CFS: How to Make Responsible Investments

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Explore how to address important issues in making agriculture more responsible from the farmer to the consumer in the following scenarios.

Based on the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems
Contribute to food security and nutrition
Contribute to sustainable and inclusive economic development and the eradication of poverty
Foster gender equality and women’s empowerment
Engage and empower youth
Respect tenure of land, fisheries, and forests and access to water
Conserve and sustainably manage natural resources, increase resilience, and reduce disaster risks
Respect cultural heritage and traditional knowledge, and support diversity and innovation
Promote safe and healthy agriculture and food systems
Incorporate inclusive and transparent governance structures, processes, and grievance mechanisms
Assess and address impacts and promote accountability

Secure access to land is fundamental to enter into farming.

Investors work with local youth to allocate plots of land, provide mentorship and purchase what they produce.

Although youth unemployment is estimated at 12.6% globally young people don’t generally see agriculture as a viable career path.

Young women face greater challenges accessing land than young men– only 2% of agricultural land worldwide is owned by women.

Maintaining genetic diversity requires partnering across sectors.

Local farmers work with international research institutions to maintain traditional varieties of plants by saving seeds.

Indigenous varieties of plants can be up to 200% more nutritious than commercial cultivated varieties.

Increasing the diversity of the type of plants grown makes farms more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Protecting animal health and welfare increases productivity and product quality.

A factory farm invests in transitioning to free range farming which increases productivity and results in new customers.

Closely confined animals in factory farms can spread disease easily. Healthier free range animals can reduce expenditures on medicines and increase yield.

Free range animals help to recycle nutrients and contribute to soil fertility.

Women

Empowering women drives innovation and efficiency.

Female employees identify potential alternative markets for low-quality fruit and institute a training programme to improve harvesting and handling to reduce loss.

Despite the fact that women make up 43% of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, they also make up to 70% of the world’s poor.

Up to one third of food is lost or wasted before it is consumed.

Workers

Promoting decent work is an investment in the future.

Processing facility makes healthcare and childcare available to all employees.

Providing on-site childcare can significantly reduce turnover and absenteeism, while also helping breastfeeding for lactating mothers.

Processing facility has a scholarship programme for children of employees who come up with ideas for how to increase the efficiency of the processing facility.

The food sector accounts for approximately 30% of global energy consumption and produces over 20% of greenhouse gas emissions.

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Technology

Adapting technologies to local situations makes them more sustainable.

Small-scale fisherwomen are losing a lot of their catch to disease because they lack cooking facilities.

Fish losses caused by spoilage are estimated at 10-12 million tonnes per year.

International fish trader provides cooling system adapted to small-scale fisher boats. Fishers recoup investment through reduced losses.

Tracking and labeling products as they are produced improves accountability and helps consumers buy responsibly.

T-shirt retailer ensures that responsible investment activities are tracked and traced throughout production – from the cotton field to the shelf.

Good traceability systems can help to minimize the production and distribution of unsafe, poor quality or unsustainable products.

Selecting sustainable goods and services from responsible suppliers will enhance the company's reputation, increase customer loyalty and attract new customers.

Investing responsibly requires actions by all actors from the field to the shelf. Consumers can encourage responsible investment through the products they buy.

What you can do!

Make your business more responsible

Buy responsibly produced food and agriculture products

Advocate to your policymakers

https://www.fao.org/cfs/policy-products/rai/how-to-make-resposinble-investments The Committee on World Food Security is a multistakeholder body that is open to all member countries of the United Nations, as well as other UN bodies, civil-society organizations, international research networks, international financial institutions, private-sector organizations and philanthropic organizations – all of whom are able to participate in debates and contribute to decisions and outputs.

The CFS endorsed the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems in October 2014 – the first global consensus on defining how investment in agriculture and food systems can do the most good. They provide a framework that can be used in developing national policies, regulations and programmes; corporate social responsibility policies and schemes; and individual agreements or contracts. The principles also outline the roles of investors, whether governments or businesses, and smallholders.