Innovation that feeds people: the right to food and small-scale fisheries
©FAO/GMB Akash
Written by Ana Suarez, Human Rights Specialist, FAO
World Food Day is celebrated each year on 16 October. This year’s theme was “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.” Its starting point is closely linked to the right to food: the world already produces enough food to feed everyone, yet access remains deeply unequal. According to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026, an estimated 645 million people face hunger, and around 2.7 billion cannot afford a healthy diet.
The right to adequate food is one of the most basic human rights. It is realized when everyone, individually or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or the means to obtain it, in dignity. For small-scale fishers, fish workers and their communities, this right is linked to secure access to the resources and livelihoods that sustain them, as well as their meaningful participation in decisions that affect their ability to feed themselves and their families.
This is where innovation in small-scale fisheries can make a difference. Innovation is not only about introducing new technologies; it is also about building on local knowledge, improving practices and strengthening the systems that enable communities to produce, preserve, access and benefit from nutritious food. The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) provide a framework for this approach. They recognize the contributions of small-scale fisheries to food security and nutrition, livelihoods and local economies, while emphasizing the importance of human rights, gender equality, participation and the knowledge and practices of fishing communities, including Indigenous Peoples.
The SSF Guidelines also identify practical ways to support innovation throughout the fish value chain. This means for example improvements in fish drying and smoking, designed together with the women who process the fish, to reduce losses, improve food safety and limit exposure to smoke. It can also involve preservation systems managed by fisheries organizations, helping keep fish in good condition, and giving producers more time to sell it. Innovation can also lie in how markets are organized: for example, through arrangements that enable small-scale fisheries organizations to supply fish to school meal programmes, linking community incomes with children’s access to nutritious food.
For these initiatives to contribute to the right to food, fishers, fish workers and their communities need also access to finance, to training, and infrastructure. They must also be able to participate in how these initiatives are conceived and managed and share in their benefits. Ultimately, their contribution to the right to food should be assessed by whether incomes and working conditions improve, women’s workloads are reduced, and whether fish remains available and affordable for local communities.
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