Introducing the UN Decade of Family Farming

The UN Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 aims to shed new light on what it means to be a family farmer in a rapidly changing world and highlights more than ever before the important role they play in eradicating hunger and shaping our future of food. Family farming offers a unique opportunity to ensure food security, improve livelihoods, better manage natural resources, protect the environment and achieve sustainable development, particularly in rural areas. Thanks to their wisdom and care for the earth, family farmers are the agents of change we need to achieve Zero Hunger, a more balanced and resilient planet, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Global Action Plan

The Decade of Family Farming provides an extraordinary opportunity for the United Nations to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an inclusive, collaborative and coherent way.

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A GLOBAL ACTION PLAN TO WORK TOGETHER FOR COMMON GOALS

Through a Global Action Plan, the UNDFF provides detailed guidance for the international community on collective, coherent and comprehensive actions that can be taken to support family farmers. Designed around seven mutually reinforcing pillars of work, the Global Action Plan recommends a series of interconnected actions from the local to the global level.

Pillar 1

Develop an enabling policy environment to strengthen family farming

Pillar 2

Support youth and ensure the generational sustainability of family farming.

Pillar 3

Promote gender equity in family farming and the leadership role of rural women

Pillar 4

Strengthen family farmers’ organizations and capacities to generate knowledge,
represent farmers and provide inclusive services in the urban-rural continuum

Pillar 5

Improve socio-economic inclusion, resilience and well-being of family farmers, rural households and communities

Pillar 6

Promote sustainability of family farming for climate-resilient food systems

Pillar 7

Strengthen the multi-dimensionality of family farming to promote social innovations contributing to territorial development
and food systems that safeguard biodiversity, environment and culture

KEY FACTS

Family farms produce more than

80% of the food

in the world

90% of fishers

operate on a small-scale

Family farms occupy around

70–80% of farmland

worldwide

Women hold only 15%

of farmland, while they provide
almost 50% of farm labor

More than

90% of farms

are run by an individual or a family
who rely primarily on family labor

33% of forests

are managed by indigenous peoples
and local communities

There are more than

600M farms

in the world.