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Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- More generally, contract farming can lead to a loss of control over production, including which crops to produce and how to produce them. Contract farming can thus cause farmers to become essentially wage-earning agricultural labourers on their own land, but without the benefits associated with paid labour, such as minimum wages, sick leave and other legislated benefits. Contracted small farmers are then seen by the buyer as labour market intermediaries. This is particularly clear after plantations are broken up by owners to create small-scale farms, possibly to break the power of unions or divest firms of their responsibilities, with negative effects on former labourers. Seen in this light, contract farming raises a number of questions that concern the right to work and the conditions of employment on family farms. Contract farmers often rely on family labour to fulfil work requirements. While this may be seen as leading to greater employment opportunities, it often simply results in more family members working without pay because that may be the only way to cut costs and to make the contractual arrangement profitable. In such contexts, child labour can become a problem in contract farming arrangements. Article 10 of the International Covenant on Social and Cultural Rights and article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child impose on States the obligation to protect children and young persons from economic and social exploitation and to punish their employment in work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, spiritual, moral or social development. States must adopt effective measures to ensure that the prohibition of child labour is fully respected (see E/C.12/GC/18, para. 24). It is also relevant to note that in accordance with article 9 of the Covenant, States must guarantee the right to social security, which must also be accessible to independent producers (see E/C.12/GC/19).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The fact that women are also considered as the primary caregivers, in both rural and urban settings, adds an extra dimension to their responsibilities within the household. While rural women often shoulder the burden of a heavy workload in addition to their care duties, urban poor woman face different challenges relating to assuring adequate food and nutrition for their family. For a range of economic reasons, poor urban women are increasingly relying on less nutritious processed foods. The Special Rapporteur intends to work with relevant stakeholders to address concerns related to the food issues facing different countries as a result of a dietary transition from traditional diets to processed foods high in fat and sugar, including the concerns addressed by her predecessor (see A/HRC/19/59).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Judicial protection of land as a source of livelihood can be seen in judgments by the Constitutional Court of Colombia. One such significant case involves the community of Las Pavas, whose members occupied unused land in 1997 and began farming activities to feed themselves. Over the years, the community had been repeatedly subjected to various forms of intimidation and harassment, including attacks by paramilitary groups and the destruction of crops and food. A formal eviction order was issued in 2009 at the request of two private companies, who claimed ownership of the land. In 2011, the Colombian Constitutional Court delivered its judgment, finding that the actions leading to the eviction of the families of Las Pavas were unlawful and violated the right to a dignified existence, among other rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Oxfam researchers found that adaptation projects aimed at women created under Burkina Faso's National Action Programme for Adaptation (NAPA) sought to diversity the ways that women can generate income to offset income lost by harvests damaged by climate change. In order to rectify these consequences, individuals and organizations need to be better educated on the different vulnerabilities that men and women face in disasters, and local women's organizations need to be consulted in order to understand region-specific contexts. Moreover, such attempts could have ancillary positive effects, as developing credit systems to aid families during times of famine, strengthening women's organizations that promote adaptation measures, and addressing larger issues could prevent gender inequality.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Formal laws could also prove ineffective if women do not realize or assume control over their rights. For example, in 2005, India amended the Hindu Succession Act (1956) to allow men and women equal inheritance to agricultural land. However, according to a 2013 study, challenges in the implementation of the Act had been observed, allegedly as a result of women not being aware of their legal rights and not wanting to upset their families and resistance from their brothers amongst other reasons.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In addition to its economic functions of stimulating growth and reducing rural poverty, more equitable access to land for the rural poor contributes to social inclusion and economic empowerment. Access to land also improves food security, since it makes food more easily and cheaply available, providing a buffer against external shocks. Evidence resulting from land redistribution in China suggests that "even though access to land insures household income only moderately against shocks, it provides almost complete insurance against malnutrition". More equitable land distribution and the development of owner-operated family farms are thus desirable on both efficiency and equity grounds. Small family-owned farms can use the land in more sustainable ways, since sustainable farming is often more labour-intensive and requires the linking of farmers to the land. Moreover, where rural areas face high unemployment and underemployment and relative scarcity of land, it is more sensible, from both an economic perspective and a social justice perspective, to raise land productivity than to try to increase labour productivity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The fight against NCDs is underfunded, in part, because it was not included in the Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000. Less than 3 per cent of development assistance for health goes to combating NCDs, even though they cause more than one third of all premature deaths. The poorest segments of the population are affected disproportionately. Poor families may be unable to afford the increased health-care expenditures that result from NCDs. Annually, 100 million people are pushed into poverty because they cannot afford the necessary health services. In India for example, treatment for diabetes costs an affected person on average 15-25 per cent of household earnings, and cardiovascular disease leads to catastrophic expenditure for 25 per cent of Indian families and drives 10 per cent of families into poverty. Furthermore, people who are affected may not be able to work, and their family members may have to provide care, resulting in lost revenues. Poor families may be less educated, on average, about the risks of unhealthy diets, and they lack the resources to improve their diets.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Improving access to education for girls requires that the incentives structures for families be changed, and that social and cultural norms that lead parents to interrupt the schooling of girls earlier than that of boys be challenged. Many poor households are unable to send girls to school because of the costs, both direct and indirect (school fees or other costs related to attending school, such as uniforms and books), of doing so; because of opportunity costs (girls who go to school are not available to work within the household); because of the commute involved, when the family lives at a far distance from the nearest school, and associated security concerns. The absence of separate sanitation facilities for girls in schools can also be a major obstacle.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Women face multiple forms of discrimination in accessing land. As regards land that is inherited, laws in many countries still discriminate against women, and even when the discriminatory elements are removed, the laws are often circumvented under the pressure of social and cultural norms. For instance, where a sister could inherit land on an equal basis with her brothers, she may accept a lump-sum payment in lieu of her portion of the land in order to maintain good relations with her brothers. As regards land that is acquired during marriage, in a number of regions, particularly in South Asia, a separation of property regime is applied, according to which assets brought into the marriage or acquired during marriage remain the individual property of the spouse who acquired said assets from his or her personal funds. But this leads to deeply inequitable outcomes, as it does not recognize the important non-monetary contribution that women make to the household by looking after the house, child-rearing, caring for the elderly, or various other chores.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Brazil's agroecology policies have already experienced success. Approximately 100,000 family farms have adopted agroecological farming practices. These farms have had average yield increases of 100-300 per cent and demonstrated greater resilience to irregular weather patterns. Brazil has also developed programmes that provide access to low-interest credit for family farmers and also offered technical support for 2.3 million families in 2010. It has stimulated agroecological systems by providing technical support for crop diversification techniques and irrigation systems.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Right to food and nutrition 2016, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Raising tariffs on imported foods and drinks classified as "unhealthy" are another tool, used for example by the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Nauru and Samoa. Others have lowered import tariffs on "healthy" foods that are not procured locally. Targeted subsidies or price discounts can also enable people on low incomes to afford healthier food options. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, for example, low-income pregnant women and families receive vouchers to buy dairy and vegetables, and in the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program gives incentives to spend on fruits and vegetables.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Inheritance is often the main avenue for women's land acquisition, yet women are still less likely to inherit land than men. Inheritance is often determined through marriage practices. Through patri-linearism, which is the most common societal system, sons, rather than daughters, inherit land from their fathers. Even where bilateral inheritance practices exist, communities may favor customary patrilineal practices. This is so in the case of the Mossi community in Burkina Faso "where despite the fact that the majority of families are Muslim, meaning that in theory daughters inherit land, this practice is not observed."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- For married women, the death of a husband does not guarantee her ownership rights of the decedent's property. In Uganda for example, a co-ownership clause was added to the Land Act of 1998, which technically vested the land title in both the husband and wife; however, upon the death of the husband, any .children of the marriage are legally allowed to take land from the mother. Similarly, among the Hmong and Khmu, the largest ethnic groups in Lao PDR, women are primarily considered as guardians of their children's inheritance rather than heirs in their own right and additionally single women are prohibited from living independently.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- While improved access to education is essential to creating such economic opportunities for women, such efforts will only be effective in combination with other measures. These include active labour policies that gradually improve the representation of women in all sectors and break down the vertical and horizontal segmentation of the labour market where it exists, through positive action; measures aimed at reconciling family and professional life, and access to employment for workers with family responsibilities, as stipulated in ILO Convention No. 156 (1981) on Workers with family responsibilities. Both of these measures should be combined with efforts to break down gender stereotypes, not only as regards the type of employment performed by women, but also as regard the allocation of responsibilities between women and men in the discharging of family responsibilities. Indeed, although more women than ever are gainfully employed, their share of family responsibilities has not diminished.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- However, partly because of concerns with the fiscal sustainability of unconditional cash transfer programs, and partly in order to encourage poor families to invest more in their children and thus reduce the inter-generational transmission of poverty, conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have been expanding in recent years. Such CCTs generally target certain poor regions and, within those regions, poor households. They generally provide cash or sometimes nutritional supplements, usually to the mother or primary caregiver, provided certain conditions are met. These conditions relate most often to children's school enrolment and attendance level, and attendance at pre- and postnatal health-care appointments to ensure that children receive appropriate vaccinations and to check their growth. In previous mission reports, the Special Rapporteur discussed the well-known CCTs that have been launched in Mexico (Progresa/Oportunidades) and in Brazil (Bolsa Familia) (A/HRC/13/33/Add.6 and A/HRC/19/59/Add.2). An early example is Bangladesh's Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP) launched in 1993 (see para. 16 above), which was complemented, in July 2002, by the Primary Education Stipend Project (PESP). The PESP aimed to increase the educational participation (enrolment, continued attendance and educational performance) of primary school children from poor families throughout Bangladesh (initially estimated at more than 5 million pupils) by providing cash payments to targeted households. Despite significant targeting problems during its initial phase, the programme is credited for improving educational attainments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Insofar as conditionalities can improve the educational attainments of girls, they should be welcomed. CCT benefits are usually given to women, as the "caregivers" of households - in Brazil, 94 per cent of the recipients of the Bolsa Familia transfers are women. This is expected to strengthen their negotiating role within the family, although such an outcome is far from automatic. The Right to Food Guidelines recommend that States "give priority to channelling food assistance via women as a means of enhancing their decision-making role and ensuring that the food is used to meet the household's food requirements." (guideline 13.4). Beyond these aspects however, too little attention has been paid to the gender impacts of CCTs, when such programmes are put in place. [...]
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- International human rights law requires States to guarantee gender equality and the empowerment of women. While essential to the women's right to food, this would also contribute to the realization of the right to food for other members of society. The advancement of women's rights translates into improved physical and mental development of children, whose ability to learn and to lead healthy and productive lives will gain; it translates into better health and nutritional outcomes for the household, as the decision-making power within the family is rebalanced in favour of women; and it results in higher productivity for women as small-scale food producers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Non-discriminatory access to the resources required for sustainable food production, such as agricultural land, water, seeds, fertilizers and technical knowledge, must also be guaranteed. Support for small-scale family farmers and food producers should be paramount in the adoption of future policies related to food security and food sovereignty. Policy prescriptions that typically call for the expansion of industrial-scale agricultural development and ignore the real threats to global food supply (such as biofuel expansion, inadequate investment in climate-resilient agriculture, lagging support for small-scale farmers and women food producers and the massive loss of food to spoilage and waste) must be reconsidered. It is imperative that a human rights-based approach to food security is adopted in order to eliminate hunger and provide access to healthy, nutritious and affordable food for all. In that regard, the Special Rapporteur proposes to adopt a qualitative rather than quantitative approach to the right to food during her mandate, in response to the current challenges facing all States in developing national food policies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Public works programmes are designed to provide employment to families who have no other source of income; remuneration is usually in the form of cash (cash-for-work) or food (food-for-work), or a combination of both. Because the work is demanding and the wages are low (or payment is made in the form of food items), only those in genuine need, who have run out of other options, may seek to enter these programmes, which are therefore self-targeting. Public works programmes may serve to create physical infrastructure (such as irrigation schemes, wells or rural roads) or to deliver environmental services (for instance hillside terracing or other landscape arrangements to facilitate the capture of rain water or the planting of trees) that contribute to long-term development aims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- The globalization of food supply chains affects nutrition in two ways. First, the general pattern has been for developing countries to export high-quality foods, tropical fruits and vegetables in particular, to rich countries, while importing refined grains. This means that while increased trade may have lowered the price of macronutrients in low-income countries (although with a greater vulnerability to price shocks), the reverse has been true for micronutrient-rich products, leading poor families in developing countries to shift to monotonous, micronutrient-poor diets, relying mainly on starchy staples, as more diverse diets may become unaffordable or less affordable than diets comprised of staples. Nutrition may thus be affected by this "price effect," resulting from the shift in the relative prices of food commodities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Such transformative approach is clearly required under human rights law. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women affirms that "a change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society and in the family is needed to achieve full equality between men and women" (preamble, 14th para). Accordingly, States Parties shall seek, inter alia, to "modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women", and to promote the "recognition of the common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of their children" (art. 5 (a). In reference to this provision, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has urged States to combat patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes regarding the roles and responsibilities of women and men within the family and society at large (women being considered as having the primary responsibility for child-rearing and domestic tasks, and men being considered the main breadwinners) and to reject the concept that assigns the role of "head of the household" to men.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Integrating a gender perspective in the right to food 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Finally, legal barriers may force women to choose between domestic responsibilities and outside employment. As primary caretakers for children and households, women are not always permitted to engage in paid employment, and family and personal laws may prevent a woman from making employment decisions without her husband's permission. Meanwhile, some countries featured highly discriminatory family laws that gave husbands authority over their wives in marriage including rights over property, and divorce filings. Women also often struggle with maternity protection and child care as those carrying the primary responsibility for domestic work.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Agricultural workers are routinely exposed to toxic pesticides via spray, drift or direct contact with treated crops or soil, from accidental spills or inadequate personal protective equipment. Even when following recommended safety precautions, those applying pesticides are subject to higher exposure levels. Families of agricultural workers are also vulnerable, as workers bring home pesticide residues on their skin, clothing and shoes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Effects of pesticides on the right to food 2017, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and other international human rights instruments all contain provisions that require States to provide adequate protection, information and remedies in the context of pesticide use.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- In addition to a lack of awareness of their rights, victims of violations face considerable institutional and structural barriers. For many, particularly for those living in rural and remote areas and peri-urban settings, simply accessing a court is in itself a significant challenge. In many countries, municipal courts do not exist and the legal epicentre is located in the capital only, with logistical and monetary implications for those who live beyond the city. In countries where municipal and subnational mechanisms are available, a lack of affordable and dedicated legal assistance and judicial corruption often hinders access. In cases where rights holders have the means to submit a case, often ordinary courts, which are more accessible for families facing food security, are unaware of the issue - with the right to food not considered as related to other citizen's rights. Complex and inflexible court systems also have a significant impact on victims, often requiring a high burden of proof for applicants. Some courts may also be averse to accepting collective, or public interest mechanisms or innovative fact-gathering or remedial procedures. In such cases, victims are dissuaded from submitting claims. Some countries, however, have tackled the problem by establishing public interest litigation procedures that authorize individual and collective claims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Families
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 52a
- Paragraph text
- [In addition, Government agencies should:] Monitor labour conditions in contract farming and ensure that the expansion of such farming does not lead to the overexploitation of cheap family labour or to indirect downward pressure on the labour rights of agricultural workers;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The pricing mechanisms should be clear and transparent and show how prices incorporate production costs, risks and returns. While a variety of price models exist (e.g. spot market-based pricing, split pricing, fixed prices and flexible price model), in the view of the Special Rapporteur, the ideal pricing mechanism is one replicating the formula used in fair trade schemes. The producer should be guaranteed a fixed minimum price based on the need to meet production costs and to ensure a living wage for all the workers concerned (including family members, where applicable) (see A/HRC/13/33, paras. 14-17), but the prices paid by the buyer should be higher if market prices increase. This is the price-setting mechanism used, for instance, by MBSA for the acquisition of jatropha produced by smallholders in Mali. The farmers, represented by a union of cooperatives, are guaranteed a minimum price, which may increase relative to the price of diesel at the pump. This eliminates the temptation for the producer to sell goods outside the terms of the contract, and thus the need for the buyer to closely monitor the producer's operations. It therefore guarantees a stable supply for the buyer, while simultaneously reducing transaction costs linked with the contracting of a large number of small-scale suppliers. Pricing mechanisms should be subject to an independent arbitration mechanism, and farmers should be provided with the market prices of internationally traded commodities to reduce the risks associated with the asymmetry of information between the parties.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Impact of climate change on the right to food 2015, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- While some indigenous and small farmer groups support REDD-plus solutions, others reject these and all other market solutions and urge global organizations to recognize and support the sustainable agriculture of family farmers and indigenous people as a way of maintaining global biodiversity and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, some observers contend that, if well supported and scaled up, projects involving peasants and indigenous peoples could reduce current global emissions by 75 per cent by increasing biodiversity, recuperating soil organic matter, replacing industrial meat production with small-scale diversified food production, expanding local markets, halting deforestation and practising integrated forest management.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
28 shown of 28 entities