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Civil Society Mechanism for relations to the UN Committee on World Food Security.
Words Won’t Feed Us: Six Priorities of the People Who Already Do
Six demands to policy and decision-makers to strengthen policies in support of family farmers, by the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM).
There are nearly 900 million food producers at the heart of food systems. More than 90 percent of the world’s roughly 608 million farms are family-run, and generate around 80 percent of global food value; smallholdings under two hectares alone account for roughly a third of the food produced worldwide. Yet many of these smallholder farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, Indigenous Peoples’, women and youth face massive challenges that threaten their livelihoods and agency.
Commitments to family farmers are not lacking. Since 2011, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has adopted a series of policy recommendations that recognise their central role:
- How to Increase Food Security and Smallholder-Sensitive Investments in Agriculture (2011)
- Investing in Smallholder Agriculture for Food Security and Nutrition (2013)
- Connecting Smallholders to Markets (2016)
- Promoting Youth Engagement and Employment in Agriculture and Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition(2022)
The CSIPM developed these key messages in consultation with smallholder farmers, peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk and Indigenous Peoples across a balance of regions. They reflect the experiences, lessons and struggles of those living with the gap between policy and practice.
The CSIPM calls on policy-makers to act on the following six priorities:
- Rights-holders must take part in decision-making.
- Policy coherence is political, not technical
- Youth must shape prorgrammes meant for them
- Agrarian reform and an end to the criminialisation of peasants and Indigenous Peoples
- Redirect public finance to smallhoderls, territorial markets and fair prices
- A gender lens in every policy
The post Words Won’t Feed Us: Six Priorities of the People Who Already Do appeared first on CSIPM.
CSIPM Welcome Kit
Useful Tips on the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM) for Relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) – (2026 edition)
The kit is an accessible tool for CSIPM participants and Coordination Committee members to find their way through the CFS and the CSIPM. We want to unpack these spaces for everyone carrying out the struggle at the local level!
Download the kit and share it widely across your constituencies and sub-regions.
The post CSIPM Welcome Kit appeared first on CSIPM.
Human Rights, Not Rule of Might: Centring Grassroots Voices in Food Governance – CSIPM Forum 2026 Public Session
Ahead of CFS 54 Plenary Session, the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM) for relations with the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) is pleased to invite you to the closing of the CSIPM Forum 2026.
- Time and date: 18 October, 2026 at 16.00 CEST
- Where: Università Roma Tre. Aula Magna, Dipartimento di Architettura. (Piazza Orazio Giustiniani 4, 00155, Roma)
- Modality: In-person
- RSVP at cso4cfs@gmail.com
Why it is relevant
Wars, occupations, violence, exploitation, the concentration of corporate power and climate disasters are tearing food systems apart. This is when multilateral institutions are needed most: they should be where governments cooperate, where rules are upheld and where power is held accountable guided by the principles of the United Nations, human rights and the 2030 Agenda.
Multilateralism rests on a principle: States are the duty-bearers for human rights, and their obligations apply to all. Today those obligations are being bypassed. Rules are applied selectively and double standards go unchallenged, while corporate power, including that of big tech, gains influence over public decisions.
What to expect
The session will bring governments, UN institutions and CSIPM organisations into dialogue on these questions. The first panel looks at the state of multilateral food governance, and the second at what the CFS should take up next. The session closes with the CSIPM’s key messages to the CFS 54 Plenary.
The post Human Rights, Not Rule of Might: Centring Grassroots Voices in Food Governance – CSIPM Forum 2026 Public Session appeared first on CSIPM.
The Fine Print I:
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The Fine Print II:
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