A multistakeholder workshop on living income for smallholder farmers convened at FAO headquarters on October 24 brought together representatives of governments, private sector actors, development partners and civil society to discuss how the living income approach can drive more resilient and equitable agrifood systems.   

The session was organized by FAO’s Agrifood Economics and Policy Division (ESA) in collaboration with the Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP), combining FAO’s global expertise in food security, poverty reduction and investments to improve livelihoods of agrifood value chain actors, with LICOP’s unique experience in multistakeholder platform initiatives to advance practical living income approaches.   

As David Laborde, Director of FAO's Agrifood Economics and Policy Division (ESA) stressed in his opening remarks, “Living income starts with a simple but powerful idea: Ensuring that the people who feed us can live decent lives. Today, that is often not the case.”   

Living income as a driver of equitable agrifood systems 

During the session, Germany and the Netherlands emphasized that the concept is about moving from survival to dignity, with Acting Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to FAO, Jan Bade, noting, “Nobody is against a living income – the question is how. The ‘how’ is essential.”   

Sandy McCleery, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to FAO, highlighted the strategic importance of the living income approach for the UK. “Living income frameworks are central to the UK’s development and climate strategy. They provide a practical rights-based approach to addressing poverty and inequality, which are key barriers to achieving food security, decent livelihoods, human rights for smallholder farmers and healthy diets in line with planetary boundaries.” 

Furthermore, Paul Garaycochea, Director for Sustainable Transformation of Supply Chains at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), emphasized the broader implications of the agenda. “Ensuring living incomes and living wages is not only a moral imperative or development target. It is an essential prerequisite for a more resilient, equitable and sustainable future.” 

Building on this, Anja Wagner, German Alternate Permanent Representative to the UN Agencies in Rome, underscored the operational value of the approach, noting that it helps detect risks “before they become crises,” and ensures that efforts translate into real improvements for rural households.    

The first panel, featuring officials from the Côte d’Ivoire–Ghana Cocoa Initiative, Germany and the United Kingdom, stressed that living income frameworks provide transparent, standardized methods for identifying income gaps, assessing risks and guiding investments.

Alex Assanvo, Executive Secretary of the Côte d’Ivoire–Ghana Cocoa Initiative emphasized the urgency of coordinated action: “There is no way governments can solve this alone – we need the industry. Sustainability must go hand in hand with living income.” 

Private sector insights on agrifood supply chain resilience   

Multinational companies such as Nestlé and Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) demonstrated how living income considerations are being integrated into corporate supply chain strategies.

“We depend on motivated, professional farmers. If they cannot earn a decent income, they cannot invest in good agricultural practices – and they will leave farming,” highlighted Yann Wyss, Global Head for Social Impact and Human Rights at Nestlé.   

Yves-Pascal Suter, Sustainability, Global Head Social Impact, Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) echoed this message by noting, “Only prosperous farmers can eliminate unacceptable practices like child labour and forced labour.”

Speakers encouraged the private sector to break out of the competitive mindset that often slows sector-wide progress and stressed the need for responsible purchasing practices and long-term partnerships.   

The third panel, focused on multistakeholder collaboration, showcased lessons from the coffee, banana and palm-oil sectors. José A. Hidalgo, Executive Director of AEBE and active member of the FAO-hosted World Banana Forum (WBF), stressed that “producers cannot manage the agenda alone – buyers, retailers and consumers must share responsibility    

Data needs and FAO’s convening role

Across panels, participants called for harmonized data and shared methodologies to support evidence-based policymaking and investment planning. Governments and companies expressed strong interest in collaborating with FAO to align living income metrics.

Vaibhav Panpaliya, Better Income Senior Innovation Manager at the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) underlined the importance of a shared framework and stronger evidence base, noting that the living income concept “helps make income improvement more tangible and creates space for more strategic dialogue between stakeholders – but there are no silver bullets, so we need holistic approaches and better data sharing to really move the needle.” 

Multiple speakers underscored FAO’s critical convening role, with Miguel Zamora, Coffee Public-Private Task Force Coordinator at the International Coffee Organization (ICO) emphasizing the value of a unified agenda: “We now need to move from definitions to results. Closing the income gap requires collective action.”   

Commitment to continued collaboration 

Closing remarks from David Laborde reaffirmed FAO’s commitment to expanding this work: “Living income is a key piece of the just transition we want to achieve. Now the focus must be on integrating this work into country programmes.”   

Held as a side event to the Committee of Food Security 53, the workshop drew around 90 participants in person and online, contributing to a dynamic and solution-driven dialogue. Stakeholders encouraged FAO and LICOP to continue facilitating data sharing, supporting pilot initiatives and enabling collective action to close living income gaps worldwide.