At a press conference held yesterday in Rome, one day ahead of World Food Day, international peasants’ movement Via Campesina warned of the major risks that the wrong type of agricultural investment pose to land and water resources and, as a consequence, the livelihoods of small-scale farmers. According to Via Campesina, intelligent agricultural investment can serve to support peasant agriculture but, when investments do not recognise the interests of small scale farming families, violations of rights by private sector investments are common. Ibrahima Coulibaly, West African member of the International Coordinating Committee of Via Campesina, said “the multinationals investing in Africa do anything but benefit the most vulnerable.” This position was supported by Canadian small-scale farmer Kalissa Regier, who said “rather than using large-scale private investments or public-private partnerships, the States should mobilise public funding to support small-scale family farmers and peasants who grow most of the world’s food, and who play a central role in combating hunger.” The Via Campesina press conference took place during the 39th session of the World Committee for Food Security (CFS), an intergovernmental body open to civil society, the private sector, international organisations and research institutions. At the opening session yesterday, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva called on the CFS community “to work together to develop principles for responsible agricultural investment that respect rights, livelihoods and resources.” The CFS has initiated a two-year process to elaborate principles for responsible agricultural investment.