The theme of the dialogue is “Eswatini Farmers Contributing to Sustainable Food Systems”. The economy of Eswatini is agriculture driven since 75% of the population resides in rural areas and rely on agriculture for their livelihood. This means that the majority of the population of Eswatini is composed of smallholder farmers. Sadly, the high rates of poverty are prevalent in the rural areas and this creates a barrier for the farming population to graduate to economic prosperity. It has been observed that whilst smallholder farmers are largely responsible for feeding the world, but ironically they comprise the most undernourished segment of the society.

The following thematic areas will be discussed; (i) advancing equity, openness, and fairness in the governance of value chains, including in international trade, (ii) enhancing availability and equitable access to factors of production, (iii) Research and Development, and adoption of technological innovations, (iv) investing in the next generation of farmers, and (v) shifting to sustainable and nature positive production, (vi) priorities for public and development investments.