A/HRC/16/49 their local markets, which can seriously disrupt local production.88 Similarly, public procurement systems, fiscal incentives and credit, and land tenure policies – all areas on which the Special Rapporteur has made contributions in the past – must be aligned with the need to make the transition towards low-carbon and low-external-input modes of production in which farmers co-design the policies that affect them. The school-feeding programme in Brazil for instance, has been used as a leverage to support family farming through its public procurement scheme; future public procurements schemes should promote agroecological practices.89 V. Recommendations 43. Moving towards sustainability is vital for future food security and an essential component of the right to food. But in order to succeed in this transformation, consistency will be required across a variety of areas. States will need to invest in multi-year efforts, based on strategies identifying the measures that should be adopted in order to make this transition. 44. As part of their obligation to devote the maximum of their available resources to the progressive realization of the right to food, States should implement public policies supporting the adoption of agroecological practices by: • making reference to agroecology and sustainable agriculture in national strategies for the realisation of the right to food and by including measures adopted in the agricultural sector in national adaptation plans of action (NAPAs) and in the list of nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) adopted by countries in their efforts to mitigate climate change; • reorienting public spending in agriculture by prioritizing the provision of public goods, such as extension services, rural infrastructures and agricultural research, and by building on the complementary strengths of seeds-and-breeds and agroecological methods, allocating resources to both, and exploring the synergies, such as linking fertilizer subsidies directly to agroecological investments on the farm (“subsidy to sustainability”); • supporting decentralized participatory research and the dissemination of knowledge about the best sustainable agricultural practices by relying on existing farmers’ organisations and networks, and including schemes designed specifically for women; • improving the ability of producers practicing sustainable agriculture to access markets, using instruments such as public procurement, credit, farmers’ markets, and creating a supportive trade and macroeconomic framework. 45. Donors should: • engage in long-term relationships with partner countries, supporting ambitious programs and policies to scale up agroecological approaches for lasting change, including genuine multi-polar engagement with public authorities and experts 88 89 20 See A/HRC/10/5/Add.2, paras. 22-23. See A/HRC/13/33/Add.6, para. 38. In 2009, procurements by the Brazilian Food Acquisition Programme (PAA) totalled 590.55 million R$ (145.78 million R$ in 2003); food was purchased from 137,169 family farms (from 42,329 farms in 2003), information from Federal Government of Brazil, Execução Global do Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos 2003-2009, Orçamentos MDA e MDS, 16 June 2010.