Shoved to the Periphery:Smallholder Food Producers and Policy Processes

"People no longer marry in Turkana because all the cattle have died due to climate change"-Village elder, Turkana, Northern Kenya

Smallholder food producers refers to a collective of persons  responsible for food production , but owing to capacity first produce for own consumption then sell the surplus. Smallholder food producers includes farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk and Indigenous Peoples .

When given opportunity in policy making process, smallholder food producers can play diverse roles. At agenda setting state which incorporates problem defection and articulation – the stage  of decision making as to whether to have a policy change or not , the stage of recognising that a problem indeed exists , necessitating state intervention . Smallholder  food producers  can undertaken research  in policy processes and give the much needed evidence particularly for example in the context of food. Smallholder  food producers in their capacities as farmers, fisherfolk , pastoralists , Indigenous Peoples are are closest to communities  , they live in the community and hence are aware of what is happening, challenges faced and the solutions as opposed to someone sitting on a swivel chair , in the capital city of an African country be it in Maputo, Nairobi, Antananarivo or others making decisions for the rural farmers , disconnected from their realities. A pastoralists for example understands what climate crisis means when they lose their cattle to the ravages of drought, a  pastoralist understands the maze of  resource induced conflicts because they live the reality of conflicts in the quest for pasture and water due to dwindling natural resources.

Smallholder food producers  when mobilised and organised can comfortably undertake stakeholder consultative meetings. It is the farmers who know what is affecting them , they are scientists and their farms have been laboratories since time immemorial. Farmers have the capacity to hold consultative meetings not only in the community but beyond the community spaces .Network building and coalitions is a key component when it comes to policy processes. This enables galvanizing of issues .Farmers have local expertise and can build the much needed coalitions when necessary .Smallholder farmers can organise roundtable meetings with policy makers and give the much needed information .

Policy makers rarely go to farmers, pastoralists of fisherfolk  to seek their inputs. Across Africa , there is evidence that policy processes are often top-down and not bottom up. This excludes farmers aspirations, priorities and concerns from being incorporated when policies are being made. Smallholder farmers are assumed to lack knowledge and exposure and have nothing to contribute when it comes to policy process , a belief which is a fallacy.

Smallholder producers can also participate in community awareness about issues , for example , they know the biting impacts of climate change on their farm, the challenge of drought on their cattle , the hardships of searching for water for cattle and the kilometres covered  to carry water from a  far off water source for domestic use .Smallholder farmers have the capacity to training community members on an issue .They can mobilise other community members and create awareness , training and co-creating knowledge in the process and at the same time providing space for learning , unlearning and re-learning. Smallholder food producers can make a contribution to policy formulation. Farmers when capacitated are able to conduct effective lobbying and at the same time effectively engage in roundtable meetings when matters food are being discussed the same applies to pastoralists when matters animals are being discussed as well as fisherfolk when marine matters are at the table .Smallholder food producers can also contribute through commenting on draft policy documents .These may be policies are local, national, regional and global levels. Smallholder food producers can contribute to policy processes through article writing  which can then further be utilised by the media for popular dissemination. They have the capacity to raise issues on local , national , regional and international radios all they need is the space to do so and not be muted . Food producers can also undertake advocacy work at the local level to amplify issues affecting them including demanding change. Live debates are another opportunity for smallholder food producers to engage communities  on topical issues .

When smallholder producers are given spaces to make decisions , they can actually contribute to policy processes .As key people in the food production chain, they are able to monitor policies including their implementation .They can also undertake monitoring through research for example utilising score cards , social audits and budget tracking to assess how much has been allocated to agriculture. Additionally through existing organisations including farmer groups , they can participate in producing and disseminating written information. They can raise community consciousness on existing policy implementation processes , existing related services and access to benefits as proposed by the policy. Farmers and other food producers can carry out advocacy work to hold governments accountable , the aim of this is to ensure effective implementation of existing policies and at the same time identification of what is not working in relation to policies .Farmers have the capacity to engage in policy implementation process .They can also undertake piloting demonstration projects and hence provide an opportunity to demonstrate whether the policy is working or not , especially in instances where a new policy has been formulated for example the case of an Agroecology Policy and Agroecology Act in Kenya's Murang'a County.

Policy monitoring and evaluation which involves monitoring the evaluation and review of the existing policies .In the process this also enables capacity building of community members in conducting monitoring of the implementation of the policy .Smallholder food producers can also  undertake tracking  and monitoring of the implementation of policy and at the same time provide feedback to policy makers through policy dialogues  on policy implementation, realise outcomes and impacts.

It is about time African governments recognised the central role played by smallholder food producers could play in policy processes and meaningfully involvement to avoid many pitfalls in the context of policies.