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A multi-billion-dollar opportunity – Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems

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Read the full report A multi-billion-dollar opportunity – Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems


FAO, UNDP and UNEP. 2021. A multi-billion-dollar opportunity – Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems. In brief. Rome.




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    A multi-billion-dollar opportunity – Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems 2021
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    Public support mechanisms for agriculture in many cases hinder the transformation towards healthier, more sustainable, equitable, and efficient food systems, thus actively steering us away from meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the Paris Agreement. This report sets out the compelling case for repurposing harmful agricultural producer support to reverse this situation, by optimizing the use of scarce public resources, strengthening economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ultimately driving a food systems transformation that can support global sustainable development commitments. The report provides policymakers with an updated estimate of past and current agricultural producer support for 88 countries, projected up until 2030. The trends emerging from the analysis are a clear call for action at country, regional and global levels to phase out the most distortive, environmentally and socially harmful support, such as price incentives and coupled subsidies, and redirecting it towards investments in public goods and services for agriculture, such as research and development and infrastructure, as well as decoupled fiscal subsidies. Overall, the analysis highlights that, while removing and/or reducing harmful agricultural support is necessary, repurposing initiatives that include measures to minimize policy trade-offs will be needed to ensure a beneficial outcome overall. The report confirms that, while a few countries have started repurposing and reforming agricultural support, broader, deeper, and faster reforms are needed for food systems transformation. Thus, it provides guidance (in six steps) on how governments can repurpose agricultural producer support – and the reforms this will take.
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    Innovations in financing mechanisms for demand-driven agricultural advisory services
    The Chile case, 1978–2014
    2018
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    The Research and Extension Unit (AGDR) of FAO has commissioned a series of case studies on the reform of extension systems in the past decade and the shift towards innovative financing systems for extension. The studies have focused on the relations between the empowerment of farmers and their organizations, their new roles in the advisory systems and the innovative financial mechanisms in extension required to achieve effective pluralistic and demand-led extension and advisory systems, with quality services being relevant for male and female smallholder producers. Four case studies of different modalities of innovative financing mechanisms were undertaken: Danish Agricultural Advisory Services, evolution of the Danish model. The study describes the historic development of the Danish Agricultural Advisory Services (DAAS). This is the case of a national advisory system owned and managed by the farmer organizations and financed with public subsidies combined with farmer/user payments, gradually developed to full user payment. Agricultural Services and Producer Organizations Support programme (PSAOP) from Senegal is the case of reforms towards decentralized demand-led services with structures, procedures and finances for farmers’ demand, negotiation and contracting of advisory services. The farmer organizations were the main drivers of this reform process. Both the supply and demand side are supported with public funding. Financing advisory services for family farmers in Chile. The study describes the programmes of the Institute for Agricultural Development (INDAP) from Chile (1978-2014). The case shows the development of a pluralistic system for extension and advisory services. The system uses competitive grants provided by Government combined with users’ financial contribution to cover the costs of the services. Nariño Dairy Products Cooperative (COLACTEOS) in Colombia is a case of producers’ cooperative-based advisory services as embedded services fully financed through their own processing and marketing activities. A team of advisors is hired by the cooperative for regular services; while other services are contracted on a short term basis. Furthermore, a synthesis was established with a conceptual framework for analysis used to develop a synthesis of the experiences from the four case studies. The synthesis also supplements the cases with a literature review on other cases of similar financing mechanisms and drawsconclusions and recommendations.
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    Book (series)
    Repurposing food and agricultural policies to deliver affordable healthy diets, sustainably and inclusively: what is at stake?
    Background paper for The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022
    2023
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    The analysis presented in this report examines the impacts of repurposing food and agricultural fiscal support and border support on the cost and affordability of healthy diets and several other key socioeconomic, nutritional and climate indicators. The impacts are estimated at the global level, as well as for various income groups and geographic regions. Scenarios include repurposing fiscal support to producer support targeted to high-priority foods (those where current levels of consumption are below that of recommended levels) and to consumer subsidies targeting high-priority foods.

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