Channel funds directly to farmers, global funders told
ABUJA-At the recent virtual event: “Transforming food systems: investing in producer organisations, innovative approaches to support smallholder farmers,” speakers called for the international community to support farmers by channeling funds directly to them or member-based organisations.
They said funds can go through national and sub-national farmer organisations, cooperatives, unions, and federations, made up of pastoralists, farmers, artisanal fishers, and landless and indigenous peoples, with farming activities-planting, harvesting, storage, processing, and marketing.
Speakers called for more donor support for bottom-up rather than top-down funding mechanisms for a long-lasting change. And, for global commitments to transform and bolster investments that target smallholder farmers and their producer organisations, which would enable them to find solutions to challenges within their own context.
Soumana Kanta, of the National Coordination of Farmer Organisation [CNOP] in Mali, outlined challenges that farmers already face, including access to technical training, credit from banks and micro-finance institutions, and market access. These are the challenges that organisations such as CNOP can support farmers to tackle, by building their capacity and bargaining power at the producer organization level.
From Burundi, Annick Sezibera, Executive Secretary of the Confederation of Associations of Agricultural Producers for Development [CAPAD], which will support family farmers to improve banana and bean production financed by GAFSP, noted that direct financing allows farmers to prioritise their needs and find strategic solutions.
“Direct investment makes our activities more sustainable,” she added, noting that community-based systems carry on long after projects have ended, oftentimes scaling up lessons and strengthening connections with the private sector or researchers, which enable farmers to test new ideas and technologies.
From the Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development [AFA], Irish Baguilat noted successful examples of how producer organisations have deployed quick responses during crises. AFA also established a revolving fund for farmers, recovering 100 percent of the funds. “We can communicate directly with members and have already established the social capital needed,” she said, strengthening trust among members and reducing risk for financial lending.
In the long term, speakers noted the critical need to support producer organizations. Marcela Villarreal of the Food and Agriculture Organisation [FAO] said: “Producer organisations are our precious allies.” They have already demonstrated incredible resilience and a unique capacity to redress failures and weaknesses in the food systems with local responses. They must be better supported by donors for a more sustainable crisis response.
In the future, working directly with producer organisations will not only help local communities but minimize the operational costs of reaching rural communities and providing services, including those which strengthen food security long-term – a point emphasized by Nadjirou Sal from the West African Network of Peasants and Agricultural Producers, [ROPPA].
According to the 2022 SOFI report, acute food insecurity is on the rise, with up to 828 million people who go to bed hungry every night. The drivers are rooted in a multi-layered crisis that includes climate change, conflict, and COVID-19.
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