المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

Mountain farming is largely small-scale and family farming. Mountain areas, with their dispersed patches of useable land at different altitudes with different climates and with their often highly fragmented landscapes and narrow limits for mechanization, are most efficiently and effectively managed by family farms.

We wish to bring to the attention of the readers the publication “Mountain farming is family farming”, which gives an overview of the global changes affecting mountain farming and the concrete strategies that mountain communities have developed to cope. The publication features a collection of case studies from all over the world, among which are some nice and inspiring examples of women-centered initiatives, such as:

·         Building on traditional cooperation among women (Fouta Djallon Highlands, Guinea)

In the Fouta Djallon Highlands in West Africa, solidarity and collaboration among women have traditionally ensured they can rely on mutual assistance in case of need. Building on these practices, development projects have established women’s interest groups in the area, with the aim of increasing and diversifying incomes of small family farms.

·         Agribusiness development through cooperation (India)

Due to poor market access, low production output and their lack of information, capital and services, farmers in Uttarakhand, India, traditionally received low prices for the Malta oranges they produced. However, a farmers’ federation helped increase production while a cooperation based on women self-help groups has enabled the processing and marketing of these fruits, increasing the farmers’ incomes threefold.

·         Kitchen gardens for improved well-being (Kyrgyzstan)

In the high-altitude communities of Kyrgyzstan, the overwhelming majority of health problems affecting women and children are related to malnutrition. As shown by a project initiated in two districts of Kyrgyzstan in 2006, producing vegetables in kitchen gardens at the family farm level can prevent this problem by significantly improving nutritional and health status. Anemia of mothers decreased by 42%and of children by 39%. Kitchen gardens also increased household incomes significantly – even in regions that have never grown vegetables before.

To read more, please access the full publication at http://www.fao.org/docrep/019/i3480e/i3480e.pdf.