A whole network of intermediaries divides farmers and consumers. It collects, sometimes transforms, transports and markets food products. This network has created employment and has added value to the products (by transforming it for example) but it has also caused those who control the commercial distribution to centralise the bulk of the profit. In the North as in the South, these middlemen have used a simple but iniquitous method. First, they put pressure on production prices – including pushing Southern countries to turn out products intended for export under awful working conditions to compete with the more expensive farmers of the North. Then, they gathered the majority of the profits by levying huge distributor’s margins, and finally, they convinced the consumer that he could – and should – pay even less without worrying about the reality of costs. Frères des Hommes and its partners are adamant that alternatives are possible through the promotion of short distribution channels with a reduced number of middlemen and a more direct and immediate relationship between producers and consumers. Reducing the number of intermediaries would indeed cause farmers’ income to increase and facilitate consumers’ access to cheap foodstuff whose quality they can appreciate knowing its origin and its production mode. This mode of distribution has other advantages. It is for example environmentally friendly in that it favours local trade rather than international exchanges that involve the transportation of products from one end the world to another.

Promoting short distribution channels is therefore one of the necessary elements in achieving food self-sufficiency. That is why Frères des Hommes supports efforts in developing short distribution channels by the marginalised and poor rural communities of the South.
In the North, Frères des Hommes and its local teams also advocate short distribution channels, with the support of farmers’ organizations, such as the “mouvement paysan des 2000 paniers” in Quimper, Brittany.