RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – AFA Chairperson Sophal Uon presented the views of smallholders in an IFAD-organized event entitled “The Sweet Spot: Cocoa’s Promise of Sustainability, Equity and Profitability for Smallholders and Farmers,” which was held at the Windsor Hotel Barra in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 18, 2012.
It was part of the “Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum: Innovation and Collaboration for the Future We Want” that was held on June 15-18, 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The event was opened by IFAD President Kanayo Nwanze and was moderated by Amina J. Mohamed, Special Advisor to the Secretary General.
It started with a discussion of an IFAD project in Sao Tome to support cocoa growers, which continued into a broader discussion on successful business relations that benefit both smallholders and business.
Also in the panel were representatives from PepsiCo, UNEP and the FairTrade Foundation.
During the forum, Uon shared the experience of his organization, Farmer and Nature Net (FNN), in promoting sustainable agriculture in Cambodia and linking small farmers to market in order to increase the benefits that they get from their farming activities.
He stressed the need to address the basic issues facing small farmers such as access to land, seeds, water, and markets.
He also challenged IFAD to allocate at least 10% of its budget for each country for direct access by farmers’ organizations.
The forum’s objective was to bring greater scale and quality to corporate sustainability practices, affirming that “success” should be defined by its sustainability, which in turn should be understood in its three dimensions: social, environmental and economic.
The experience of cocoa producers, the showcased success story, highlighted the policies and practices that have proved effective in supporting and galvanizing innovative commercial relations between smallholder farmers in developing countries and markets for sustainable products, through the promotion of climate-smart, organic, and fair trade practices.
Nwanze responded to the views from the panel and reiterated IFAD’s commitment to smallholder agriculture.
He emphasized the role of governments in ensuring that farmers are benefit from IFAD’s country investments.
Uon also shared the importance of seed banking activities, as practiced in his own organization FNN.
He said that farmers have to be in control of the seeds they need and not be dependent on supplies from multinational companies, adding that traditional seed varieties are more resilient to climate change.
He also stressed that small farmer food producers have to organize themselves to produce better and to a have stronger bargaining voice when marketing their products.
Uon was accompanied by FNN Executive Director Sopheap Pan, who also served as his English translator.
(With report and photos from Marlene Ramirez)
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