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3. Promoting transitions across agrifood value chains
Supporting domestic market development and short value chains for agroecological products and inputs, creating an enabling environment for inclusive markets, and adapting public regulations on food safety and quality standards are critical to differentiate agroecological products and empower economically consumers and farmers. This section also provides complementary guidance on consumer-oriented policies and trade-related instruments.
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Six guidelines are outlined to support transitions across agrifood value chains:
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Guideline 3.1 Support domestic market development and short value chains for agroecological products
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Guideline 3.2 Create an enabling environment for domestic inclusive value chain transformations
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Guideline 3.5 Consumer-oriented policies: health, nutrition sensitive measures
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Guideline 3.6 Reform trade-related instruments, price support and sourcing policies
Guideline 3.1
Support domestic market development and short value chains for agroecological products
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Support diversified market developments to enhance both agroecology farmers’ access to varied outlets and consumers’ access to diverse food options.
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Support local public procurement schemes from agroecological farms.
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Support local consumer-led marketing schemes such as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
To achieve this, AMS may consider:
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Providing public facilities to host farmers’ markets, fairs and festivals for diversified sustainable local farmers.
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Incentivizing public administration (e.g. healthcare system, schools) to buy locally agroecologically produced food (see FAO publications and work on public food procurement for sustainable food systems and healthy diets)
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Based on concrete experiences, adapting public procurement provisions and regulations to further encourage their spreading.
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Creating differentiated space for agroecological products in public traditional markets.
Case studies:
Guideline 3.2
Create an enabling environment for domestic inclusive value-chain transformations
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Invest in digital technology and support diverse e-commerce business models for marketing agroecology products domestically.
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Invest in transport (road, rail, air, sea) to improve smallholder agroecology farmers' connectivity (see guideline 1).
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Empower small farmers and their organizations in the value chains (see also guideline 4).
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Strengthen support to marketing cooperatives via capacity development, investment in shared equipment, and support farmers’ organizations that can enhance farmers’ bargaining powers at food markets.
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Incentivize large retailers to procure locally diversified food products from agroecology farmers.
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Assist small to medium enterprises in processing, and tourism operators in adding value to agroecology products and promoting agrotourism and local gastronomy.
To achieve this, AMS may consider:
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Using ICT and social media to empower SMEs, small farmers and their organizations to act as connectors and information brokers in developing local markets for agroecological products.
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Supporting applications and platforms for direct product sale and developing more efficient community-supported agriculture (see for example Open Food Network).
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Supporting wholesaling enterprises and platforms consolidating agroecology farmers’ production for urban markets with added-value activities and marketing strategies.
Guideline 3.3
Adapt public regulations on food safety, quality standards and certification to support agroecology product differentiation and consumers’ conscious choices
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Make food safety and trade regulation more adapted to the conditions and outputs of agroecology operators, including farmers.
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Establish quality standards, and certification schemes guaranteeing them, adapted to agroecology farming systems and value chains.
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Adapt quality assurance instruments (standard, certification, internal control, traceability) and labels to the markets targeted (domestic versus export) and actors’ needs and capacity.
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Promote transparency mechanisms and traceability systems throughout value chains.
To achieve this, AMS may consider:
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Revising or establishing quality standards, labeling, and legislation for food (see guideline 6) through participatory, inclusive, and scientifically rigorous processes, focusing on content, sourcing, and agricultural practices, ensuring alignment with environmental, nutritional, health, and social equity criteria across the value chain.
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Liaising of agroecological farmers with trade and food-safety authorities that accommodate their size, production capacity and specificities.
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Recognizing and supporting Participatory Guarantee Systems as a valid means to certify organic and other agroecology products for local and domestic markets.
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Harmonizing the testing of standards across countries such as regional testing as opposed to national body testing, to assure safety and fast distribution of new technologies.
Guideline 3.4
Consumer oriented policies: health, nutrition sensitive measures
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Combine direct individual consumer incentives to support healthy consumer behaviors and diversified diets with orientating supply-based value chain transformations (see guideline 3.1 and guideline 3.2) to create a food environment that modifies collective norms regarding food consumption.
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Support consumers’ access to timely, clear and reliable information about the nutritional and disease risks associated with their food choices (see also guideline 3.3).
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Strengthen consumers’ organizations and consumer advocacy.
To achieve this, AMS may consider:
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Promoting Food Labelling and Advertising Laws that inform consumers on the nutritional content of food products
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Fostering consumer awareness-raising campaigns (see guideline 4.4).
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Embracing traditional and new communication tools to enhance food safety through better transparency, effective dialogue and cooperation.
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Building on scientific knowledge and evidence (including on emphasizing the link between local diversified products, agrobiodiversity and diversified healthy diets).
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Including nutrition-sensitive programming interventions (e.g. training on achieving balanced diets) in social protection programmes.
Guideline 3.5
Support local value chain development for inputs (seeds, organic fertilizers, bio-insecticides, feeds), equipment and machinery
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Facilitate access to local agroecological inputs for small farmers, including reforming support policies on inputs (see guideline 3.6)
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Support creating or strengthening local organic input value chains (organic fertilizers, bio-insecticides, feeds) that valorize farm by-products, thereby reducing food waste and improving resource use efficiency, including support to crop livestock integration at territorial level.
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Support local seeds production, conservation and recognition to strengthen locally adapted seeds provision and markets (see guideline 2.2).
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Promote mechanisms to enhance farmers’ access to appropriate, cost-effective and environmentally safe agricultural machinery and equipment.
To achieve this, AMS may consider:
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Improving the capacity to collect, process, transport farm by-products, thereby fostering systems such as crop livestock integration and supporting local organic input provision (e.g. manure, compost, silage, feed) (see guideline 6).
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Supporting local access to production technologies and inputs (forage seeds, effective micro-organisms) and small-scale equipment (bags, choppers, pellets) that improves conservation and transport capacities, and quality for animal feeds and organic fertilizers; and fostering large-scale adoption of crop-livestock integration.
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Subsidizing organic input provisions to help support local and domestic value chain development.
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Ensuring fair price of water and energy to all stakeholders in the value chain including smallholder farmers.
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Supporting farmers’ organizations in leveraging the inputs needed to agroecology transitions including alternative inputs, such as cover crop seed.
Guideline 3.6
Reform trade-related instruments, price support and sourcing policies
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Use approaches such as true cost accounting (see guideline 6.1) to better assess the negative and positive externalities of different farming systems and value chains (including agroecology-based ones) and differentiate agrifood outputs and inputs based on these assessments.
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Reform import and export tax schemes, non-tariffs barriers and price policies to better reflect true costs and values into trade and domestic markets for inputs and outputs and enhance the competitiveness of sustainable agriculture and value chains.
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Foster collaboration between ASEAN countries to align reforms of trade policies based on true cost assessment towards strengthening the ASEAN common market.
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Draw on and help orientate corporate sustainability commitments of global commodity actors to strengthen sustainability-based trade conditionalities.
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Adapt contract farming and sustainable sourcing regulations to foster value chain recognition of the variety of farmer sustainability practices.
To achieve this, AMS may consider:
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Reducing tariffs for inputs and food products that the country wishes to encourage farmers and citizens to use (e.g. nutritious foods, inputs safer for human consumption, etc.).
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Reducing or eliminating price support to highly intensive agriculture with no proven environmental or social benefits or proven to be degrading practices; conversely, pushing for lower customs duties and premium pricing for agrifood products following sustainable standards (see also guideline 3.4).