Producer organizations help set agenda for UN Decade of Family Farming

©FAO/Sophie Grouwels 25 March 2019 -  Representatives from producer organizations from five continents defined a set of measures to help unleash the potential of small-scale forest and farm producers as part of the UN Decade of Family Farming.

“Being face to face with family farmers around the world to discuss the draft global action plan of the Decade, gives us the necessary feedback to move in the right direction in order to have a Decade that can give answers to the actual needs for health and sustainable food system, having family farmers at the centre” said Guilherme Brady from FAO’s Partnerships and South-South Cooperation Division.

Around 100 participants from forest and farm producer organizations and indigenous peoples groups met to identify ways to enhance their capacities at a session organized by the World Rural Forum, the Forest and Farm Facility and FAO at the VI Global Conference on Family Farming in Bilbao, Spain.

“The conference in Bilbao is a key moment to prepare the launch of the UN Decade of Family Farming (27th -29th May, in Rome) after an inclusive process of consultation.” added Guilherme Brady.

The Decade was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations and will be officially launched in Rome later this year in order to support family farmers from a holistic perspective, to unleash their transformative potential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Bilbao conference is a crucial milestone in the process to build a solid, multi-stakeholder and participatory agenda for the Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028. From Bolivia to the Gambia, family farmers are spreading their know-how to cultivate climate-resilient landscapes, safeguard agricultural biodiversity, promote diverse and nutritious diets, and support climate change mitigation and food systems that safeguard environment and culture.

The importance of family farming
Around 40 percent of the world’s extreme rural poor are family farmers who live in forest and savannah areas. Small-scale forest and farm producers grow, sustainably manage, harvest and process a wide range of natural resource-based goods and services for subsistence use and for local, national and international markets.

They play a key role in reducing poverty, fighting climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and yet they benefit from a relatively low proportion of investments, funds and development programmes.

“Promoting gender equality and youth inclusion are essential for food and nutrition security and should feature large on the agenda of the UN Decade,” said Forest and Farm Facility Manager Jeffrey Campbell. “It will also be crucial to work on legislative and institutional frameworks to make sure we step up the pace to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Systems for measuring the huge contribution of forest and farm producer organizations businesses to sustainable development are not adequate, shows the new publication Measured development published by the FAO Forest and Farm Facility. The Working paper explores options to distinguish and measure the impacts of business models of forest and farm producers.

Recognizing the potential of small-scale forest and farm producer organizations by bolstering their technical capacities will help to build a better future in rural areas and in urban centres, as participants at the Bilbao Conference agreed.