Weathering the storm: Pacific farmers message to Bonn Climate talks

By Ilisapeci Vakacegu

It’s going to be a difficult year for farmers and consumers.

The super El Niño, confirmed last week, threatens to bring prolonged drought, water shortages and intense cyclones to the Pacific, further undermining agricultural production and food security in a region already grappling with rising food and fertiliser costs, driven in part by the US-Iran conflict.

This is not a one-off. From the COVID-19 pandemic to the invasion of Ukraine and the accelerating impacts of climate change, repeated global shocks have exposed the deep vulnerabilities that exist in our food system. For the Pacific Islands, like many countries across the globe, these events underline a stark reality: our dependence on imported food, fertilisers and fuel, and the degradation of nature’s safety net through intensive farming practices, has left our food systems dangerously exposed.

Safeguarding harvests and stabilising food prices will require a change of approach.

We need to build sustainable and robust local and regional food systems. In the Pacific over 60% of the food we eat, and almost all of the chemical fertiliser we use, is imported. This dependency means our communities are highly vulnerable to energy price spikes and global supply chain disruptions. Ensuring more Pacific Islanders have access to affordable, healthy, locally produced food, grown with organic locally produced fertilisers, will help break this link and give a much-needed boost to the local economy.

This fact has not gone unnoticed. Interest in agroecological farming - an approach that works with nature to boost productivity and resilience - has risen along with the cost of farm inputs. Swapping chemical fertilisers for locally available alternatives such as organic compost and introducing crops that naturally boost soil fertility, lowers costs and improves soil health - increasing water retention during droughts and reducing erosion during storms.

Building resilience also means investing in the people who feed us. Farmers will need technical and financial support if they are to purchase new equipment, adopt new practices, and navigate a temporary dip in production as they reduce chemical inputs and allow the natural farm ecosystem to re-establish itself. These changes won’t happen overnight - farmers and consumers will still need support through the coming months - but they will ensure we are far better equipped to deal with the next crisis.

Thankfully, these issues are moving up the international climate agenda. At the Bonn Climate Conference parties are considering how to mobilise finance for agriculture adaptation. This should include a reassessment of the US$540 billion spent annually on agricultural subsidies - almost 90% of which have been found to harm people’s health, drive climate change, destroy nature and reinforce inequality by excluding smallholder farmers.

Many low-income countries and small island developing states will also require additional international support. Delivering on the commitment made at COP29 and reinforced at COP30 to triple adaptation finance will be critical to narrowing the adaptation gap.

However, increasing finance alone is not enough. We must also address how that finance is delivered. With the current limitation in funding, it’s vital to ensure finance is channeled where it is needed the most and where it will have the most impact. Family farmers produce around half the world’s food calories and support 2.5 billion people, yet they receive just 0.36% of the funding they need to adapt. Funding for sustainable resilient farming practices is equally scarce - only a fifth of international public climate finance spending on food and agriculture was used to support climate resilient practices such as agroecology in 2021.

To address this ‘effectiveness gap’ the Pacific Farmers Organisation, together with family farmer organisations representing over 95 million smallholders across the globe, are calling for governments to support the establishment of a Farmers’ Resiliency and Empowerment Fund. Led and managed by family farmer organisations, cooperatives and producer associations, this fund will eliminate the bureaucracy and barriers that prevent family farmers from accessing climate finance. It will channel existing finance directly to smallholders and their organisations via long-term grants and soft loans, supporting investments that have proven benefits for smallholders and rural communities.

Encouragingly, governments and funders are beginning to recognise that investing in family farmers organisations and nature-based agriculture practices is the most effective and cost-effective route to agriculture adaptation. COP31 co-host, Australia, is already directly investing in farmers’ networks and locally-led adaptation approaches in the Pacific and capitalising on the experience, knowledge, expertise and networks built up over decades.

Momentum for food systems transformation is also growing internationally. More than 160 countries have endorsed the COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, an increasing number of countries from Brazil to Kenya have adopted national agroecological strategies, while Türkiye has become the fourth consecutive COP Presidency to prioritise food systems and agriculture in its Action Agenda.

The seeds of change have been sown. Türkiye and Australia must now work with family farmer organisations to deliver the reforms and finance needed for a sustainable and resilient food system to flourish.

Ilisapeci Vakacegu is Policy and Advocacy Programs Manager at the Pacific Farmers Organisation, and a former climate negotiator for Fiji