FAO launches new digital platform to promote global innovation in family farming
2 December 2021, Santiago/Chile – Today, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched a new global platform for the exchange of knowledge related to family farming, which will promote innovation and cooperation between the different regions of the world.
The Regional Technical Platform for Family Farming is a network that brings together the most successful experiences, technical knowledge and the latest innovations to be shared throughout the world. The platform is available to governments, family farming organizations, the scientific and academic community, and the private sector.
It will function as a digital mechanism for knowledge sharing, with a virtual convention centre, and digital spaces and tools to carry out joint initiatives such as training courses, learning communities, meetings and events.
The Regional Technical Platform for Family Farming also offers a repository of publications, event information, a news centre, and statistical data on family farming at the regional and country levels.
“This Technical Platform will allow us to think big, but also facilitate concrete actions so that family farming can prosper and make important contributions,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu during the global launch event.
The launch was attended by Costa Rica’s Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Renato Alvarado, and FAO’s Chief Economist, Máximo Torero.
Family farming organizations from all regions of the world also participated, along with the regional representatives of FAO from Latin America and the Caribbean (Julio Berdegué), Africa (Abebe Haile-Gabriel), Asia and the Pacific (Jong-Jin Kim), Europe and Central Asia (Vladimir Olegovich), and the Middle East and North Africa (AbdulHakim Elwaer).
The FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean has been tasked with the implementation of the Regional Technical Platform for Family Farming due to the region's long history of developing public policies and instruments that support family farming.
Innovation for the transformation of agri-food systems
The Regional Technical Platform for Family Farming is one of five regional technical platforms that FAO has created to advance towards more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems, and that together seek to promote better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.
This platform seeks to help countries to face the new challenges and opportunities that arise due to new digital technologies, climate change, new food demands and demographic change.
FAO believes that overcoming the current challenges requires a coordinated and joint response. In this regard, the new platform is designed to make a concrete contribution to promoting the exchange of knowledge and innovation among the various institutions and regions of the planet that have an interest in supporting family farming.
Regional Technical Platform for Family Farming: https://www.fao.org/americas/daf/global