Today, 15 April 2025, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) organised a hybrid event on the Collaborative Governance Dialogue on Financing for Food Security and Nutrition (held at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy). Morgan Ody, the General Coordinator of La Via Campesina was invited present on the experience and insights on the key challenges regarding financing for food security and nutrition facing the peasants, the small scale food producers and the civil society under the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Mechanism (CSIPM).Below is Morgan’s intervention during the “Reflections from CFS stakeholder groups” session.
On Sunday, there was a large peasant mobilization in Pakistan to protest against the fact that the government officially withdrew the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for wheat. This was linked to pressures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cut market regulation in the agricultural sector. Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism is a longstanding policy that had provided a critical financial safety net for millions of farmers. This rollback of price protections has triggered a dangerous ripple effect across Pakistan’s agricultural and food systems. Smallholder farmers, in particular, are now exposed to severe market volatility, with no guaranteed price floor. Without the MSP, they are increasingly vulnerable to exploitation by middlemen and private traders, deepening the economic insecurity of rural communities. This will affect the income of millions of poor rural families, as they are ones typically most affected by food insecurity, but also the capacity of small-scale farmers to produce healthy food for the local markets.
This example shows the impact of the decisions of financial institutions on food security and nutrition. All over the world, these institutions and creditor countries are attacking people’s food sovereignty.They are imposing structural adjustment policies and pushing governments to give the priority to export-oriented productions, while importing the food that their population need. This leads to high levels of dependencies towards extremely volatile international markets, to increased vulnerability towards speculation on highly financialised agricultural markets and to huge waves of of hunger crisis when crises occur, like in 2008 or 2022.
As small-scale producers organizations, we have been demanding food sovereignty. That is the right for all peoples and states to develop public policies to protect and strengthen local food production, adapted to the diversity of cultures and practices. What kind of financing is necessary for food sovereignty?
First, what should be given priority in the financing? We believe that funding should be directed towards public policies that protect and strengthen local food production, based on numerous small-scale food producers. For example, programs of agrarian reform to ensure the right to land, policies of market regulation, for example public stocks like BULOG1 in Indonesia or the MSP program in India or Pakistan, policies that support the transition towards agroecology through training programs. The subsidies going to big private companies has increased a lot over the last decades: it is very problematic and should be reduced. Instead it is key that governments invest in appropriate infrastructures and public services adapted to the needs of small-scale food producers. It can be roads that connect the villages to the city, slaughterhouses, wheels to ensure the access to water or electrification. These investment should be done after consulting small-scale producers and ensuring a proper participation. Otherwise we often see investments that favour only the interest of a few Transnational Corporations (TNCs) or rich people well connected to the government, at the expense of local communities.
Second, where should the money come from? It matters a lot to know where the funding come from, and we believe that it’s not enough highlighted in many discussions. Food sovereignty should go along with a recovering of financing sovereignty. We are not against international support and aid programs, but these programs should not create more dependencies. IMF and World Bank programs have had dramatic impacts on food sovereignty by providing funding linked to structural adjustment programs, dismantling market regulation, public services and genuine agrarian reforms. We call for audits to public-private partnerships also often have negative consequences on small-scale food producers leading to land or water grabbing or to the grabbing of local markets by TNCs. When countries become dependent on USAID or other international aid, this is often a counterpart for market access or red carpet for the TNCs of Northern countries to access to resources such as minerals. And when suddenly this aid stops, it leaves countries from the Global South in a very precarious situation.
For this reason, countries should focus on developing a tax system that generate sustainable resources for their national budget. Taxing big companies and very rich people should be a priority. Tariffs, if used properly, can also generate funding for governments while protecting the local production. Finally, a thriving rural economy can also participate to strengthening the national fiscal system. This means a clear stop to corruption that is undermining so many countries, North and South. The states should work for the people, not for the billionaires.
To conclude, we see that international money is getting tight. Where should it best be invested in order to support food sovereignty? Supporting a strong civil society, and in particular social movements in rural areas, that is able to ensure accountability and a high level of probity in how national public policies are build and implemented and in particular to monitor fiscal policies is probably a very efficient way to ensure that the fight against hunger and malnutrition is getting proper support.
1 BULOG Public Corporation, formerly the Indonesia Logistics Bureau is a statutory corporation in Indonesia formed in service to food distribution and price control.