Introduction and outcomes of the WBA Farmer Roundtable in Kathmandu, Nepal (7-8 November 2019

1. WBA Farmer Roundtables 2019
A farmers’ perspective on
food system transformation
Kathmandu, Nepal
7-8 November 2019

2. In 2015, all countries of the United Nations have agreed to 17
Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030

3. The World Benchmarking Alliance encourages companies to
contribute to sustainable development through benchmarking

4. The Access to Seeds Index encourages the seed industry to
improve access to quality seeds for smallholder farmers
SEN
Sedab
Tropicasem
MLI
Agriplus
Faso Kaba
SOPROSA NER
Ainoma
BFA
Nankosem
NAFASO
CIV
BILOHF
GHA
Heritage Seeds NGA
Maslaha Seeds
DA-Allgreen Seeds
Premier Seed
Value Seed
ZAF
Capstone Seeds
Hygrotech
Starke Ayres
Klein Karoo Africa
Seed Co
ZAM
Zamseed
KEN
Kenya Highland Seed
East African Seed
Kenya Seed Company
UGA
Equator Seed
NASECO
FICA Seeds
Victoria Seeds
SOM
Darusalam
Seed Company
ETH
Ethiopian Agricultural
Business Corporation
UAE
Advanta
IND
Acsen Hyveg
Namdhari Seeds
Bioseed
Kalash Seed
Mahyco
National Seeds Corporation
Nuziveedu Seeds
Metahelix Life Sciences
BGD
BRAC Seed and Agro Enterprise
Lal Teer Seed
THA
East-West Seed
Charoen Pokphand
VNM
Vinaseed
TWN
Known-You Seed
KOR
Nongwoo Bio
CN
GAWAL
PAK
Punjab Seed
JPN
Sakata
Takii
CMR
Semagri
Eastern and
Southern Africa
South and
Southeast Asia
Access to Seeds
Index
Western and
Central Africa
The 62 companies in scope of
the Access to Seeds Index 2019
Global companies
from other regions:
NLD
Bejo
Enza Zaden
Rijk Zwaan
Pop Vriend Seeds
DEU
KWS
Bayer
FRA
Limagrain
Technisem
CHE
Syngenta
USA
Corteva Agriscience
Monsanto
1 East-West Seed
(THA-Private)
2 Bayer
(DEU-Listed)
3 Syngenta
(CHE-Private)
4 Advanta
(ARE-Listed)
5 Corteva Agriscience
(USA - Listed)
6 Acsen HyVeg
(IND-Private)
7 Namdhari Seeds
(IND-Private)
8 Limagrain
(FRA-Cooperative/Listed)
9 Nuziveedu Seeds
(IND-Private)
10 Monsanto
(USA-Listed)
11 BRAC Seed & Agro Enterprise
(BGD-Social Enterprise)
12 Metahelix Life Sciences Ltd
(IND-Listed)
13 Lal Teer Seed
(BGD-Listed)
14 Kalash Seed
(IND-Private)
15 Known-You Seed
(TWN-Private)
16 Vinaseed
(VNM-Listed)
Access to Seeds Index 2019
South and Southeast Asia
62 companies in scope of the
Access to Seeds Index

5. WBA Farmer Roundtables
Consulting farmers on tackling food and nutrition security
Eastern &
Southern Africa
Latin
America
Western &
Central Africa
South &
Southeast Asia
3
8
4
2
9
5
1
7
6
1. Addis Ababa
September 2013
2. Goma
July 2016
3. Hanoi
August 2016
4. Ouagadougou
October 2016
5. Johannesburg
November 2016
6. Aurangabad
March 2019
7. Dakar
April 2019
8. Kathmandu
November 2019
9. Nairobi
November 2019
Western &
Central Africa
Eastern &
Southern Africa
South &
Southeast Asia
Access
to Seeds
Food System
Transformation

6. Why do we need to transform the global food system?
Global hunger
800 million people go to
bed hungry every day
Malnutrition
2 billion people are
unhealthy because of
malnourishment
Climate change
Agriculture is source of
25% of emissions; yields
are expected to drop by
30%
Rural povery
75% of global poor are
farmers; female farmers
earn 30% less than male
farmers
Food loss and waste
30% of all food produced
is lost or wasted
Population growth
Food production needs
to increase by 70%

7. Food system transformation
Nutrition
Grow more healthy food
Environment
Reduce environmental impact
Social
Improve lives farmers and their
communities

8. Three dimensions of food system
transformation
• Promote diverse diets
• Promote plant based protein
(legumes) over animals
• Increase intake fruit and
vegetables
• Reduce fats and sugars in
food
• Healthy alternatives
• Responsible marketing
• Reduce emissions
• Reduce land use
• Reduce water use
• Reduce fertilizer use
• Prevent biodiversity loss
• Protect soil health
• Promote agrobiodiversity
• Reduce food loss and waste
• Reduce packaging pollution
• Fair price for farmers
• Include smallholders in value
chains
• Protect rights of communities
(land rights, water rights)
• Eradicate child labor, forced
labor
• Promote gender equality
• Invest in rural infrastructure
Nutrition
Grow more healthy food
Environment
Reduce environmental impact
Social
Improve lives farmers, communities

9. What do you need from companies to contribute to food
system transformation?
• Seeds
• Agrichemicals
• Fertilizer
• Food traders
• Food processors
• Retailers
• Restaurants
Companies
that sell inputs
Companies
that buy produce
• Machinery

10. Pesticide use
• High fertilizer and pesticide use is bad for health of
farmers, consumers, environment
• How to reduce pesticide use when pressure of pests
and insects is increasing? (Indonesia)
Water availability
• Less rainfall and ground water levels are going
down (India)
• Poor water management limit availability of land for
agriculture (Bangladesh)
Consumer preferences
• Learn customers that eating nutritious food is
better than just filling your stomach
• ‘Toxic products’ are cheaper than organic crops
Who grows food in the future?
• Young people do not chose a career in agriculture
Challenges mentioned by farmers
Farmer education
• A lot of farmers lack education and training
• Farmers have learned bad agricultural practices in the past
Nutrition vs productivity
• Crops like mung bean and green bean are highly nutritious
but less productive
• More nutritious products do not automatically result in
higher income
International competition
• Difficult to compete with cheaper imported crops from
countries with higher productivity
Access to seeds
• Not enough seed production for local needs
High input costs
• Costs of seed, fertilizer and labor limit possibilities to
increase production

11. How can farmers contribute to these three
dimensions of food system transformation?
1. Increase the production and
consumption of traditional crops
2. Better price for organic and
nutritious crops compared to
unhealthy processed foods
3. Make it attractive for farmers to
move into the production of
nutritious food
4. Better standards for nutritious
food (like fair trade) that farmers
can follow and result in a better
price
1. Train farmers on better
agricultural practices
2. More R&D on quality seeds that
can reduce environmental
impact and grow resilience
3. Reduce the costs, improve price,
better markets for organic
products
4. Improve markets for fresh
products like vegetables to
prevent food loss and waste
1. More respect for farmers as
producers for nutritious food for
all
2. Work with farmers’
organizations to make
agriculture attractive for youth
3. Agree on fair minimum price /
price system with the industry
for agricultural products
4. Improve gender equality
Nutrition
Grow more healthy food
Environment
Reduce environmental impact
Social
Improve lives farmers, communities

12. Main outcomes of yesterday: how can farmers and
companies work together on this?
• Farmers can produce more
nutritious food but it has to
be profitable
• Good price
• Good markets
• Change consumer choice
• Farmer can reduce the
environmental impact but
they need
• Eco-friendly inputs
• Suitable machinery
• More training
• Food system transformation
only happens when farming is
attractive as a business
• Respect farmers as partner
• Interest youth
• Transparent & fair pricing
Nutrition
Grow more healthy food
Environment
Reduce environmental impact
Social
Improve lives farmers, communities

13. This week bought together over 1200 delegates and 70 nationalities from
governments, academia, civil society, private sector and others to
Kathmandu for the SUN Global Gathering. This flagship event, titled
“Nourishing people and planet together”, gave members and stakeholders
the opportunity to take stock, share innovations and map progress on the
fight against malnutrition worldwide.
The World Benchmarking Alliance, along with our local partners Agriterra
and NACCFL, were extremely proud to hold our own event alongside the
gathering, focusing on the broad issue of food system transformation –
producing more, and more nutritious, food while reducing environmental
impact and enhancing rural prosperity for farmers and their communities.
Our farmers roundtable bought together 14 farmers from six different
countries (Nepal, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and
Bangladesh) to give their perspective on this global agenda and the
challenges they face. Leading problems include the overuse of fertilizers
and pesticides and their impact on farmers, consumers and the
environment; water scarcity and poor water management; trade offs
between yields and productivity when cultivating more nutritious food;
declining youth interest and participation in agriculture; and access to a
higher variety of quality seeds and other agricultural inputs.
The farmers concluded that they need a number of actions from the private
(and public) sector in order for them to contribute to the change we need.
To produce more nutritious food, companies need to offer those who
produce it a fair price and better access to markers, in addition to
marketing these foods more effectively to consumers. Similarly, to reduce
their environmental impact farmers need eco-friendly inputs, suitable and
affordable machinery, and more training on good agricultural practices.
Crucially, food system transformation can only be achieved when farming is
presented as a viable and attractive livelihood opportunity, particularly for
young people. Respect for the farmer and greater cooperation between
farmer cooperatives and the private sector is key to this.
The second day of our event saw our 14 farmers joined by representatives
from the SUN Business Network, multinational companies and regional and
global small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), to discuss how they can
work together to tackle the challenges and issues raised on day 1. The most
popular solutions included greater need for female empowerment and
gender equality through capacity building – not just practical training but
also soft skills to allow them to negotiate with buyers, with the need for
education and training again linked to overall greater respect for farmers.
Nutrtionally, improved technology to avoid nutrient loss during processing
and greater availability of biofortified seed were highlighted.
Environmentally, the most important answers were more R&D for climate
resilient seed varieties, integrated agriculture and livestock farming to
improve the circularity of the ecosystem, and increased usage of
alternative sources of energy.
The outcomes of this event will be invaluable for the development of
WBA’s methologies and benchmarks in food and agriculture. We would like
to thank all of the farmers, partners, businesses, civil society and other
stakeholders for attending this very successful event and we hope to see
you again in the future.
Concluding statement