Food security and climate finance are some of the central agendas of the 27th UN Climate Conference. And these two issues are precisely what over 350 million family farmers are warning about in an open letter to world leaders.Family farmers produce up to 80% of the food consumed in regions such as Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Yet they were awarded just 1.7% of climate finance flows in 2018 – just $10 billion compared to the estimated $240 billion a year needed to help them adapt to climate change.

They pin the success of COP27 on the progress of financing. After all, in Glasgow, which hosted the previous conference, rich nations agreed to double overall funding for adaptation to $40 billion a year by 2025. But family farmers warn that this is only a fraction of what is needed.

East African Farmers Federation president Elizabeth Nsimadala stressed that net producers feed millions of people and support hundreds of thousands of jobs, but have reached a breaking point. The federation, which also signs the letter, represents 25 million food producers.

“There needs to be a big push on climate finance to ensure that small-scale producers have the information, resources and training they need to continue feeding the world for generations to come,” it says.

More than 70 networks and organisations representing farmers, fishers and forest producers, among others, signed the letter, including the World Rural Forum, which represents 35 million family farmers on five continents; the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, which represents 200 million small-scale producers on the continent; the Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Development, with 13 million members and the Coordination of Mesoamerican Territorial Women Leaders in Latin America. National organisations from Jordan to the UK and India have also signed on.

Food insecurity

COP27 is taking place in the midst of a global food price crisis. While there is not yet a global food shortage, extreme droughts, floods and heat have damaged crops around the world and scientists have warned of an increased risk of simultaneous crop failures in the world’s major breadbaskets.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said a shift to more diverse, low-input food systems is key to maintaining food security in a changing climate.

Therefore the organisations are calling on governments to make them part of building a stronger and more sustainable food system. And a fair one! The director of the World Rural Forum, Laura Lorenzo complains that food and agriculture have been left aside in the climate negotiations. She stresses that the concerns of small-scale producers have been ignored.

“Small-scale family farmers need a seat at the table and speaking space at the decision-making table to say what affects us – from secure access to land and tenure, to access to finance – if we are to rebuild our food system.”

The UN Climate Summit (COP27) begins today in Egypt with 90 heads of state gathering to discuss food security and climate finance.

Read the full letter:

Dear World Leaders,

The rise in hunger over the past year has exposed the fragility of the global food system. It is highly vulnerable to shocks – whether from Covid, conflict or climate – and ill-equipped for a world where extreme heat, drought and floods are the new normal, even if we limit global warming to 1.5°C. Building a food system that can feed the world on a hot planet must be a priority for COP27.

Any plan to adapt our food system must start with smallholder farmers and family producers. We are critical to global food security, producing up to 80% of the food consumed in regions such as Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Yet decades of underinvestment and an inequitable global food system run by and for powerful agribusinesses means we often lack the infrastructure, technology, resources and democratic space to deal with increasingly extreme and erratic climates.

Globally, only 1.7% of climate finance is spent supporting smallholder adaptation efforts. At a time of growing food insecurity, it is crucial that COP27 decision makers recognise the important role we play in feeding the world and significantly increase the amount of adaptation funding available to us now and in the long term.

COP27 must also put its weight behind a shift to more sustainable food production, including agroecological practices. The experience we have accumulated over generations and the conclusion of the International Panel on Climate Change is that diversity is key to food security. Growing a wider variety of local crops, mixing crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries, reducing chemical inputs and building strong connections with local markets creates resilience.

Beyond COP27, small-scale producers and the shift to sustainable food production must be a political priority. This means engaging us in decisions that affect our livelihoods. It means redirecting the $611 billion spent annually to subsidise food production, much of it in support of industrial agriculture that is harmful to people and the environment. It also means addressing the historical injustices and inequalities that plague our food system: the concentration of land ownership that is squeezing farmers into smaller and smaller parcels of land or forcing them off their land altogether, and the discrimination that means women, who make up more than half of all farmers, own less than 20% of all land.

Moving away from industrial agriculture will also help reduce emissions. The current food system is responsible for 34% of greenhouse gases and is fuelling a crisis that could render almost a third of agricultural land unfit for food production by the end of the century, yet it is consistently ignored in climate negotiations.

As you gather in Egypt, our message is simple. Learn the lessons of 2022. Listen to the 350 million small-scale producers and family farmers in our networks. Work with us to lay the foundations for a stronger food system that will feed humanity for generations to come.