On July 27, on the margins of the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit (26-28 July 2021), a farmers’ delegation including Arianna Giuliodori, Secretary General of the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO), Elizabeth Nsimadala, President of the Pan-African Farmers’ Organisation (PAFO), and Vijay Kumar, Vice-Chair on Producers, UNFSS Champions Network, met the UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J Mohammed for a fruitful exchange on the role of the producers as key actors at the heart of food systems, as well at the centre of the Summit agenda, its outcomes and its implementation.
Rebalancing power across the value chain and recognising the role of farmers as economic actors, and the importance of mainstreaming the UN Decade of Family Farming within the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit framework were at the centre of the conversation.
The delegation commended that the UNFSS recognizes one independent voice to the producers and pointed out the need for an international primary producers’ platform to enable their agency and steer UN policy and program on food systems.
Reflecting production diversity and including those producers who belong to indigenous and tribal groups, women, youth, disabled and vulnerable groups is crucial to leave no one behind.