable agriculture is the most efficient way to
reduce hunger and poverty. It is at least twice as effective as investments
in any other sector. Despite these facts, only a small portion of
the expenses of governments in developing countries and of the official
development assistance /aid (ODA) goes to agriculture.
We
hope that the report will contribute to the profound transformation
of the food and agriculture system required, as called for by FAO,
and contribute to get more and better investments in small-scale agroecological
and other forms of sustainable agriculture.
Some
challenges and recommendations
Based
on the material for this booklet, we present here some recommendations.
- Governments
should reconsider the importance of small-scale agriculture and
its contribution to the national economies and prioritize the development
of sustainable forms of agriculture.
- The
share of public expenditure going to support for agriculture from
national states, both in developing countries and in the Official
Development Assistance (ODA), is very low. It is recommended to
increase significantly the budget dedicated to small-scale sustainable
agriculture.
- Governments
which have committed to a percentage of their national budgets to
agriculture (e.g. African governments), should ensure that this
is being implemented.
- Governments
should work in close coordination with the small-scale farmers’
organizations and other CSOs to ensure that an increased support
to agriculture effectively benefit people on the ground, in particular
women and youth.
- Support
for agriculture in the ODA from the OECD-countries and others should
be at least 10% of the total ODA, and small-scale agroecological
and other forms of sustainable agriculture should get most of the
financial resources. This target should be reached as soon as possible,
and not later than 2019.
- Civil
society in the countries providing ODA ought to add pressure on
governments to increase the support for small-scale sustainable
agriculture and infrastructure important for such agriculture.
- Climate
change makes the risks in agriculture bigger than before. Guarantee
schemes should be built up by governments and development agencies
so small-scale farmers can get financial support if the harvests
fail. This is of special importance for small-scale farmers in developing
countries.
- Alternatives
investments schemes in agriculture should be developed for public
and private investments funds, foundations and other private investments
(except from the farmers themselves) in sustainable agriculture
which benefit the smallscale farmers, and at the same time can give
an acceptable financial return to the investors.
- Increased
investments should be tailored to directly benefit small-scale farmers.
Investors with social and environmental aspirations should be encouraged
to support and invest in small-scale agroecological and other forms
of sustainable agriculture.
- Investments
in agriculture tend to increase agricultural specialization. It
would be important to ensure that novel models of inclusive investment
do not undermine the local food production for home consumption
and instead reinforce the diversity and adaptability of the farms.
- New
schemes should pay particular attention to climate mitigation and
adaptation and facilitate the access to practices that can be beneficial.
- Special
consideration should be given to the importance of investments that
increase the autonomy of the communities rather than the dependence
to the credit institutions.
- Investments
dedicated to small-scale food producers should pay particular attention
to the farmers’ rights, especially access to land, social and labour
rights.
- Special
attention should be paid to the role of women and youth in the investment
schemes.
