Regional Consultation Meeting on UN Decade of Family Farming: Formulating strategies and action plan to strengthen smallholder family farmers in South Asia
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItd-morD8jEt3KMkq9kJs7PKbE6UBWOw4_
Introduction
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) comprising eight countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) where 65% of the population residing in rural areas. A large majority of the rural population are smallholder family farmers adopting integrated farming system consisting of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production, which is managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant on family labour, both women's and men's (FAO and IFAD, 2019), and they are more efficient in production (Shrestha et al., 2016). The families and the farms are linked, coevolve and combine economic, environmental, reproductive, social and cultural functions. Family farmers in South Asia produce at least 70% of the foods in the region with women putting in as much as 80% in farm work, through an agricultural practice and system that integrates crops, fisheries, livestock, trees, non-timber products, fruits and nuts, among others. However, family farmers are handicapped with access to natural, financial, technological and market resources, including inputs, extension services, credit and markets for their products. As a result, farmers in the region remain to be the highest rate poverty, hunger and undernourishment.
To highlight the role of family farmers in sustainable development and strengthen their empowerment, the United Nations declared the "United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF) for 2019-2028" (FAO & IFAD, 2019). The UNDFF envisioned statement "a world where diverse, healthy and sustainable food and agricultural systems flourish, where resilient rural and urban communities enjoy a high quality of life in dignity, equity, free from hunger and poverty." In order to achieve this vision, the UNDFF Global Action Plan identifies 7 Pillars (Annex I) towards improving the family farming and achieving the targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 in the world (FAO & IFAD, (2019). Indeed, the declaration emphasized that until and unless strengthening the smallholder family farmers' socio-economic conditions, the overall prosperity of the country wouldn't be flourished. The declaration along with the Global Action Plan needs to customize with regards to existing situation, challenges, opportunities, natural phenomena of the respective countries and the region.
In this milieu, incorporating the issues and the UNDFF declaration/ Global Action Plan, SAC in collaboration with Asian Farmers' Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and International Cooperative Alliance Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP), with technical support from Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO RAP), Thailand, is going to organize a virtual consultation meeting to formulate a "Regional Action Plan of UN Decade of Family Farming in South Asia region".
Objectives
The main objective of this regional consultation meeting is to formulate a Regional Action Plan that defines the key priorities, strategies and actions to implement the UN Decade of Family Farming to strengthen family farmers in South Asia and improve their wellbeing in the next 10 years.
The specific objectives are to:
- Appreciate the Global Action Plan of UNDFF and analyze it with respect to South Asia regional and national contexts.
- Take stock of current situation of family farming in South Asia, including key challenges, constraints and policy issues as well as ongoing initiatives which promotes the UNDFF in the region
- Formulate a South Asia regional strategy and action plan for UN Decade of Family Farming coherent with the global action plan of the UNDFF.
Expected Outputs
- Prepare a Joint Communique.
- A draft regional action plan for the implementation of the UNDFF in South Asia, briefly defining key strategies and priority actions to promote UNDFF at both national and regional levels to be submitted to the Ministries of Agriculture of the SAARC region. This will include key milestones and key action points within specific timeframe of the UNDFF. The regional actions will be feasible and practical.
- Publications of the proceedings of the consultation meeting will be in the form of book.
- National Focal Point Experts are actively engaged in the launch as well as in the finalization of the regional action plan for UNDFF. National focal persons are expected to engage later on in national, regional and international processes for UNDFF.
PROGRAM
Time Zone: Bangladesh Standard Time (GMT+6)
DAY 1: NOVEMBER 5, 2020
|
TIME |
ACTIVITY |
|
10.30 – 10.40 |
Preliminaries |
|
10.40-11.10 6 speakers*5 minutes
|
Session 1: Opening Program
1.1 Keynote Speeches:
|
|
11.10 - 12.00 8 countries *6 minutes each |
1.2 High-level Segment Promoting Family Farming to Achieve the SDGs and Advance Resiliency Amidst COVID19 and Climate Change
Ministers/ Secretaries will talk about their actions to promote Family Farming through the UNDFF and the kind of engagement they want to pursue with Family Farming organizations
|
|
12.00 - 12.10 |
Objectives and Flow of the Workshop |
|
12:10 – 12:30 |
Video by Food and Agriculture Organization on Family Farmers: The future of Asia and the Pacific |
|
12.30 - 13.30 |
Lunch Break |
|
13.30 - 14.30 |
Session 2: The Global Action Plan of the UNDFF Moderator: Esther Penunia, AFA
Open forum and synthesis (30 minutes) |
|
14.30 - 15.30 8 countries * 6minutes each |
Session 3: Family Farming Country Status Report and UNDFF National Action Plan Process Moderator: Dr. Mian Sayeed Hassan, Director SAC
Open Forum (12 minutes) |
|
15.30-15.50 |
Short Break |
|
15.50-16.20 3 speakers*5mins each
|
Session 4: Farmers Organizations’ Initiatives to Promote the UNDFF In this session, FO representatives will discuss their strategies, lessons and recommendations. Moderator: Mohit Dave, ICA-AP
Open Forum and Synthesis (15 minutes) |
|
16.20 - 16.45 4 speakers*6 minutes |
Session 5: Technical Session 5.1 Pillars 1-4: Key Challenges and Key Priorities at National and Regional Levels Moderator: Pierre Ferrand, FAORAP Plenary presentations Pillar 1 – Dr. Rudra B. Shrestha, SAC Pillar 2 – Mohit Dave, ICA-AP Pillar 3 – Irish Baguilat, AFA Pillar 4 – Esther Penunia, AFA |
|
16.45 - 17.30 |
Break out groups: 4 groups (45 minutes) Moderators: Pillar Leads Rapporteurs: Participant Documenters: SAC |
Time Zone: Bangladesh Standard Time (GMT+6)
DAY 2: NOVEMBER 6, 2020
|
TIME |
ACTIVITY |
|
10.30 -11.00 |
Moderator: Pierre Ferrand, FAORAP Reporting of breakout group outputs (4 groups, 5 minutes each) – Assigned rapporteurs Open forum (10 minutes) |
|
11.00-11.20 |
5.2 Pillars 5-7: Key Challenges and Key Priorities at National and Regional Levels Moderator: Pierre Ferrand, FAORAP
Pillar 5 – Dr. Devendra Gauchan, Bioversity Pillar 6 – Dr. Monirul Alam, BSMRAU Pillar 7 – Dr. Nafees Meah and Dr. Hum Nath Bhandari, IRRI |
|
11.20 -12.00
|
Break out groups: 3 groups (40 minutes) Moderators: Pillar leads Rapporteurs: Participant Documenters: ICA-AP |
|
12.00 -13.00 |
Lunch break |
|
13.00 – 13.30 |
Plenary reporting (3 groups * 5 minutes each = 15 minutes) – Assigned rapporteurs
Open forum and synthesis (15 minutes) |
|
13.30 – 14.00 |
Videos from SAC, AFA and ICA-AP |
|
14.00 - 15.15 |
Session 6: Adopting the Draft Joint Communique Moderator: Irish Baguilat, AFA Presentation of the First Draft of the Joint Communique / Outline of Regional Plan for UNDFF in South Asia Open Forum |
|
15.15 - 15.45 |
Short Break (Finalize Joint Communique) |
|
15.45 - 16.15 30 minutes 3 mins |
Session 7: Closing Program (Reading/ Commitment of Joint Communique and Ways Forward) Moderator: Dr. Rudra B. Shrestha, SAC Participants’ Endorsement of the Joint Communique and Regional Action Plan for UNDFF in South Asia
|
|
16.15-17.00 |
Closing Remarks (5 mins per speaker)
Vote of Thanks
|