Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

I believe that help could be given in different ways and at different stages. In the area of governance, the data provided by FAO is important, as well as being able to strengthen data management systems for agricultural production, with the development of technical capabilities. as well as in the analysis, processing and monitoring so that this data becomes useful information when making decisions. Furthermore, analyzing the synergies that can occur in public and private institutions for the development of governance, another instance that seems important to me is to see the economic aspect, all of these are difficult without a source of financing.
Breaking down what is sought, one part is the transformation of agri-food systems to make them more sustainable, inclusive and resilient. I consider that knowledge and monitoring of the resources we use are very important. As well as being able to implement practices and measure their effect.

Position Paper: Leveraging the Private Sector and Its Best Practices for Agrifood Systems Transformation

Introduction

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' Call for Submissions highlights a critical need for innovative solutions to address the pressing challenge of transforming our global agrifood systems. Collaborative efforts are urgently required to achieve sustainability, inclusivity, and resilience, as envisioned by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper presents a compelling case for the important role of the private sector in driving this transformation, using evidence-based examples and recommendations for FAO's enhanced support frameworks for countries across the globe.

The Power of the Private Sector

When harnessed responsibly, the private sector possesses unique capabilities – resources, innovation, agility, and reach – that can propel agrifood systems transformation. Companies can integrate sustainability into core business models, influence supply chains, and foster inclusive approaches. Notably, Morination Agricultural Products' leadership demonstrates the potential for significant impact, exemplifying responsible investment and women's economic empowerment within Southeast Asia (SEA).

Morination Agricultural Products: A Sustainability and Food Champion Responds to the UN Global Compact's Call to Business Action

Morination is an example of a private sector leader championing sustainability in agriculture. Their actions as Lead Organization of the UN Global Compact Philippine Private Sector Champions Pillar's Zero Hunger Champions, leading 50 organizations towards food systems transformation while also supporting 5000 growers, showcase effective implementation of the ASEAN Guidelines for Responsible Agri Investments and the OECD's Responsible Supply Chains in SEA. Morination has just been awarded the distinguished 2024 AGORA Award for Advocacy Marketing of the UN SDGs for its “Road to Zero Hunger and Food Systems Transformation” Campaign. 

Key elements of Morination's best practices include:

• Investment in Sustainable Practices: Prioritizing environmentally responsible production and ESG mechanisms in the supply chain that conserve resources and promote biodiversity and community and livelihood development.
• Women's Economic Empowerment: Empowering women farmers through training, access to resources, and decision-making roles to foster greater equity and drive transformation.
• Market-based Solutions: Developing market linkages that create value for smallholder farmers and incentivize the adoption of sustainable production.
• Collaborative Partnerships: Building alliances with diverse stakeholders, including government, civil society, and international bodies, to amplify the impact.

These practices underscore the feasibility and benefits of responsible private sector engagement in driving agrifood systems' transformation.

Recommendations for Enhanced FAO Support

To maximize private sector contributions, the FAO can implement the following strategies:

1. Promote Best Practice Sharing: Establish knowledge platforms facilitating case studies of successful private sector models like Morination's initiative. Sharing strategies and results would inspire broader private sector adoption of sustainable practices.
2. Policy and Guidance Frameworks: Collaborate with governments to develop policies that incentivize responsible private sector investments and align with international sustainability standards.
3. Capacity Building Initiatives: Support capacity development programs for smallholder farmers and agri-businesses, fostering sustainable and inclusive practices that align with Morination's women's economic empowerment approach in agricultural trade and commerce.
4. Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships: FAO may facilitate active alliances between governments, the private sector, civil society, and farmers' organizations.

Women's Economic Empowerment: A Key Focus Area

Morination's Co-leadership of the Women's Economic Empowerment for the Philippines Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture highlights a crucial aspect of agrifood transformation. The upcoming Women's Summit will focus on a session exploring FAO's governance, which underscores the need for gender-sensitive frameworks in food systems transformation, where participants will also be asked how FAO may effectively catalyze far-reaching positive impacts on food systems by prioritizing women's economic empowerment, inclusive decision-making, and reducing gender-based inequalities. The results of this session will be forwarded in another Call for Submission Paper to FAO’s Global Forum.

Conclusion

Morination's initiatives illustrate that the private sector has an indispensable role in achieving the UN’s agrifood systems transformation goals. By leveraging private sector capabilities, FAO can accelerate lasting progress towards greater sustainability, resilience, and inclusivity within agrifood systems globally.

Contributions are uploaded as a PDF file below. Thank you. 

A key component in supporting a sustainable agri-food transformation is data. It is essential to provide tools that can help different stakeholders identify their impacts and align their practices to optimise their food-related sustainability goals, such as ensuring food security and reducing food waste. While there remain challenges around establishing accurate, up-to-date and comparable data at the global scale, there are also challenges at the national and sub-national scales. This data gap means decisions about food system transformation are often taken in the absence of evidence.

With this in mind, our research group in Trinity College Dublin has developed SHARING SOLUTIONS, an online platform created to facilitate the understanding of sustainability impacts for initiatives that often fall under the radar of governing authorities – such as community gardens, co-ops, community kitchens, surplus food redistribution initiatives.

Among various offering, SHARING SOLUTIONS provides a sustainability impact assessment tool for Food Sharing Initiatives (FSIs), to help these initiatives highlight their impact against key ESG targets and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

This type of report facilitates FSIs to better communicate their results with multiple stakeholders such as citizens, local authorities or investors, by ensuring FSIs have the tools to efficiently articulate their impacts. Importantly, SHARING SOLUTIONS offers municipalities the opportunity to gain a landscape level view of sustainability impacts from these activities for the first time and in a comparable manner.

SHARING SOLUTIONS is currently rolling out their impact assessment (and consultancy services) across the EU, working closely with the Innovation Act European project CULTIVATE. Early results and impact will be published shortly. 

www.sharingsolutions.eu

Se adjunta la respuesta de AMBIO SOCIEDAD CIVIL

FROM : ND PROPOSAL :  ARGENTINA'S AGRICULTURE REVOLUTION

Espanol Abajo.

ENGLISH

The benefits of diverse agriculture (permaculture) investment are great. When done right, the method builds the strongest nutrition, nature, and even teams; most of them have their choice of client exchange too.

Investing in diverse agriculture, including permaculture, represents a unique and compelling opportunity for the private sector. This approach to agriculture emphasizes excellent nutrition, effective waste management, optimal carbon-to-oxygen exchange, and natural enhancements to soils, offering a wide array of benefits that extend well beyond the environmental impact to include public health and economic growth. Here are the key advantages for investors considering this space:

1. Soil Health Improvement: Permaculture practices focus on natural soil fertility, avoiding chemical fertilizers, which leads to robust, healthy soils capable of supporting diverse crops and higher yields.

2. Biodiversity Enhancement: Diverse agricultural practices foster a wide variety of plant and animal life, creating resilient ecosystems that are less vulnerable to pests, diseases, and climate fluctuations.

3. Environmental Impact Reduction: By reducing the reliance on synthetic inputs, permaculture significantly lowers pollution levels and conserves resources, appealing to consumers and regulators alike.

4. Carbon Sequestration: Practices such as agroforestry not only capture atmospheric carbon dioxide, aiding in climate change mitigation, but also open up new markets for carbon credits and sustainable products.

5. Waste Management Innovation: Integrating organic waste management and recycling into agricultural systems turns waste into a resource, reducing the environmental footprint and creating additional revenue streams.

6. Nutritional and Food Security: Diverse, locally grown produce ensures a nutritious food supply, reducing dependency on imports and tapping into growing consumer demand for healthy, sustainable food options.

7. Economic Growth: This sector offers numerous economic opportunities, including jobs in sustainable farming, agrotourism, and local markets, fostering economic resilience and community development.

8. Community and Educational Engagement: Investments in permaculture can drive community involvement and spread awareness of sustainable practices, creating a more informed consumer base and workforce.

9. Climate Change Resilience: Sustainable agricultural systems are better equipped to adapt to climate change, protecting investments against environmental risks and uncertainties.

10. Sustainable Living Promotion: Leading the shift towards sustainable agriculture can position investors as pioneers in sustainability, opening up opportunities in green technology, eco-friendly real estate, and other sectors.

For private sector investors, the field of permaculture and diverse agriculture is ripe with opportunities for innovation, growth, and sustainable impact. This investment not only promises financial returns but also contributes to a healthier planet and society, aligning profit with purpose in a rapidly evolving global market.

The intensive work to get this going also offers a greater opportunity for physical fitness training and movement in the direction of a culture of discipline.

ESPANOL

EJECUCIÓN Los beneficios de la inversión en agricultura diversa (permacultura) son grandes. Cuando se hace correctamente, el método genera la nutrición, la naturaleza e incluso los equipos más sólidos; la mayoría de ellos también pueden elegir el intercambio de clientes.

Invertir en agricultura diversa, incluida la permacultura, representa una oportunidad única y atractiva para el sector privado. Este enfoque de la agricultura enfatiza una nutrición excelente, una gestión eficaz de los desechos, un intercambio óptimo de carbono y oxígeno y mejoras naturales de los suelos, ofreciendo una amplia gama de beneficios que se extienden mucho más allá del impacto ambiental para incluir la salud pública y el crecimiento económico. Estas son las ventajas clave para los inversores que estén considerando este espacio:

1. Mejora de la salud del suelo: Las prácticas de permacultura se centran en la fertilidad natural del suelo, evitando los fertilizantes químicos, lo que conduce a suelos robustos y saludables capaces de sustentar diversos cultivos y mayores rendimientos.

2. Mejora de la biodiversidad: Diversas prácticas agrícolas fomentan una amplia variedad de vida vegetal y animal, creando ecosistemas resilientes que son menos vulnerables a plagas, enfermedades y fluctuaciones climáticas.

3. Reducción del impacto ambiental: al reducir la dependencia de insumos sintéticos, la permacultura reduce significativamente los niveles de contaminación y conserva los recursos, lo que resulta atractivo tanto para los consumidores como para los reguladores.

4. Secuestro de carbono: Prácticas como la agroforestería no sólo capturan el dióxido de carbono atmosférico, ayudando a mitigar el cambio climático, sino que también abren nuevos mercados para créditos de carbono y productos sostenibles.

5. Innovación en la gestión de residuos: la integración de la gestión y el reciclaje de residuos orgánicos en los sistemas agrícolas convierte los residuos en un recurso, lo que reduce la huella ambiental y crea fuentes de ingresos adicionales.

6. Seguridad nutricional y alimentaria: Los productos diversos cultivados localmente garantizan un suministro de alimentos nutritivos, lo que reduce la dependencia de las importaciones y aprovecha la creciente demanda de los consumidores de opciones alimentarias saludables y sostenibles.

7. Crecimiento económico: este sector ofrece numerosas oportunidades económicas, incluidos empleos en agricultura sostenible, agroturismo y mercados locales, fomentando la resiliencia económica y el desarrollo comunitario.

8. Compromiso comunitario y educativo: las inversiones en permacultura pueden impulsar la participación de la comunidad y difundir la conciencia sobre las prácticas sostenibles, creando una base de consumidores y una fuerza laboral más informadas.

9. Resiliencia al cambio climático: Los sistemas agrícolas sostenibles están mejor equipados para adaptarse al cambio climático, protegiendo las inversiones contra los riesgos e incertidumbres ambientales.

10. Promoción de una vida sostenible: liderar el cambio hacia la agricultura sostenible puede posicionar a los inversores como pioneros en sostenibilidad, abriendo oportunidades en tecnología verde, bienes raíces ecológicos y otros sectores.

Para los inversores del sector privado, el campo de la permacultura y la agricultura diversa está lleno de oportunidades de innovación, crecimiento e impacto sostenible. Esta inversión no solo promete retornos financieros sino que también contribuye a un planeta y una sociedad más saludables, alineando las ganancias con el propósito en un mercado global en rápida evolución.

ARGENTINA'S AGRICULTURE REVOLUTION

Dear team,

Please find attached our submission 'Manifesto for establishing minimum standards for public canteens across the EU' developed within the EU Food Policy Coalition under the lead of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability.

This manifesto, so far endorsed by 13 local and regional governments, contains targets, procurement tender criteria, verification and enablers for healty, fair and sustainable food procurement. 

It consists of seven actionable target areas:

• healthy food; 
• organic and other agro-ecological practices; 
• support for small-scale farmers; 
• climate action; 
• social economy and labour rights; 
• fair trade; 
• and animal welfare.

The manifesto covers the three pillars of sustainability and should be understood as a whole where all seven target areas support each other.

Kind regards,

Camilla Björkbom
Political Adviser
Eurogroup for Animals

SEWA has been organizing women workers from the informal economy for around five decades. Through its work, SEWA has understood that women are the back-bone of an informal worker’s household and are shouldering the responsibility of fulfilling the family’s food and nutritional needs. Women also play a major role in the entire Food Value Chain System – in production, in processing, in trading of food and in making decisions about consumption and purchase of food at household level.
Despite their importance in the food system, due to patriarchal cultural norms and gender discrimination, women have been facing constraints such as lack of land ownership, access to other productive resources and an ecosystem to increase their income. “…Women play multiple roles – as wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, in-laws, producers, food-processors, vendors, cooks… And yet, do not have access land ownership, credit, financial services, subsidies etc. All this really puts them at a disadvantage as they juggle all these responsibilities…” quoted Ms. Nsimadala, President of PAFO at the side-event on “Women, Work and Food Systems” during the UNFSS Pre-Summit.
Currently, women are shouldering around 60-65% of agricultural responsibility, especially upstream of the food supply chain. Despite this huge number, it is perversely counter-intuitive that the agricultural support systems and the associated organizations are predominantly male-oriented, male-controlled and male-populated. As a result, women are not only facing the challenge of their voices not being heard, but also they are hardly having any visibility in entire Food Value Chain System. Therefore, institutionalizing gender equality and gender transformative approaches in our homes, our farms, our communities, and in entire Food Value Chain System has become utmost important.
Moving in this direction, SEWA had organized a series of webinars on “Women, Work and Food systems” at Regional, National and also Global level during the Pre-summit Dialogues. The objective was to offer a platform to the informal sector women workers to bring forth their issues, challenges and solutions and eventually integrate them into the workings of the UNFSS work-streams. These women participants were from the countries of Global South and were engaged across the entire food value chain system. These economically suffering women were small and marginal women farmers, agricultural laborers, share croppers, small scale food processors, street vendors and many such from informal sector economy.
These dialogues were successful in providing these women workers an opportunity to enhance their visibility, identity and livelihood in the food system in the presence of a diverse audience constituting appropriate policy makers, private sector organizations, grassroot workers’ organizations, philanthropic foundations, scientists, academicians, Govt. representatives, CSOs, economists and individual consumers.
Some of the key takeaways from these series of webinar are:
• Organizing is the key: Organizing women helps in building their collective strength and their bargaining power. It is also a key element in building women’s leadership. Organizing the women is bringing solidarity amongst the women workers in the food systems. It is
enabling the women, even the ones from highly conservative communities and indigenous communities, to make their voices heard, respected and take on roles which are traditionally in the hands of the men.
• Pro-women Policies: In the countries of Global South, Agriculture is a family occupation. Therefore, there is a need to look at “Family as a unit”, while organizing the informal workers especially in the food systems and related policy mechanisms. Food System and Agro-policies need to enhance Women’s decision-making in legal frameworks. Policy reforms, especially for agro-policies and schemes, disassociating them from land-ownership will ensure small and marginal women farmers, landless agricultural laborers as well as share-croppers can benefit from them. This will also help explicitly recognize and promote the rights of women who are structurally disadvantaged.
• Treat Farm as an Enterprise: Promoting women-owned and managed food social enterprises and bringing in technology and skills to strengthen the decentralized supply chains, would not only link consumers directly to producers through producer led value chains but also make farmers and other stakeholders in the value-chains as equal partners. There is a dire need of bringing Pro-poor and pro-farmer policies that promote traditional food for supporting and strengthening this approach.
SEWA has organized over 250,000 small and
SEWA has organized over 250,000 small and marginal famarginal farmers into their own agrirmers into their own agri--business business enterprise enterprise connecting connecting farmer to the endfarmer to the end--users. It is users. It is fully owned and operated by the small scale fully owned and operated by the small scale women farmers. The company has its own women farmers. The company has its own procurement channels, processing centers, procurement channels, processing centers, packaging units and a distribution network.packaging units and a distribution network.
It brings nutrition and food security to over a
It brings nutrition and food security to over a million households today. In this process, the million households today. In this process, the farmers get fair returns and the landless laborers farmers get fair returns and the landless laborers get employment. get employment.
With an annual turnover of over
With an annual turnover of over 100 Mn100 Mn INR, RUDI INR, RUDI has been a great success in transforming thas been a great success in transforming the grave he grave agriculture situation of smallholder farmers into agriculture situation of smallholder farmers into favorable and favorable and sustainable.sustainable.
Additionally, SEWA has also trained over 2500
Additionally, SEWA has also trained over 2500 informal sector women workers (both urban and informal sector women workers (both urban and rural) rural) into making nutritious foodinto making nutritious food and also and also organized them in to organic and torganized them in to organic and traditional foodraditional food--processing initiative processing initiative -- Kamala. Kamala.
With the objective of promoting smart foods,
With the objective of promoting smart foods, Kamala processes the coarse grains produced by Kamala processes the coarse grains produced by SEWA’s farmers into traditional hot and dry snacks, SEWA’s farmers into traditional hot and dry snacks, Bakery products, condiments etc. andBakery products, condiments etc. and sells it. sells it. Thereby, Kamala promotes nutrition security Thereby, Kamala promotes nutrition security through smart foods. through smart foods.
Similarly, SEWA has also linked hundreds of small
Similarly, SEWA has also linked hundreds of small and marginal vegetable and fruit growers directly and marginal vegetable and fruit growers directly to customers in niche urban market thereby to customers in niche urban market thereby eliminating the exploitative middleeliminating the exploitative middle--men.men.
Through the aforesaid initiatives, SEWA has
Through the aforesaid initiatives, SEWA has successfully integrated informal sector women successfully integrated informal sector women workers at all stages in the supply chain workers at all stages in the supply chain –– making making them owner and managers of the entire food value them owner and managers of the entire food value chain. chain.
Scaling of such women
Scaling of such women--owned solutions can owned solutions can generate employment opportunities for several generate employment opportunities for several more informal women workers and make food more informal women workers and make food systems just and equitable. systems just and equitable.
RUDI
RUDI –– KAMALA KAMALA –– SEWA’S GAMESEWA’S GAME--CHANGING CHANGING SOLUTIONSSOLUTIONS
• Integrating Women at all stages in the Food Supply Chain: Integrating women at all levels in the food supply chain will strengthen the role of women entrepreneurs in the food value chain systems. Upstream, this is done by promoting their traditional agro-skills and practices such as seed production, owning localized seed banks, making farm bunds and plantation on farm bunds etc. This will also help in preserving biodiversity and soil health. Downstream, promoting on-farm and off-farm food processing units and organizing women workers in to their own farm-to-fork food social enterprises. This will also help in building leadership and entrepreneurial mindset. In this manner of putting the entire food value chain together, it will eventually be making the food systems truly equitable and efficient from gender perspective
• Affordable access to Productive resources: Asset creation is one of the surest way of fighting against poverty. When the women are owning productive assets and resources, it is seen that they channelize them in ensuring security of -food, -nutrition, -social being, -finance, -pension and –insurance (both health and life). All this leading to alleviating from poverty and building long term stability of the entire family unit. Therefore, (i) organizing women in to their own food micro-enterprises, (ii) integrating women workers at every stage in the food systems (iii) including women in policy making process for the food system will lead to affordable access to productive resources, further leading to gender equality, bringing women workers visibility, access to market, technology and extension services. Additionally, they also have added socio-cultural benefits.
• Women’s livelihood Stabilization Fund: To enable scaling up of such women micro-entrepreneurs, their producer-owned MSMEs and to build their resilience against the increasing time rate of climate and market shocks, there is a dire need of setting up Livelihood Stabilization Fund - a financial product & instrument which will be relevant to these small farmers, build their resilience and will enable them in doubling their incomes and making agriculture sustainable, viable and profitable.

To effectively support countries in transforming their agrifood systems towards sustainability, inclusivity, and resilience, a multi-faceted approach is paramount. This strategy encompasses the development of clear regulatory frameworks, engagement of diverse stakeholders, promotion of innovation and knowledge sharing, and the support of community-based initiatives.

Developing clear regulatory frameworks aligned with sustainable practices is crucial for facilitating a smooth transition to sustainable agrifood systems. Regulatory frameworks should encourage environmentally friendly practices, ensure food security, and provide equitable market access for smallholders and marginalized communities. Such governance structures are essential for the comprehensive management of farm-to-market operations and can significantly contribute to the overall sustainability of the agrifood system.

Stakeholder engagement is fundamental to effective governance. Inclusive decision-making platforms that offer a voice to all actors within the agrifood system can ensure that policies are reflective of diverse needs and perspectives. This inclusivity is vital for rebalancing power dynamics, fostering a sense of ownership, and ensuring commitment among stakeholders. The FAO's facilitation role in creating these platforms is crucial for engaging diverse stakeholders in the decision-making process, thereby ensuring that governance reflects the collective contributions and needs of all participants.

Innovation and knowledge sharing are key drivers of transformation. Facilitating knowledge exchange programs and supporting the adoption of new technologies can significantly improve sustainability and resilience. This approach enables countries to address challenges posed by climate change and global market fluctuations effectively. Encouraging the application of innovative agricultural techniques and marketing strategies can enhance production efficiency and expand market share, contributing to the overall resilience of the agrifood system.

Community-based initiatives play a critical role in building resilience and inclusivity. Projects that contribute to food security while offering therapeutic and educational benefits can strengthen community bonds and resilience. Supporting such initiatives highlights the dual benefit of addressing immediate food needs and building long-term resilience within communities.

In summary, the transformation of agrifood systems requires a strategic approach that includes regulatory support, stakeholder collaboration, innovation promotion, and community-based project endorsement. The FAO's commitment to these areas can catalyze the necessary transformation, leading to agrifood systems that are productive, equitable, and sustainable for future generations. Adopting a holistic governance approach allows the FAO to lead global efforts in agrifood system transformation, ensuring food security and resilience amid increasing environmental and socio-economic challenges.