Latin American and Caribbean countries and FAO agree to strengthen public food supply systems to address food inflation

The region has made progress in reducing hunger and food insecurity. In 2025, approximately 32 million people experienced hunger, equivalent to 4.8 percent of the region’s population. However, economic access to a healthy diet remains one of the region’s greatest challenges. In 2025, the average cost of a healthy diet in Latin America and the Caribbean reached US$4.91 per person per day, the highest in the world.

Against this backdrop, and in the face of climate-related challenges, representatives from 16 member countries of the Network of Public Food Supply and Marketing Systems (SPAA Network) reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening these systems as strategic tools to address food inflation, improve the functioning of food markets and price transparency, build stocks and strategic reserves, and strengthen programmes aimed at ensuring access to healthy food that directly benefits the population, particularly those in vulnerable situations in rural, urban and peri-urban areas. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) also joined this initiative, participating in this regional integration platform for the first time.

The 11th Meeting of the SPAA Network was held in Santo Domingo and jointly organized by FAO and the Government of Brazil, through the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), the National Supply Company (CONAB), and the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger (MDS), within the framework of the Brazil-FAO South-South Cooperation Programme, and by the Dominican Republic’s Price Stabilization Institute (INESPRE). FAO has played an important role as the Network’s Executive Secretariat for more than a decade, coordinating its operations, providing assistance and advisory support to public institutions in member countries, and facilitating cooperation.

During the meeting, member countries exchanged experiences and analyzed the main challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean in ensuring access to healthy food at more affordable prices for consumers, as well as in achieving increasingly efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable public food supply systems.

Network members approved a declaration establishing an agenda for joint action. Priorities include strengthening the institutional capacities of public food supply systems; developing transparent price management and stabilization mechanisms; improving public information and market intelligence systems; establishing early warning mechanisms and strategic food reserves; and expanding public food procurement programmes with the participation of family, peasant and Indigenous farming, rural women and youth, cooperatives and producer associations.

The 11th Meeting was inaugurated by the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, who emphasized that combating hunger requires simultaneous action on production, income generation for producers, social protection, and efficient and inclusive food supply systems that bring producers and consumers closer together. He also stated that hunger cannot be addressed by a single institution alone but requires a joint strategy involving multiple institutions in a collective effort to find solutions.

FAO Representative in the Dominican Republic, Rodrigo Castañeda, stated that “in the face of the climate crisis, geopolitical tensions and food inflation, strengthening Public Food Supply and Marketing Systems is essential to building resilient food systems and ensuring more equitable and efficient access to food.”

The Executive Secretary of Brazil’s Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming (MDA), Eric Moura, stated: “We hope that the SPAA Network will be strengthened as a permanent space for cooperation, mutual learning and the development of a lasting regional agenda to combat hunger and promote food and nutrition security.”

Panama assumes the Network’s presidency

During the meeting, Panama, represented by the Agricultural Market Institute (IMA), was selected to chair the SPAA Network for the 2026–2028 period. The government institution is responsible for implementing marketing policies and supporting national producers in the marketing and sale of their products, contributing to the growth and development of the agricultural sector. The vice-presidency will be held by Uruguay, represented by the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP).

Nilo Murillo Robles, Director-General of IMA, emphasized that integration among countries to address common challenges, such as food inflation and hunger, is essential to making public policies more effective. He also expressed his commitment to taking on the presidency of the SPAA Network and recognized the importance of this strategic regional platform, which currently has 19 member countries. The countries also agreed that Panama will host the 12th Meeting of the Network in 2027.

SPAA: connecting local production and consumption

Public Food Supply and Marketing Systems (SPAA) play a strategic role in ensuring a stable food supply, improving market transparency, narrowing the gaps between prices at the point of production and consumer prices, and bringing healthy food closer to rural populations, women, Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant communities, small-scale producers and lower-income families in cities.

Public procurement, school feeding programmes, public and popular markets, farmers’ markets, strategic reserves of staple foods, shops and mobile units, short food supply chains and direct sales are fundamental tools for connecting local production with consumption and guiding public food policies. When these instruments effectively incorporate family farming, they can improve producers’ incomes, stimulate territorial and local economies, reduce unnecessary intermediation, and facilitate people’s access to fresh, higher-quality, healthy and culturally appropriate food.