Benchmarking Public Food Procurement & Supporting Quality Food Management
An evaluation tool to assess public food procurement strategies against a set of best practices.
Key words: Sustainable Public Food Procurement, SDG12, Food Quality Management, Food Loss Reduction
Short description
Name of the initiative? Benchmarking Public Food Procurement & Supporting Quality Food Management
Region Latin America and Caribbean, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Colombia
What kind of initiative farming/production, processing, policy-making
The Story
In 2015 the United Nations established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG 12 (or Global Goal 12) is about ‘responsible consumption and production’ – to ensure good use of resources, improving energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and providing access to basic services, green, decent jobs and ensuring a better quality of life for all.
Several governments implement initiatives or policy frameworks that aim to target public food procurement from smallholder farmers with the intention of strengthening rural livelihoods and promoting food security and nutrition goals. Yet policy reform and implementation is a process that requires continuous assessment and improvements. FAO is closely guiding country efforts and technically assisting governments to improve their models for food purchases from smallholder farmers. The Benchmarking of Public Food Procurement from Smallholder Farmers is an evaluation tool to assess public food procurement strategies against a set of best practices. The results in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Colombia not only enabled national stakeholders to identify performance gaps, but facilitated cross country comparisons and learning with other countries. The benchmarking framework and analysis also invites governments to incorporate a supply chain management and development approach in their sustainable public food procurement practices. It requires public procurement authorities to work beyond regulatory strands of public procurement. The practice of sustainable public food procurement from smallholders has to be underpinned on food quality management along supply chains and in food services. This can be a powerful entry point to reduce food waste in public food services and losses in supply chains linking smallholder farmers to public food procurement.
“The results in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Colombia not only enabled national stakeholders to identify performance gaps, but facilitated cross country comparisons and learning with other countries.”
The participation of FAO on the identification of best practices on public food procurement and support to country projects spanned initiatives in diverse continents (Africa, Latin America, and Asia) since more than a decade ago. The benchmarking framework of public food procurement is one of the tools and possible analysis governments can adopt to further develop their initiatives.
The benchmarking is supporting cross-country policy development and learning. A comparative analysis of benchmarking country results informed a sub-regional workshop promoted by FAO in partnership with the Central American Integration System (SICA). The benchmarking framework and results provided stimulated collective policy learning and exchanges among El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama.
To share knowledge and better enable collaboration, we published a technical paper and a policy guidance note on best practices for public food procurement from smallholder farmers. These publications provide guidance in the design and implementation of public food procurement initiatives that aim to facilitate food purchases from smallholder farmers and foster synergies with food security and nutrition goals.
Sustainable procurement was incorporated in the SDGs (12.7) as a policy instrument to promote sustainable production and consumption. Many countries have adopted strategies to advance on the sustainable public procurement of food.
Under the same SDG (12.3), governments committed to reducing food loss and waste; however, measurement of food losses in supply chains linked to sustainable public food procurement and strategies to reduce it are not a widespread practice, nor a common requirement of sustainable procurement.
Initiatives purchasing food from local suppliers, or smallholder farmers, frequently are linking traditional production systems and value chains to a more stringent market (i.e. standard food specifications, nutritional and safety requirements). Cases of sustainable procurement initiatives reported food losses when sourcing from more traditional food supply chains.
Food losses reported were associated with too restrictive commodity specifications, lack of governance and supply chain management or even absence of critical capacities and technologies of farmers and supply chain stakeholders to manage food quality post-harvest to consumption.
Governments simultaneously adopted the SDG 12 target 17 to promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, as defined per national policies and priorities, and the SD12 target 12.3 to halve per capita global food waste and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, by 2030. However, this does not necessarily cover for the reduction of food waste in public food services and food losses in supply chains linked to sustainable public food purchases.
Comprehensively progressing on SDG12 would require public procurement authorities to work beyond regulatory strands of public procurement. The practice of sustainable public food procurement from smallholders has to be underpinned on food quality management along supply chains and in food services, this can be a powerful entry point to halve food waste in public food services and losses in supply chains linked to public procurement.
“The practice of sustainable public food procurement from smallholders has to be underpinned on food quality management along supply chains and in food services, this can be a powerful entry point to halve food waste in public food services and losses in supply chains linked to public procurement.”
Public food procurement initiatives have to adopt governance arrangements capable of mapping and valuing the traditional production systems and supply chains, and of targeting food loss assessments and cost-effective agricultural and value chain development initiatives on food supply chains linked to public purchases. If commitments with SDG12 are to be comprehensive towards 2030 targets 12.3 and 17, practices of public food procurement to be sustainable shall monitor and reduce food losses within supply chains linked to public procurement and food waste in associated food services.
A lot has been learned: By improving policies and practices of public food procurement from smallholder farmers, governments are fostering responsible production and consumption, contributing to reduce food losses (SDG 12) while promoting food security and nutrition (SDG2).
“The FAO’s Benchmarking Public Food Procurement Framework has been applied in 4 countries and triggered national policy debate for the adoption of best practices. For example, as part of a broader effort for which the benchmarking contributed, in 2020 Colombia enacted a law to promote the participation of family farmers in the public food procurement markets.”
The technical support provided by FAO is an input to nationally owned policies and country lead initiatives of public food procurement from smallholder farmers. The FAO’s Benchmarking Public Food Procurement Framework has been applied in 4 countries and triggered national policy debate for the adoption of best practices. For example, as part of a broader effort for which the benchmarking contributed, in 2020 Colombia enacted a law to promote the participation of family farmers in the public food procurement markets. With the Benchmarking, the Governments of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Colombia were provided with specific recommendations to further develop the initiatives of food procurement from smallholder farmers for school meals and food assistance programs.
Additional information
https://nacionesunidas.org.co/noticias/metodologia-benchmarking-se-integra-para-vincular-la-agricultura-familiar-en-programas-de-compras-publicas-de-alimentos/
http://www.undp-povertycentre.org/pub/eng/OP411_Public_food_procurement_from_smallholder_farmers.pdf
http://www.fao.org/3/CA2281EN/ca2281en.pdf
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Repository compiled in January 2021 by: Israel Klug
E-mail contact: israel.klug@fao.org
