Investing in agriculture is the most effective way to reduce hunger and poverty in rural areas in many developing countries. It is important for food security, for employment and for economic growth. Since the food crisis 2007-08, this has been increasingly acknowledged by the international community.
But how should these necessary agricultural investments – net $83 billion annually in developing countries to meet future needs – be made in order to achieve the goal of reducing hunger and poverty? And how to make investing in agriculture attractive to investors at the same time as a meaningful dialogue with stakeholders is maintained? This is a challenging task for all involved, not least land governance institutions with their capability to oversee transactions of the magnitude characteristic of large scale land investment . In this setting secure land tenure will be one of key factors.
- How do investors look at international guidelines and principles, and what components are decisive for the CFS-RAI to be useful for investors?
- What parts are most important in protecting food security of small-scale farmers when the land they use for food production is sold or leased to large companies?
- Which aspects must be included for communities to benefit from investments in agricultural land?
The Swedish FAO Committee has invited representatives of The International Land Coalition, Global Challenge and WeEffect to give their different perspectives on these questions.
The Swedish FAO Committee discussion paper on how to make principles and guidelines on responsible agricultural investments in developing countries effective will be presented, and the Chair of the Swedish FAO Committee, the State Secretary at the Ministry for Rural Affairs, will give the Government’s view of the importance of responsible agricultural investments.
We hope for a fruitful discussion on these important questions, that will lead to specific aspects to be brought to the final negotiations in CFS in May of this year.
Please, contact Ekaterina Bessonova if you have any further inquiries