Behind every agrifood policy lies a political choice – and a power shift waiting to happen

Power decides who eats, who profits and who is heard. That is why reshaping the balance of power is central to building sustainable agrifood systems, in parallel to technical solutions. Lessons around the world demonstrate that governance only works when it listens and includes the people most affected, as emphasized at a virtual learning dialogue hosted on 28 May 2025 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The second of the three-fold Governance Learning Series Exploring Innovative Pathways for Agrifood Systems Transformation to Advance the Sustainable Development Goals, the event brought together policymakers and practitioners to explore strategies that empower marginalized groups, increase accountability and promote shared responsibility across agrifood systems. Real-world experiences from Ecuador, Ghana and Mexico illustrated how participatory policies and structures can help transform who gets a seat at the table — and how decisions are made.

“Power imbalances, rooted in gender inequality, social stratification, and the concentration of corporate power, lie at the heart of unsustainable development,” stated Stefanos Fotiou, Director of FAO’s Office of Sustainable Development Goals (OSG), who opened the session Shifting the Balance of Power: Elevating Voices in Agrifood Decision-Making. Fotiou emphasized that the 2030 Agenda is being held back by short-term thinking and a narrow focus on economic growth over development. Addressing these challenges, he argued, requires redistributing power through stronger participatory frameworks, inclusive policy platforms, and greater accountability, particularly from private sector actors that dominate value chains. In his view, a peaceful shift in power is essential for transforming agrifood systems; the UN, including FAO, can play a key role by leveraging its convening power and normative influence to support inclusive, rights-based governance.

Despite their different contexts, the cases from Ecuador, Ghana, and Mexico revealed a common thread: the creation of governance instruments to amplify the voices of underrepresented groups and make agrifood systems more responsive. In Ecuador, rural women have been directly involved in local roundtables for community-led decision-making through a dedicated national strategy. Ghana’s Green Label certification scheme has brought together farmers, regulators, the private sector, and civil society actors in a voluntary framework that provides producers with better market access and strengthens food safety standards. In Mexico, a new law on adequate and sustainable food has institutionalized civil society participation and intersectoral collaboration to protect the right to a healthy diet, especially for marginalized populations.

Ecuador: Rural women take the lead in shaping policy

At the session, Isabel Mejía, Intersectoral Coordination Analyst for Family Farming at Ecuador’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, shared how the country is institutionalizing rural women’s participation in agrifood policymaking. “Family farming has a female face,” she said, noting that 71 percent of rural women are involved in agriculture in Ecuador, yet face persistent inequalities in income, distribution of unpaid care and domestic responsibilities and decision-making power.

The 2020 launch of the National Agricultural Strategy for Rural Women, developed through consultations with over 1,300 women and supported by FAO and other international partners, marked a turning point. It created concrete avenues for inclusion, including gender-responsive training programmes, tailored rural loans, and a gender-sensitive agricultural statistics portal.  Policy shifts also sparked change at the household level: through enhanced technical skills and economic opportunities, rural women began to gain greater agency in family decision-making.

Equally important was how the strategy itself was shaped — through participatory mechanisms that brought visibility to women’s experiences. Technical Roundtables for Rural Women, established by ministerial regulation and managed by the women themselves, became central to this governance approach. Set up to address key issues at local and national levels, these roundtables served as “a space for coordination, monitoring, and follow-up — from local to national and back,” Mejía explained.

The dimension of learning and evolution within the governance process itself. A key milestone has been the Ministry’s decision to elevate the Strategy to the level of national policy. This shift not only signals political commitment but also reflects a deepening understanding of the complex, multidimensional realities that rural women face—realities that extend far beyond agricultural production to include health, education, access to technology, and other essential services.

Recognizing these intersecting needs, the Ministry has taken a bold step in promoting an intersectoral approach, engaging 14 additional public institutions in the development and implementation of the policy and transforming the Technical Roundtables into Intersectoral Roundtables. “Participation must be protected by regulation to outlast political transitions,” Mejía emphasized, underscoring how meaningful transformation lies not only in policy content but also in the process of making voices heard.

Ghana: Farmers reclaim trust through green label certification

Harry Bleppony, Deputy Director of Agriculture with the Directorate of Crop Services and Head of the Horticulture Development Unit of the Directorate at Ghana’s Ministry of Agriculture, outlined Ghana’s Green Label Certification Scheme, created to restore consumer trust in domestic vegetables after concerns over unsafe production practices. Launched through a foundation composed of public and private stakeholders, including regulators, exporters, and farmers, the scheme provides voluntary certification based on good agricultural practices.

The scheme’s governance model emerged from four years of negotiation (2013–2017) marked by tension between the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and private sector actors over who should lead. Concerns centered on the private sector’s potential to prioritize profit over public interests, including environmental and social goals. With support from development partners, a compromise was reached: while maintaining the non-for-profit profile of the foundation, the public sector was guaranteed a strong role on the foundation’s Board, composed of nine members. The agreed model aims to balance public oversight with the private sector’s market expertise to help ensure the scheme’s long-term financial sustainability beyond donor support.

The Board includes smallholder farmers, exporters, regulators, processors and other stakeholders, ensuring that diverse perspectives are represented and addressed in the scheme implementation.  “We had to build this with the private sector, because the Government alone could not enforce compliance,” Bleppony noted. With support from development partners, over 1,700 farmers have been sensitized, trained, audited and are now supplying certified produce to the local market.

Responding to a growing consumers’ demand, the initiative addresses the concerns of the different actors involved in the value chain, seeking to keep prices accessible for certified products while rewarding participating farmers. “The main idea behind the initiative is making safe vegetables accessible to consumers,” he said. “But producing safe vegetables can be costly. As we did not want farmers or traders to lose out from it, we try to make sure that it is not a profit-oriented scheme but a public good.”

The scheme’s multistakeholder governance, traceability mechanism, and farmer-inclusive structure reflect a shift in power dynamics in the agrifood system. “Smallholders have a voice on the board itself,” he added, underscoring how participatory models can build both safety and equity.

Mexico: A new law anchors the right to food

Presenting Mexico’s new Law on Adequate and Sustainable Food, Dr Ramiro López Elizalde, Undersecretary of Health Policies and Population Wellbeing at the country’s Ministry of Health, described it as “the result of a long social justice movement to transform empty plates into plates filled with dignity”. The law emerged from a broad process championed by the Parliamentary Front against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean, a regional network of parliamentarians who campaigned for the new legislation. Enacted in 2024, the measure addresses the growing public health crisis of obesity, diabetes and malnutrition by establishing a comprehensive, intersectoral and rights-based framework for food policy.

Driven by strong political commitment, the law consolidates key measures such as front-of-package warning labels, which were first introduced in 2020. It also tightens regulations on food advertising targeted at children and promotes agroecological practices along with traditional agrifood systems. Evidence from the early labelling initiative is encouraging: nearly 45 percent of adults and 39 percent of youths report using the labels to reduce their consumption of foods and beverages tagged high in calories, saturated fats, trans fats, sugar or sodium.

While the law has encountered resistance from some sectors of industry, public support — both domestic and international — has remained strong. “Citizens are our main safeguard,” he emphasized. “Without their backing, no technical or financial effort would be enough to transform the system.”

The law also establishes the National Intersectoral System for Health, Food, Environment and Competitiveness (SINSAMAC), an upgrade from a previous governmental body. It facilitates the work of different agencies, leveraging existing efforts while minimizing bureaucracy. The SINSAMAC, now operating with binding authority under the Ministry of Health, brings together Government, private sector and civil society actors to implement the legislation, collaboratively addressing food and nutrition security. “This law reflects the need for a social pact where life, health and territory can be above profits,” stressed López Elizalde.

Building the case for a political act

Closing the session, the moderator, Hajnalka Petrics, Programme Officer at FAO’s OSG, reflected on the deeper implications of the discussions. Referring to the transformation of agrifood systems, she noted: “As we could observe from the interventions today, this is not only a technical challenge. This is profoundly a political one as well. Addressing entrenched power imbalances across gender, class, and corporate structures, particularly through participatory governance, is fundamental for transformative change.”

The cases presented from Ecuador, Ghana, and Mexico showed that building inclusive, sustainable systems goes beyond designing better tools or frameworks — it requires shifting power, embedding participation in institutions and navigating complex political realities.

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What’s next? 

The FAO Governance Learning Series continues on 24 June with Session 3 Harnessing Data and Knowledge for Sustainable Agrifood Systems Governance.