ASIA-PACIFIC FARMERS’ ORGANIZATIONS’ DECLARATION TO IFAD
2026 Asia-Pacific Regional Farmers’ Forum
Bangkok, Thailand | 09–10 November 2026
STRONGER IFAD–FO PARTNERSHIP FOR RESILIENT, INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE RURAL TRANSFORMATION
We, Farmers’ Organizations (FOs) representing 24 million small-scale farmers, fishers, pastoralists, forest food gatherers, rural women and youth across 34 countries in Asia and the Pacific, reaffirm our commitment to strengthening our partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Asia and the Pacific is home to some of the world’s largest food-producing communities and contributes significantly to global food security. Yet worsening climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, resource depletion, market uncertainties and persistent inequalities increasingly threaten rural livelihoods. These interconnected challenges demand urgent, coordinated and transformative action.
Two decades of partnership have demonstrated that FOs are not only beneficiaries of development investments but increasingly capable development partners, service providers and drivers of farmer-led solutions. Our organized membership, grassroots reach, local knowledge and collective leadership provide IFAD and governments with an effective institutional platform to translate investments into tangible and sustainable results.
As IFAD advances its Fourteenth Replenishment (IFAD14), we are ready to contribute more substantially to its priorities: mobilizing millions of small-scale producers; scaling agroecological and climate-resilient practices; strengthening inclusive rural enterprises and market systems; expanding opportunities for women and youth; promoting sustainable natural resource management; and bringing grassroots innovations and evidence into policy and investment decisions.
OUR COMMITMENT AND CALL TO IFAD
We commit to strengthening our governance, institutional and fiduciary capacities, expanding services to our members, mobilizing local resources, promoting farmer-led innovations and ensuring transparency, accountability and measurable results.
To translate these commitments into greater development impact, we call on IFAD to strengthen our partnership through five mutually reinforcing priorities:
1. STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AND GRASSROOTS REACH
What FOs offer: Organized networks and direct links to millions of small-scale producers, enabling inclusive participation, community ownership and effective delivery of development interventions utilizing FO-designed tools (e.g. FEAT to RISE) and models.
What we call on IFAD to do: Institutionalize meaningful FO participation in country and regional strategies, programme design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and strengthen FO representation in IFAD policy and governance processes.
2. DIRECT FINANCING AND FARMER-LED INVESTMENT
What FOs offer: The capacity to mobilize members, aggregate local resources, strengthen farmer-led enterprises and channel investments towards grassroots priorities and underserved communities.
What we call on IFAD to do: Establish sustainable financing mechanisms for national and regional federated FOs, combining grants with patient and concessional financing; expand access to climate finance; and progressively increase FO allocations under ASAP+ from 15% towards 50% or more. Facilitate the ongoing mobilization of funds to ensure the continuity and sustainability of previous project impacts including the retention of key partners and personnel (e.g FO4I, GAFSP).
3. STRONGER INSTITUTIONS AND ACCOUNTABLE SERVICE DELIVERY
What FOs offer: Membership-based accountability and growing institutional capacity to manage resources, provide services, implement programmes and build partnerships with governments and other development actors.
What we call on IFAD to do: Invest in FO institutional, technical, financial and fiduciary capacities; streamline operational procedures where feasible; and enable qualified FOs to participate as implementing partners and specialized service providers, including through consortium arrangements.
4. CLIMATE RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS
What FOs offer: Farmer-led innovations, traditional and local knowledge, and practical solutions in agroecology, climate adaptation, sustainable fisheries, biodiversity conservation and natural resource management.
What we call on IFAD to do: Scale up investments in agroecology, climate-resilient agriculture, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, biodiversity, energy-efficient practices and digitalization, while protecting customary land, pasture, forest and fisheries tenure rights and farmers’ rights to seeds.
5. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP, KNOWLEDGE AND POLICY INFLUENCE
What FOs offer: Platforms for developing the leadership of rural women and youth, representing marginalized communities, documenting grassroots evidence and innovations, and translating local experiences into policy solutions.
What we call on IFAD to do: Ensure equitable access to financing, services and decision-making for rural women, youth, indigenous peoples, small-scale fishers, pastoralists and other marginalized groups; and strengthen knowledge management, learning and policy engagement to scale successful grassroots innovations into national policies and programmes.
OUR SHARED URGENCY, OUR SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
The scale and urgency of today’s challenges require more than business-as-usual development approaches. IFAD brings and help mobilize financial resources, technical expertise and development experience; FOs bring organized constituencies, grassroots reach, local knowledge and the capacity to turn investments into locally owned and lasting solutions.
The time is now to move from recognizing our value as FOs to fully and systematically harnessing our potential.We call on IFAD to make stronger FO partnerships a concrete priority of IFAD14, backed by meaningful participation, direct financing, capacity development and clear operational and budget commitments.
Together, let us turn the strength of organized farmers into greater climate resilience, food security, inclusive prosperity and sustainable rural transformation across Asia and the Pacific.
Adopted by the 2026 Asia-Pacific Regional Farmers’ Forum, Bangkok, Thailand, 09 November 2026.
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