On May 30, 2025, the International Planning Committee (IPC)’s Working Group on Trade, Markets, and Revenues hosted a global webinar titled Impact of Market Prices on Producers’ and Consumers’ Food Sovereignty. The session brought together nearly 60 participants from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas. Co-moderated by Ibrahima Coulibaly of ROPPA and Morgan Ody of La Via Campesina, the two-hour discussion spotlighted the urgent need to reform food systems dominated by unfair market dynamics.
West Africa: Only one in two producers breaks even
Dieudonné of ROPPA highlighted the harsh reality faced by West African small-scale producers who, despite supplying over 70% of the region’s food, remain trapped in poverty. In countries like Togo, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea, producers of staple crops such as rice, maize, and tomatoes often earn as little as $43 a month—well below the minimum wage. Rising input and labor costs, unpaid family labor, and the inability to wait for better prices due to loan repayments keep producers vulnerable.
Even in favorable seasons, many barely break even. “Only one in two producers breaks even,” Dieudonné stated.
On behalf of ROPPA, he urged structural changes, including fair pricing, agroecological transitions, insurance mechanisms, access to tools and water sources, and institutionalized public procurement that protects producers from exploitative value chains.
Fisheries Under Threat
Herman Kumara of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP) raised concerns about the global push for aquaculture under the “Blue Economy” and “Blue Transformation” frameworks. While marketed as sustainable, these models prioritize corporate interests and export profits, sidelining traditional small-scale fishers.
Kumara criticized institutions like the WTO and World Economic Forum for dominating policy spaces that should be led by the FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI) and rooted in the Small-Scale Fisheries Guidelines. He condemned the criminalization of artisanal fishers while industrial fleets continue over-fishing with impunity.
United Kingdom: Workers and Consumers Squeezed
Sarah Woolley, representing the UK’s bakery workers union, emphasized how both workers and consumers are losing out under the current food system. “Cheap food depends on cheap labor,” she noted, describing how migrant workers face poor wages, unsafe housing, and exploitative conditions. Meanwhile, rising prices leave families struggling to access nutritious food.
Woolley argued that simply raising food prices won’t address the root issues. Instead, she called for transparent, equitable food chains with secure contracts, decent wages, public procurement, and trade union protections. She also stressed the need for resilient local food networks that reduce dependency on global supply chains—a vulnerability laid bare by COVID-19 and Brexit.
Egypt: Exploiting Land and Labor for Export
Hala Barakat of HIC-MENA shared the troubling example of Egypt’s dried tomato industry, which exports over $100 million annually. Women working in these facilities earn just $3 a day, while tomatoes are exported and sold for up to 50 times the farm gate price. Contract farming and land pressure shift land-use away from local food needs, contributing to domestic food insecurity. Similar trends are evident in other vegetable sectors, including onions and potatoes. Barakat stressed that such export models violate the principles of food sovereignty and exploit both land and labor.
United States: The Fight to Reclaim Food Sovereignty
Patti Naylor from Family Farm Defenders (USA) and La Via Campesina discussed how U.S. farmers, too, are caught in a system driven by deregulation, speculative markets, and industrial agriculture. She criticized the U.S. government’s promotion of neoliberal trade policies that benefit agribusiness at the expense of farmers and food justice globally.
Naylor highlighted how biofuel policies and carbon markets distract from real solutions while entrenching unsustainable monocultures like corn. “Farmers are exhausted—mentally and physically—by price instability and the false promises of deregulated markets,” she said.
Drawing on the example of the New Deal era, she pressed for policies like price floors, supply management, and public food reserves to stabilize farmer incomes and promote agroecological farming. These tools, she argued, reflect the true cost of food and are essential to food sovereignty.
A Call for Systemic Transformation
Participants from Tunisia, Mali, Indonesia, Uruguay, and Cameroon shared similar struggles—from speculative food pricing and land grabbing to exclusion of rural women and exploitative procurement systems. Calls were made for public policies that protect local markets, ensure women’s access to land and finance, regulate staple food prices, and end dependence on neoliberal trade models.
While closing the session, Ibrahima Coulibaly emphasized the value of such dialogues in amplifying grassroots voices and examining successful public policy models from across the world. Morgan Ody announced a follow-up webinar to discuss international trade frameworks that prioritize cooperation, food sovereignty, and autonomy of countries. Dates will be announced soon.
The event was supported by Terra Nuova and Focus on the Global South, both of which provided technical assistance to the IPC Working Group.