Statement of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM) delivered by Afantchawo Koudasse at the High-Level Forum on Strengthening Responsible Investment and Financing for Food Security and Nutrition
Thank you very much for giving me the floor. It is a real pleasure for me to speak here — and to hear what has been said — because since the beginning of this 53rd Session of the CFS, we have repeatedly heard most speakers refer to small-scale producers. Well, here we are. The small-scale producers are present. And so, we will finally speak in our own name, and explain what we want and what we are capable of doing, which, as you already know, is to produce food for the vast majority of the world. This is because we are also the first private sector that is being so often discussed in this Forum — and this is true.
In fact, we are the main investors in agriculture in many countries of the Global South. This is clearly documented in CFS and FAO reports. This investment is not only financial. It is also knowledge, adaptation, and the preservation of our ecosystems for the benefit of future generations.
The “innovative” solutions this Forum is seeking are precisely those that would enable us to carry out more effectively the essential services we already provide to society — without receiving the support we deserve. These include, among others:
- market regulation that guarantees fair prices which cover our production costs;
- credit at affordable rates; for example, when guarantees are required by banks, they should benefit us — small-scale producers — so that we are able to negotiate interest rates. If public funds are to be used to de-risk anyone, in principle, they should be used to de-risk us — small-scale producers — not large agribusiness;
- appropriate investments to support territorial markets, which are the markets most favourable to us, because these are the markets where we sell our products; they are where most of our fellow citizens are able to obtain quality products produced within sustainable systems;
- appropriate investments to strengthen these markets that I have just mentioned, and to connect small-scale producers to markets, as indicated in CFS reports and recommendations;
- public policies that protect us from land grabbing and resource grabbing, which often accompany large external investments negotiated without our participation, and the so-called “innovative solutions” linked to climate change. This must now stop, because you yourselves have recognised and said repeatedly that we are the primary private sector. We are not opposed to public-private partnerships, but they must be guided by public policies that take small-scale producers into account — that is essential;
- public financial support that reaches us directly, and that strengthens the solutions we already master: agroecology, which is what we are calling for. This is not politics; this is what we do best. I can give the example of an African country, Togo. In Togo you will find young producers who have organised themselves to establish farmer field schools, and who have also trained their elders in the sustainable production of the food we eat, and in restoring forest landscapes. FAO in Togo has recognised this and supported them. This is an innovation we continue to try to explain.
We know very well that all of this is possible. However, in Africa there is a problem: governments say that debt makes it impossible for them to fulfil their commitment to allocate the 10 percent — 10 percent of GDP — that they promised to devote to agriculture. For this reason, we call for debt cancellation to become a reality, and for the use of these resources to be democratic, with the involvement of civil society.
We also condemn the abrupt cuts to international development assistance.
These are the solutions that the CSIPM, in consultation with its grassroots constituencies, wishes to propose to you. Thank you.