As the fight against hunger forges ahead there remain 815 million people who do not have enough nutritious food to eat. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is working for zero hunger by 2030. Supporting small holder and family farmers is critical to achieving that Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger within that time.

“Throughout the world, family farmers play a crucial socio-economic, environmental and cultural role which, amid serious challenges, needs to be cherished and strengthened through innovation,” said Xiangjun Yao, FAO’s Regional Programme Leader for Asia and the Pacific, at the Asian Farmers’ Association 8^th General Assembly in Bangkok.

Around 500 million of the world’s 570 million farms are run by families and smallholders and roughly 75 percent are located in Asia. They are the main providers of the food we eat and caretakers of our natural resources. As a sector, they form the world’s largest employer, comparing with industry and services.

Speaking on behalf of, Kundhavi Kadiresan, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative, Yao told the gathering that over the last few decades there have been profound changes to the way food is produced, traded and consumed. For instance, rice will still be the single most important crop in the region, key diets and a symbol of Asian culture, yet it will not be as dominant in coming years as new foods are snapped up, and the consumption of fish, meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables continues to rise significantly across the region.  And a growing, and increasingly urbanized, world population is relying on food produced by a much smaller percentage of farmers compared to that of the post-Second World War period.

Scientific and technological progress is changing the marketplace for agriculture and food products which have become globalized.

“Family and smallholder farmers must ensure they have a seat at the table in this new era,” Yao said. “But in order to do so, family farming must adjust in ways that can respond to these changing conditions.”

Innovation is key to make this happen she pointed out. But innovation, in all its forms, needs to be inclusive, involving the present generation of family farmers, sharing and use of knowledge so that they have ownership of the process, taking on board both the benefits and the risks, and making sure that it truly responds to local contexts.

The 72^nd Session of the UN General Assembly held in 2017 approved the Decade of Family Farming, from 2019 to 2028. It aims to draw attention to the people who produce more than 80 percent of the planet’s food and, paradoxically, are often the most vulnerable to hunger and food insecurity.