Food Under Fire: Small-Scale Food Producers on the Front Lines
The Asia Chapter of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition (GNRTFN) raises its voice in firm and unwavering solidarity with the small-scale food producers – the peasants, fisher peoples, pastoralists, agricultural workers, and rural communities – of Iran and Lebanon, who today face the compounded crises of military aggression, occupation, economic siege, and the systematic destruction of the very land and waters that have sustained their lives and livelihoods for generations. War inevitably constitutes a food crisis. And behind every statistic of conflict lie the hands that sow, tend, harvest, and feed.
On June 17, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war that broke out on February 28, 2026. The 14-point agreement commits both parties to an immediate and permanent end to military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Other provisions cover the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the easing of economic sanctions, the unfreezing of Iran’s assets, and addressing Iran’s nuclear program. Still, doubts remain over whether a lasting deal is guaranteed.
While the Asia Chapter welcomes this move, the damage from more than three months of war cannot simply be undone. Israel’s continued operations in Lebanon and Gaza remain a central threat to the deal, even as the first round of US-Iran technical talks in Switzerland has now concluded successfully, with both sides agreeing on working groups, implementation mechanisms, and a roadmap toward a final deal within 60 days.
Food as a Weapon, Hunger as a Tool of War
In Lebanon, about 22,5 percent of agricultural land has been damaged by the Israeli attacks, while more than 1.2 million people have been displaced, leaving large parts of the rural workforce unable to continue their agricultural activities. As a result, entire growing seasons have been lost, with fields left unattended, olive groves and orchards burned or rendered inaccessible by occupation, irrigation infrastructure harmed, and access to essential inputs such as fuel, seeds, and fertilizers severely disrupted. In Iran, retail food prices had already risen 42 percent year-on-year in September 2025, even before the current war – the product of years of sanctions and conflict-related economic pressure, themselves instruments of a longer geopolitical siege.
These are not abstractions. These are women who rise before dawn to tend livestock. These are men who carry the accumulated agricultural and fishing knowledge of their grandparents. These are young people who had chosen to stay on the land, stripped of that choice by violence not of their making.
We condemn any use of food as a weapon of war. The deliberate targeting of agricultural infrastructure, the contamination of water sources, the blockade of food supply routes, and the destruction of seed stocks are violations of international humanitarian law and the most fundamental of human rights: the right to food and nutrition. These violations occurred and the ceasefire does not erase them. Their consequences will be felt for seasons, years, and generations to come.
Small-scale food producers, who feed the majority of the world’s hungry while themselves being among the most food-insecure, bear the greatest burden when wars are waged upon the territories they inhabit. They cannot flee easily, their livelihoods are rooted, literally, in the land.
A War Felt Across Asia: Fuel, Fertilizer, and the Hunger That Follows
The war on Iran and military aggression and occupation in Lebanon are not a distant tragedy for the small-scale food producers of South and Southeast Asia. They are a crisis unfolding in their own territories and a stark illustration of how deeply food systems across the Global Majority remain hostage to fuel, fertilizer, and trade regimes controlled far beyond their borders. The near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz – through which approximately one-third of all globally traded fertilizer and 20 percent of global petroleum transit – has sent immediate shocks through every food system that depends on Gulf-sourced inputs. Granular urea prices across Southeast Asia have jumped over 40 percent since the war began.
What the following eight country snapshots make clear is that the damage was never only the direct product of bombs and battle lines. It is the product of decades of structural dependency of food systems re-engineered, under the logic of global trade liberalization, to rely on imported fertilizer, imported fuel, and export markets, rather than on local seed systems, local energy sovereignty, and territorial food production and food sovereigny.
Bangladesh
Two major fertilizer factories have closed due to LNG shortages, diesel scarcity has made it impossible for subsistence fisherfolk to operate on rivers and waterways, and a peak rice cultivation season is threatened by the inability to power irrigation systems. The country’s geopolitical position deepens the trap – a US trade agreement prevents Bangladesh from sourcing cheaper fuel from China or Russia, even as the new government faces an IMF condition to raise fuel prices in exchange for a $1.5 billion disbursement, pushing input costs further beyond the reach of farmers already on the margins. With 87 percent of workers in the informal sector and domestic workers in the Middle East – predominantly women – stranded in a conflict zone, the human cost is felt in every household.
India
In the past three months, India has witnessed a price increase of 89 rupees (1 USD = 97 rupees) per cylinder in domestic LPG prices. A severe LPG cooking gas crisis has driven a second wave of displacement: migrant workers in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana who are unable to afford black-market cylinders at 5,000 rupees per 10 kg. This is leading to a reversing migration back to villages in scenes not seen since COVID-19, while workers in industrial belts have taken to the streets demanding the constitutionally guaranteed minimum wage.
The crisis has also devastated fisher communities in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh: loaded ships cannot reach Middle Eastern and European markets, fish prices have collapsed with no buyers at auction, and mechanized boats with 13-14 crew members each cannot afford the fuel to put to sea.
Indonesia
Rising fuel prices resulting from geopolitical crises directly affect small-scale fishers, farmers, and food producers. In Indonesia, 82 percent of fishers already face difficulties accessing subsidised fuel, limiting their ability to go to sea and sustain their livelihoods. Combined with rising fertiliser prices and other agricultural input costs, these pressures increase production costs and reduce the resilience of small-scale food producers. The resulting economic challenges could further strain household purchasing power and public finances, potentially weakening social protection measures and support for vulnerable groups. Together, these impacts may exacerbate food insecurity, particularly among low-income households, small-scale producers, and communities that already face barriers to accessing adequate and nutritious food.
Pakistan
The escalation of military aggression in the region and the resulting disruption of global energy markets are already having serious consequences for Pakistan’s peasants and fishing communities. Pakistan has recorded a staggering 56 percent surge in domestic fuel prices since the start of the Iran–USA war, the second-largest fuel price increase globally. Before the war, petrol was selling at Rs. 266.17 per litre (1 USD = 277). Following subsequent partial rollbacks and recent upward revisions, petrol currently stands at approximately Rs. 414.78 per litre, while diesel is priced at Rs. 414.58 per litre. For small-scale farmers, the timing could not be worse. With the sowing season currently underway, rising fuel costs are expected to significantly increase production expenses. Fertiliser prices have also risen due to higher transportation costs, compounding the burden on farmers who are already struggling with declining incomes and climate-related challenges. Fishing communities face similar difficulties, as higher diesel prices directly increase the cost of operating fishing boats and transporting fish to markets, further reducing their already narrow profit margins.
Nepal
The ongoing war has driven fuel prices in Nepal up by 40 percent, increasing the cost of essential goods and placing a heavier burden on low-income households. Smallholder farmers have also been hit hard, reporting price increases of up to 20 percent for key agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizers. These rising costs are making it more difficult for farmers to maintain production, sustain their livelihoods, and meet their families’ food needs. At the same time, many households are changing their consumption habits to cope with higher living costs. Some families have reduced their use of cooking oil and other nutritious foods, raising concerns about dietary diversity and nutrition, particularly for children, women, older persons, and other vulnerable groups. Returned migrant workers have faced additional challenges as job losses in India have reduced household incomes and remittance flows, further increasing economic insecurity for families that depend on migration for their livelihoods.
Philippines
President Marcos declared a state of national emergency in March 2026 with diesel at 46 days’ reserve – the fuel that powers the jeepneys, fishing boats, tractors, and irrigation pumps upon which millions of smallholder farmers depend, while transport and food delivery workers have seen fuel costs triple. The government’s response has been deeply insufficient: subsidies are politically targeted and too small, a plan to suspend mandatory biofuel blending threatens further harm to coconut and sugarcane farmers, and the majority of farmers and fisherfolk have yet to receive any relief.
Sri Lanka
Fuel prices have increased by around 40 percent, placing a heavy burden on coastal fishing communities. Daily operating costs have risen by approximately LKR 3,500 for small-scale fishers and by nearly LKR 2 million per trip for multi-day fishing vessels (1 USD = 330 LKR). At the same time, disruptions to fish exports, particularly following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, have further reduced incomes. As a result, many fishers are struggling to sustain their livelihoods, with some households reporting that they can barely afford two meals a day. Fishing communities are calling for fuel subsidies, as they can no longer cope with the rising costs of fuel, equipment maintenance, fishing gear, and food for fishing trips. However, their concerns have received limited attention from the government.
Vietnam
Vietnam, which sources 85 percent of its oil from Kuwait, faced immediate supply emergencies when the Strait closed, with the government reversing years of climate commitments by returning to coal – an environmental regression that signals the depth of the energy desperation. Rice farmers face input costs up 50 to 80 percent against subdued output prices, leading to reduced planting and lower fertilizer application, threatening yields in one of the world’s most important rice-exporting nations. As of end of May, Vietnam started a biofuel program mixing gasoline with alcohol.
Beyond the Ceasefire: Rebuilding Food Sovereignty
The Asia Chatper of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition and the broader food sovereignty movement have long argued that crises like this one are not aberrations but the predictable result of food systems built for global markets rather than for people. A ceasefire in Tehran does not restore farmer’s access to fertilizer in Dhaka. A reopened Strait of Hormuz does not undo the decades-long policy choices that made Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Philippines, and so many others dependent on a single maritime corridor for the inputs their food systems need to function.
Food sovereignty means rebuilding local and territorial food systems so that people can feed themselves by making their own choices independently of imperial wars, sanctions regimes, and volatile global markets – systems rooted in agroecology, peasant-saved and community-controlled seed, local and regional energy sovereignty, and short supply chains that do not collapse the moment a chokepoint half a world away is contested. This is not a technical adjustment. It is a redistribution of power away from the trade regimes, financial institutions, and military alliances that have made hunger a recurring casualty of geopolitics, and toward the communities who grow, fish, and herd.
Our Demands
The Asia Chapter of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition calls upon all parties to the conflict, all governments and international bodies to:
1. Ensure the June 2026 ceasefire is fully honored by all parties, including Israel, and that the military occupation of southern Lebanon ends promptly. Immediately cease all military actions that destroy agricultural infrastructure, farmland, fishing vessels, food storage, and water systems – recognizing these as attacks on civilian food security.
2. Ensure the Strait of Hormuz and other critical maritime routes remain open to agricultural and humanitarian cargoes, and that no food supply chain is weaponized as a tool of war or siege.
4. Protect and compensate small-scale food producers in Leban and Iran for losses and support rapid agricultural and fisheries recovery programmes led by local farming and fisher communities.
3. Provide emergency targeted support to smallholder farmers in South and Southeast Asia, particularly in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines who are suffering immediate and measurable harm from conflict-driven fertilizer and fuel price shocks.
5. Small-scale food producers should be consulted in peace negotiations and post-conflict reconstruction planning, recognizing their central role in rebuilding food sovereignty.
6. Respect and uphold the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), which affirms the right to land, seeds, water, and a dignified livelihood.
A Call to the International Solidarity Community
We call on members of the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition, allied organizations, peasant movements, food sovereignty networks, trade unions, faith communities, and all people of conscience worldwide to raise their voices alongside the rural communities of Iran and Lebanon and alongside the smallholder farmers of South and Southeast Asia who are suffering the war’s cascading consequences from across an ocean. Solidarity is not merely a statement – it is the concrete work of amplifying silenced voices, pressuring governments and institutions to act, and standing together with those who feed the world while the world too often looks away.
The right to food and nutrition is not divisible by borders, not suspended by war, not subject to the calculations of geopolitics. It belongs to every person; every farmer, every fisherwoman, every shepherd in Iran, in Lebanon, in Bangladesh, in Punjab, in the Mekong Delta, and everywhere.
