The Brussels Development Briefing n. 57 on “Investing in smallholder agriculture for food security and nutrition” organised by CTA, the European Commission/EuropeAid and the ACP Secretariat was held on Wednesday 11th September 2019, 9h00-13h00 at the ACP Secretariat, Avenue Georges Henri 451, 1200 Brussels, Room C. The Briefing discussed smallholder agriculture and its key role in delivering food security/nutrition, and sustainable food systems, as recognised in SDG 2.

1. Brussels Policy Briefing n. 57: Investing in smallholder agriculture for food security and nutrition
‘Smallholders and global food governance’
Nora McKeon

2. Who decides? What role for smallholders?
The price of exploiting Africa’s “comparative advantage” of exporting commodities and
importing “cheap food”…

3. Past policies contributed to the crisis…
Structural adjustment dismantled the
system of public agencies that
provided farmers with access to land,
credit, insurance, and inputs. It was
expected that removing the state
would free the market for private
actors to take over these functions.
Too often, that didn’t happen. Even
where the private sector emerged, it
mainly served commercial farmers,
leaving smallholders exposed.

4. National, regional, continental, up to the global : the World Food Summits and civil society
forums - 1996 & 2002

5. ‘Beyond NEPAD’s goals of making
agriculture more competitive and
productive, the FOs’ vision of
modernity gives priority to the
continent’s food sovereignty and
respects the dignity of African
producers and African values and
culture….Not subject to the
fluctuations of global markets and
institutions… Regional agricultural
policies and markets built around
family farming…’
Pretoria - 2004

6. Food price crisis 2007/2008…

7. ‘The majority of agricultural production will continue
to come from larger farms but there is an opportunity
to increase smallholder productivity and production.’
Comprehensive Framework for Action - 2008
‘The agenda for Sub-Saharan Africa is to
enhance growth by improving smallholder
competitiveness in medium and higher
potential areas, where returns on invest-
ment are highest, while ensuring food
security of subsistence farmers. Getting
agriculture moving requires developing
modern market chains.’ WDR 2008

8. EU policy framework to assist developing
countries in addressing food security
challenges - 2010
- sustainable small-scale food production, with its multiple benefits, should be the
focus of EU assistance.
- secure land tenure and use rights are prerequisites.
- improve regulatory and institutional conditions for responsible private investment.
- demand-driven research attentive to traditional knowledge.
- promote regional agriculture and food security policies; integration of food markets
making use of trade policy space including through border measures.
- Right-to-Food approach, tackling the root causes of hunger and empowering
marginalized groups in the design, implementation and monitoring of national
programmes and ensuring redress mechanisms.
- Support the reform of the Committee on World Food Security.

9. The food price crisis obliged the international community
to react:
High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis
(HLTF): better coordination
G8 “Global Partnership on Agriculture, Food Security
and Nutrition” (GPAFSN): more investment
Reform of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS): more
inclusively determined policies
9

10. 10
The 2009 reform of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS)
Foremost inclusive global forum promoting policy convergence and
coherence.
Human rights-based - defending the right to food.
Civil society actors – small-scale food producers especially – are full participants. Autonomous
civil society and private sector mechanisms.
Year-round process: deciding agenda and rules of the game, framing draft decisions and
discussion documents…
Inclusive and transparent decision-making by governments, unlike multistakeholder platforms
High Level Panel of Experts provides evidence base for policies; acknowledges expertise of
farmers and practioners.
Aspires to links between multistakeholder policy spaces at global, regional, national levels.

11. The private sector can
help you break the
subsistence cycle and
become commercial
entrepreneurs.
The G8 New Alliance
is giving you a hand
by increasing your
access to new
technologies, seeds
and modern value
chains.
We don’t want
to become
commercial
entrepreneurs.
We’re family
farmers!
We want public
policy support
for our
technologies,
our seeds and
our markets.
We’re the ones
who are feeding
the world and
cooling the
planet.

12. 12
Who decides?
«Agriculture is often left to undergo great
transformations that are adverse for smallholders
and food security. These transformations are
not inevitable but are the result of explicit or
implicit political choices. Appropriate choices
and policies can only result from transparently
determined political processes that involve
smallholder organizations.»
HLPE 2013, p. 14
http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/reports/report-6-investing-in-smallholders-report-elaboration-process/en/

13. http://www.fao.org/policy-support/resources/resources-details/en/c/1190179/

14. 14
Smallholder narrative in the CFS
Smallholders are
responsible for most food
produced world-wide +
most investment in agriculture.
…so….need to:
- prioritize public policies that
defend + support their investments;
- promote markets that benefit
smallholders and local food systems;
(Committee on World Food Security 2013)

16. http://www.fao.org/cfs/home/activities/smallholders/en/

17. Legitimates the contribution that pastoralism makes to the sustainable use of ecosystems and to FSN and
urges governments to protect and support pastoral systems and enable pastoralists’ mobility.
http://www.fao.org/cfs/home/products/en/

19. Making global norms and narratives work for smallholders
on the ground

20. ECOWAS regional/national agricultural and
food security/nutrition
investment programmes

21. CEDAW Recommendation No.
34 – Rights of rural women
UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants