UNFSS: Grassroots Perspectives from Asia & Africa

The UN Food Systems Summit has called for participation from diverse stakeholders in making the transition towards robust, equitable and sustainable food systems. The Food Systems Dialogues are an opportunity to bring the voices and perspectives of diverse and often underrepresented food systems actors into the Summit process.

As organizations that advocate for and work towards the interests of farmers and producers in India, we are organising an Independent Dialogue that would represent the farmers’ stakes in our food systems. The problems of unsustainable production, producer’s livelihoods, consumer welfare and the environment are often seen at odds with one another. However, these issues intersect for the farmer, who is both a producer and a consumer, and depends on the environment for his/her livelihood. This is especially important in the context of the Global South, where large populations depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Keeping this in mind, the focus of our dialogue would be ‘Building synergies between seemingly competing interests of production, consumption, livelihoods and the ecosystem’.

The geographical scope of our dialogue would be Asia and Africa. Although the two continents comprise diverse ecologies and cultures, there are many similarities in our food systems that would make our discussion a rich source of insights and learning. We look forward to exchanging ideas and experiences with our colleagues in these geographies, and hope to draw attention to the interests of farmers from the Global South in the process.