Global network of farmers markets | FAO Food Coalition | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Countries involved

Ghana
Italy
United States of America

Time frame

2022-2023

Pillar 3

Support and follow-up to G20 Matera Declaration

Pillar 4

Longer-term solutions – developed to transform agrifood systems

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting disruptions to food supply chains have underscored the importance of diverse agrifood systems to ensure food and nutrition security and enhance their resilience and equity. Direct-to-consumer markets can be an important contribution to these goal, as they can help increasing the farmers’ share of the food dollar and improving consumers’ access to aﬀordable, high-quality products.

Farmers’ markets provide an important outlet for direct-to-consumer sales and can help catalysing new entrepreneurial opportunities while supporting small and new producers.

As diﬀerent models of farmers’ markets exist, it becomes crucial to document and understand them and identify influencing factors that may determine the outcome of each model for informing decision-making processes and development programmes at diﬀerent levels.

Objective

Supporting small-scale farmers for inclusive and sustainable agrifood systems

The project aims at promoting diverse farmers’ market models and collective mechanisms to engage small-scale producers in sustainable agrifood systems as agents of economic, social and environmental sustainability.To reach this objective, the project will work on developing a worldwide network of farmers’ markets while providing support to farmers and their representative organisations in the form of capacity development programmes. Support will also be provided to countries and institutions for the promotion of an enabling policy, legislative and institutional environment for farmers’ markets to operate, through policy dialogue initiatives and review of regulatory and institutional frameworks. Moreover, progress, knowledge and best practices and their impacts will be monitored, analysed and compiled in a global report to share the learning and give visibility to the importance of farmers' markets in inclusive and sustainable transformation of agrifood systems.

Activities

Develop a network of farmers’ markets.
Promote an enabling policy, legislative and institutional environment for farmers’ markets.
Compile a report of best practices for inclusive and sustainable transformation of agrifood system in farmers’ markets.