Forum global sur la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition (Forum FSN)

Dear collegues,

On behalf of the Mexican Family Farming Network, I want to share some challenges we face when thinking in policies for youth. 

1.- Discrimination: rural youth in mexico suffer discrimination from two sides. First, because rurality is associated with poverty, iliteracy and low-class. Second, because inside the communities being young is associated with inexperience or lazyness and as a consequence the decision about farms is taken by the olders. 

2.- Migration: young people in rural areas in Mexico, usually face two options once they became independent. To stay in the farm or to migrate to USA or to urban areas as Mexico City. Even if they are going to develop low-paid jobs, they usually choose to migrate because the idea of progress is related with urbanity. Also, because if they remain in the field they are never going to be able to obtain things such as: cars, clothes, drinks, or vacations, which are the things the actual economic model promotes.

3.- In order to create better policies for youth, we need to think as youth. The farm should be an option and not a condemn. We need to develop programs that address at the same time: agro-ecological trainning, value-added product processing, and businness trainning.  

4.-Arround the world the movement for organic food and local market is growing. We need to create programs to bring together youth consumers and youth producers.  Most youth consumers from urban areas are now more conscious about the ingredients of the food and they look for more natural options. They are more sustainable consumers, and they are engaged with solidarity projects.

5.- What we are missing, from our point of view, is an strategy to communicate both worlds (commercialization, online markets, local transactions), because right now, at least in Mexico the organic market is monopolized by luxury restaurants or shops. If you want to consume organic you need to be rich, and the producer is not obtaining the benefits of those transactions. 

Send you attached, the proposal of the mexican family farming network to create a national program on family farming in our country. 

Thank you, 

Best,

Yunuel Cruz

http://aiaf2014mexico.blogspot.mx/

Dear colleagues,

On behalf of CFAP Cambodia

I have a small contribution with this

Best Regards,

YAP Thoeurn

head of agriculture and advisory officer (HAAO)

E-mail: [email protected]

We organized training courses and training for producer group in target areas. They were very interested in the special farmer field school (FFS) and soil treatment for improve they farm to growing the crops. Women are involved our project and they actively to discuss the problem during our training and finding solutions to has better for future. Most of men are worked with other jobs for main income to support they family so they do not involved much with our project. Women are stayed at home so they are has time to look up they children and to produce vegetable with adaptation to climate; not only for household consumption, but for sale for household income. Some widow are member of our organization they are produce vegetable for sale for household income to support her family and her sister to study.    

Nowadays my organization promoted youth to joint our programs and working closely with farmer organization at commune level to strengthen they Commune Farmer Association. We all way provide training skill to them for capacity building especially in agriculture and marketing. Because they are working and advisory directly to farmer  member and farmer organization.

Women and youth are very involve for social development because they are joint any activity in community and networking to connecting the information for sharing to other people that less opportunity to get the information.   

Being youth, i will focus on the main challenges the youth (both men and women youth ) face especially in the Ugandan and africa setting in general. these are given as reasons why the youth shy away from the sector and the possible interventions.

My contribution is in the article attached [also reported below, Ed.]

We should note that Youth ;

• youth can play a significant role in acting as a catalyst for change to agriculture development given their propensity and willingness to adapt new ideas, concepts and have the energy to carry them through the transformation.
• But the underlying goal of attraction and retention of us the youth in the agriculture sector is transforming the sector from purely subsistence to commercial farming where farmers under take agriculture as a business which can help them earn enough income to prosper.

Intervention measures…

Requires a multidisciplinary approach;

• Changing the image and perception about agriculture in the face of the youth. Youth need to be educated and made aware of how farmers operate today.

Farmers have  to be educated, business –savvy entrepreneurs who possess some extensive training and knowledge.

• Role models and mentorship. The positive aspects of choosing agriculture should be emphasized to the youth. the benefits of engaging in agriculture like; - owning own business (so boss of myself), choosing when to work (my own hours –, and having a variety of daily responsibilities
• Change the curriculum. It is essential for the government to reform the education curriculum to be broad based and geared towards integrating vocational and practical training in education curriculum. The change in the curriculum will change the mindset of the youth and motivate them to explore untapped opportunities in the agriculture sector.
• Access the credit. young people tend to have fewer chances of obtaining credit or capital.
• Access is often tied to availability of collateral which is usually land which the young people do not have. It is therefore, important that appropriate affordable financial packages are put in place by financial institutions to cater for the youth.
• Mechanization. The youth being eager to learn and often moving in a dot.com era, it is critical for the government to improve traditional methods of production to attract youth to agriculture by mechanizing agriculture.
• Government needs to support, young professionals or graduates from the school of agriculture to initiate their own farms. We need to have more young people , educated, employed but doing farming.
• Farmer organizations. In Most organizations, the youth are integrated with the old yet they have varied interests. So as farmer associations are formed, special interest groups should be considered in order to create harmony and mutualism.
• Agri-business incubators ( science and technology) family farms should absorb create this environment to absorb the youth. These aspects are crucial: Value Chain development –n fostering entreprenuership and farming as a Business

Conclusively, The challenge that we must take up as leaders, facilitators, policy makers and private sectors in Uganda’s agriculture and Africa as a whole is to build capacities of the youth and equip them to address the emerging requirements of an attractive agriculture that is capable of offering prospects for viable income and good quality of life.

Thanks to participants for their comments about innovations to increase the involvement of women and youth in agriculture. 

In Japan a large majority of farmers practice family farming and many innovative practices are encouraging a small-scale approach. Japanese agriculture cooperatives own farmers markets where farmers can set their own prices, ensuring higher incomes for young and female farmers by allowing them to set their own prices. Youth participation in agriculture is also encouraged by JA-Youth, an agricultural cooperative of 60,000 young farmers who advocate for policy directives to support agriculture.

A commentator from South America shared several ideas about how to better engage and support youth and women in agriculture. Universities, for example, can incorporate more agricultural programs to encourage youth to participate in farming. And for those programs that exist, applying agricultural and business knowledge to family farming, instead of industrial agriculture, should to be emphasized and encouraged. Governments can also promote youth access to information technologies so they may better adapt them to farming pursuits.

According to the commentator, South American women can better achieve food security and sovereignty by incorporating traditional knowledge and domestic skills to create value added products to sell for a higher prices. Strengthening the role of women in ecological conservation, conserving biodiversity, and sharing intergenerational farming knowledge are also important.

Thanks again for your comments! 

Aunque han aumentado los niveles de acceso a la educación superior de jóvenes rurales, se presenta aun o por lo menos en Colombia, una debilidad en el enfoque de las carreras universitarias, si bien la mayoría de opciones de pregrado tienen incluido un componente de trabajo social dentro del perfil profesional, el enfoque que se les da a la mayoría de las carreras es para su participación en sistemas productivos a gran escala o el impulso de grandes obras de infraestructura, es como así la mayoría de jóvenes egresados de programa de pregrado, no aplican sus conocimientos a sistemas productivos familiares, de forma que se aumente la rentabilidad de los mismos.

Es por ello que se debe promover la participación de jóvenes profesionales en el sector rural para darle un impulso a este, así como se debe dar una mayor articulación de las dinámicas rurales y urbanas.

Igualmente se deben fortalecer estrategias participativas desde edad temprana, como la promoción de escuelas libres, de forma tal que se les inculque a niñas y niños ,el reconocimiento por su territorio, un empoderamiento a temprana edad de las dinámicas que inciden en la agricultura familiar.

Mientras que para las mujeres los principales desafíos siguen siendo el aumento en la participación de la economía familiar, y reconocimiento de su rol en la conservación de los sistemas productivos y su entorno. De forma que las prioridades son:

1.       Promover  el empoderamiento económico de las mujeres impulsando la participación de ellas en actividades económicas rentables. Para ello se debe impulsar la transformación de productos primarios, no solo limitarse a la comercialización de cosechas, si no promover la preparación de alimentos, elaboración de conservas, artesanías u otros. De forma tal que no solo aumente           el ingreso y activo de los hogares, sino que se resalte el papel de la mujer en la economía  como promotora de la seguridad y soberanía alimentaria local.

2.       Fortalecer el rol de la mujer en la conservación, si bien se ha identificado el papel de la mujer en la agricultura familiar y la conservación de la diversidad biológica, se deben aumentar los esfuerzos de valoración económica para  incluirla en opciones como el pago por servicios ambientales o negocios verdes.

3.       Rescatar los saberes de las mujeres en la agricultura familiar, si bien ellas los trasmiten de generación en generación, existen aún numerosos vacíos sobre su contribución a la seguridad alimentaria. Aunque han aumentado los niveles de acceso a la educación superior de jóvenes rurales, se presenta aun o por lo menos en Colombia, una debilidad en el enfoque de las carreras universitarias, si bien la mayoría de opciones de pregrado tienen incluido un componente de trabajo social dentro del perfil profesional, el enfoque que se les da a la mayoría de las carreras es para su participación en sistemas productivos a gran escala o el impulso de grandes obras de infraestructura, es como así la mayoría de jóvenes egresados de programa de pregrado, no aplican sus conocimientos a sistemas productivos familiares, de forma que se aumente la rentabilidad de los mismos.

Es por ello que se debe promover la participación de jóvenes profesionales en el sector rural para darle un impulso a este, así como se debe dar una mayor articulación de las dinámicas rurales y urbanas.

Igualmente se deben fortalecer estrategias participativas desde edad temprana, como la promoción de escuelas libres, de forma tal que se les inculque a niñas y niños ,el reconocimiento por su territorio, un empoderamiento a temprana edad de las dinámicas que inciden en la agricultura familiar.

Mientras que para las mujeres los principales desafíos siguen siendo el aumento en la participación de la economía familiar, y reconocimiento de su rol en la conservación de los sistemas productivos y su entorno. De forma que las prioridades son:

1.       Promover  el empoderamiento económico de las mujeres impulsando la participación de ellas en actividades económicas rentables. Para ello se debe impulsar la transformación de productos primarios, no solo limitarse a la comercialización de cosechas, si no promover la preparación de alimentos, elaboración de conservas, artesanías u otros. De forma tal que no solo aumente           el ingreso y activo de los hogares, sino que se resalte el papel de la mujer en la economía  como promotora de la seguridad y soberanía alimentaria local.

2.       Fortalecer el rol de la mujer en la conservación, si bien se ha identificado el papel de la mujer en la agricultura familiar y la conservación de la diversidad biológica, se deben aumentar los esfuerzos de valoración económica para  incluirla en opciones como el pago por servicios ambientales o negocios verdes.

3.       Rescatar los saberes de las mujeres en la agricultura familiar, si bien ellas los trasmiten de generación en generación, existen aún numerosos vacíos sobre su contribución a la seguridad alimentaria. 

Así mismo para liderar un cambio que asegure la apropiación de las mujeres y los jóvenes, y se fortalezca el ejercicio de sus derechos dentro del ámbito de la agricultura familiar, las organizaciones de agricultores familiares, gobiernos, organizaciones de desarrollo y el sector privado,  deben unir esfuerzos y orientar medidas a:

1.       El fortalecimiento de una Gobernanza que promueva una articulación de toda la cadena productiva y en la cual mujeres y jóvenes participen de forma activa. Para ello se deben generar  instrumentos de política que promuevan la investigación básica y aplicada orientada al desarrollo de nuevos productos de valor agregado derivados no solo de la agricultura familiar sino también de la utilización sostenible de los recursos naturales; así como se deben diseñar estrategias para la apertura y mantenimiento de canales de comercialización locales, regionales y nacionales.

2.       Motivar a los estudiantes universitarios, de forma que encuentren una opción rentable en el enfoque de sus carreras hacia el impulso de la agricultura familiar.

3.       Promover la investigación aplicada hacia los sistemas rurales de producción familiar.

4.       Aumentar el acceso de las TICS a los jóvenes rurales.

5.       Realizar la valoración económica de las actividades de las mujeres en los sistemas de producción familiar, de forma que se diseñen alternativas para reconocer las económicamente, principalmente desde su rol en la conservación.

6.       Aumentar el enfoque de conocimiento del entorno en las cátedras escolares.

Dear colleagues,

On behalf of JA-Zenchu and JA-Group (Japanese Agicultural cooperatives), please find below our contribution.

Best regards

Taku Fujimoto

JA-Zenchu (Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives), Japan

We, JA-Group, consist of 700 agricultural cooperatives in Japan. It is one of our most important issues to improve women and youth farmers’ positions since almost all of 2.4 million farmers are family farmers in our country. This year, designated as the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) by the United Nations, is the best opportunity to discuss this theme and share experiences and best practices on the global level. We would like to introduce two cases that we have engaged in.

First, how can farmers’, especially women farmers’, financial independence be ensured in food chain? Our members’ agricultural cooperatives totally own 2,000 farmers markets to provide women and aged farmers with opportunities to make agricultural incomes by selling their agricultural products and handmade products. In these shops, farmers can set the right price by themselves. In addition, there are 16,800 farmers markets in the nation including ones owned by local governments, selling 8.6 billion USD in 2010 that is direct incomes of farmers, excluding 15% sales charge on average.

Second, how can voices of youth farmers, who will take a key role into the future, be reflected in agricultural policies? JA-Youth, which has 60,000 youth farmers in our organization, has conducted the Policy Book Activities that are building up and delivering actual voices of young farmers for local and national governments since 2010.

These efforts are still in progress. We would like to make them further better learning from best practices in the world.

Many thanks to all those who participated in last week’s forum The Future of Family Farming: Empowerment and Equal Rights for Women and Youth. We received some interesting and innovative commentary and intriguing suggestions on how to promote greater participation in the food system among women and youth.

Commentators agreed that youth and women face many barriers to entry and success in the agricultural sector. One of the major obstacles is lack of access to arable land as well as credit. Diminishing fertile land areas and discrimination against youth and women when applying for loans can discourage these groups from wanting to be involved in agriculture. Commentators also pointed out that lack of education and extension services, inability to access to technology, and lack of access to inputs such as seeds and fertilizer are big barriers to sustainable farming.

Several programs working to promote youth and female participation in agriculture were mentioned in the comments including the European Council of Young Farmers’ (CEJA) Mentoring Women in Entrepreneurship Program (MWE), which provides training courses and cultivates social networks for young women to start their own agribusinesses. And in Malaysia, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (MOA) has developed a program promoting agropreneurs—young people engaging in agriculture, agribusiness, and agrotourism—through extension training and financing incentives.

Participants also offered suggestions for ways that development organizations and governments can better engage women and youth in agriculture. Commentators agreed that educating society as a whole about the value of agriculture is key to increasing participation. Government-sponsored PSAs, for example, can teach youth and women that farming is an economically sustainable profession.

In addition, comments focused on the need to build good soils to ensure the future productivity of agriculture, and the responsibility of governments to bring infrastructure and technology to rural areas to discourage urban migration. Commentators emphasized that increasing agricultural extension training is vital to ensuring productivity and financial success for women and youth in agriculture. CEJA wrote, “For young farmers… it is essential that the attractiveness of the agricultural sector is promoted to them and that vocational education and training in agriculture is widely available, accessible, attractive and affordable.”

Thank you again for your comments--keep them coming!

Dear colleagues,

On behalf of CEJA, European Young Farmers, the President Matteo Bartolini has contributed to the subject above in the form of direct written answers to the questions asked.

Please find the CEJA contribution below.

For more information or if you have any questions, feel free to email [email protected].

Kind regards,

European Young Farmers (CEJA)

---------

Dear colleagues,

On behalf of CEJA, European Young Farmers, the President Matteo Bartolini has contributed to the subject above in the form of direct written answers to the questions asked.

1.   What are some of the key challenges women and youth in agriculture are facing? For example, many rural areas in the developing world aren’t stimulating places for youth to live and develop? How can we make rural areas more attractive to youth?

In Europe, there are a number of women farm holders; around 1/3 of heads of holding in the European Union (EU) are female. However, in many cases they are are less formally educated and trained than their male counterparts, despite the fact that across other sectors, they consistently achieve higher qualifications. For young farmers therefore, in particular young female farmers, it is essential that the attractiveness of the agricultural sector is promoted to them and that vocational education and training in agriculture is widely available, accessible, attractive and affordable – considering that incomes in rural areas are lower than in urban ones.

As well as this, the lack of rural infrastructure both in Europe and around the globe is a significant problem. For example, both women and young people need good education services, social infrastructure, accessible health services, better accessibility including phone and internet coverage, enough attractive job opportunities and cultural and leisure activities. It is essential that these goods and services are invested in if we are to ensure that women and young people have incentives to stay in rural areas to bring up their children or to forge a career or to settle down with their families.

The above are just some of the challenges faced by youth in agriculture, and can somewhat explain the very low levels of European young farmers (only 7% are under the age of 35 in the EU). Other challenges relate to entering the sector, including access to land, credit and low returns on high investments in the first years of production.

It is for this reason that CEJA calls for positive discrimination in public policy in order to facilitate the entry of young people into the sector. This should also help raise public awareness of the importance of farming everywhere and how much those who produce our food should be appreciated, although this should be a policy objective in itself.

Farmers have to be intelligent, driven business entrepreneurs as well as hard workers willing to give up long hours, weekends and holidays in order to make a success of their enterprise. They should be revered for providing us with high quality food at affordable prices, and farming should be celebrated as an employment opportunity which provides young people with the chance to be their own boss, be at one with nature, and nurture high quality production which they can be proud of and profit from. In some countries of the world, agricultural activities are even seen as a form of punishment – obviously this is bound to reflect badly on the profession, those who work in it, and those who wish to enter it. However,  farmers  are  business-minded,  determined  entrepreneurs  who  work  hard  to  keep  to  the highest of standards wherever possible so that the rest of the population can enjoy a diverse variety of food products every single day. Farmers should be rewarded for this but also recognised for it, as well as the  environmental  services  they  provide,  by  society  at  large.  This  could,  and  should,  be  achieved through information campaigns, for example at schools or food outlets.

2.   Please share any programs and initiatives you are leading/participating that are helping to strengthen the role of woman and youth in agriculture.

As  the European representative organisation for young farmers from across the Union, CEJA works exclusively on programs and initiatives that help to strengthen the role of youth in agriculture and the opportunities for young people to engage with the farming sector in a bid to increase the number of active young farmers in the EU today. This includes frequent meetings with policymakers and other stakeholders on the subject of youth in agriculture, as well as presentations and conferences on the subject, and internal discussions on how to find better solutions for the challenges ahead – both on the ground and in the Brussels policy arena. However, as well as this, we are involved in two very relevant concrete European projects, too.

In the context of trying to attract more women to careers in agriculture and rural areas, CEJA is currently taking part in the MWE: Mentoring Women for Entrepreneurship Project. This initiative aims to create new training courses and social networks for women in rural areas. In this context, we hope to foster and inspire the entrepreneurial spirit of young women in rural communities in order to improve their social and professional status and gain equal gender rights across Europe.

CEJA is also one of the main partners in the Rural/Iter project, which aims to invest in agricultural education and training in order to increase entrepreneurial skills among young, female and new farmers. Through the transfer of knowledge and innovation to young, female and new farmers, the competitiveness and sustainability of rural businesses is likely to improve. If RURAL/ITER succeeds in its aims, the development of rural employment will enhance economic diversification across Europe and make rural areas more attractive for the youth of tomorrow.

3.  What measures can family farmers’ organizations, governments, development organizations, the private sector take to ensure empowerment and equal rights of women and youth in agriculture?

Because of the improved productivity of young people compared with their older counterparts as well as  the  alarming  age  balance  in  some  parts  of  the  world,  it  is  reasonable,  and  in  fact,  absolutely necessary, to demand positive discrimination for young farmers in public policy. The EU has recognised many of these elements and sent an important political signal with young farmer support in the new CAP; however, this must be mirrored elsewhere in the world and go further still in Europe. Considering the extent of the demographic crisis, especially in Europe, and the scale of the barriers to enter the sector, support for young farmers must go further – with increased rates of support for all young farmers across all EU Member States and a varied selection of tool policies available so as to accurately target support and tailor it to relevant sectors and geographical areas.

There must also be increased cooperation between farming organisations, governments, private companies and other stakeholders. CEJA in its everyday work strives to foster these links! For example, private entities can cooperate with young farmers in terms of sponsorship, organising information seminars and the exchange of best practices across the globe, cooperation on innovation and research, thereby enhancing the economic conditions for the young farmer while giving private entities insight into the use of their products and services on the ground and in the field. We must come together to promote the benefits of the family farming model and ensure its survival, which can only be done through the increased public support of young people and women in agriculture and rural areas, which in turn must be asked for by the public at large and not just farming representatives – because that is exactly who a more accessible sector for young people will benefit: society at large, not just farmers.

For more information or if you have any questions, feel free to email [email protected].

Kind regards,

European Young Farmers (CEJA)

I subscribe  we must teach the young "the only Assets of Mankind and all living matter are Soil-Water-Vegetation-Atmosphere", all else but commodities. We teach in our classes, Asset Banking and roll-over of assets. We teach replicating Nature grow C3 crops for 4 years and rest for 3 years for weeds and like C4 array to kick start the carbon cycle sequestering all the life sustaining elements critical for food nutrients. Farming soil is the same as Banking roll-over, rest accrue interest.  If I were in your offices I would deliver a workshop coupled with all our visuals, papers and living models of soil growing out of (converting) sand back to carbon and element rich soils. Well trained Farmers engage 8 from soil to table. Feeding the world growing soil food fodder forestry can be achieved well before 2020 and by de-fault lower 40tonne CO2e per hectare per annum.

Robert Vincin

As a scientist I can tell you that the dissemination of scientific information to youth and women in rural areas have had great success. We organized training courses and training for young people in rural areas. They were very interested in the special entrepreneurship and how to start a small business and family farm. The materials produced have included information on how to increase productivity in farm animals and agricultural.
">It is important to start with training in this area, which relies on young people and women who are the basis for future rural development susstenabila bioeconomy.In general, women are more receptive to new things and are curious to apply new methods and technologies to increase family income. Women are more conscientious and can better expand the use of information received by their children being involved in youth education.
">Women can be very convincing in the development of firm survival and honest working families more than their men.

By accessing structural funds women can develop  on family farms with eco, bio-traditional  direction because they are the most skilled to carry on the traditions of organic products, which are much appreciated and well paid.

Education, dissemination of scientific information and how to achieve family farm projects represent important factors for supporting women and youth in rural areas.