UN declares Year of Family Farming

 By JAMES LARAKI

THE United Nations has declared 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), in an effort to acknowledge the important role family farming plays in food security and sustainable agriculture. 

In declaring that the UN noted that family farming and smallholder farming were important for sustainable food production to achieve food security. 

This declaration was made in line with the UN’s efforts to focus on solutions to combat poverty and hunger in 2014.

The IYFF aims to stimulate policies for the sustainable development of farmer families, communal units, indigenous groups, cooperatives and fishing families, the  Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the lead UN agency to oversee this undertaking, saaaaaaaays.

During the launching of IYFF last November, attended by UN officials, ambassadors to the UN, government ministers, and civil society leaders; FAO director-general, José Grazia­no da Silva stressed the huge productive potential of family farmers.

“By choosing to celebrate this year, we recognise that family farmers are leading figures in responding to the double urgency the world faces today: Improving food security and pre­serving the natural resources in line with the Millennium Development Goals, with the debate on the post-2015 development agenda and the Zero Hunger Challenge,” he said. 

“Nothing comes closer to the sustainable food production paradigm than family farming. Family farmers usually run non-specialised, diversified agricultural activities that give them a central role in securing environmental sustainability and preserving biodiversity.” 

FAO plans to organise a series of events to highlight the significant role that family and smallholder farmers can play “in era­dicating hunger and poverty, providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, ma­naging natural resources, protecting the environment and achieving sustainable development, particularly in rural areas. It plans to facilitate broad dis­cussion and cooperation at the national, regional and global levels to increase awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by smallholders and help identify efficient ways to support family farmers. 

FAO will be the lead agency to oversee the implementation of the IYFF along with International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme. FAO acknowledges most family farmers were among the world’s most vulnerable populations, a situation it says needs to be address during the year. As part of the celebration of IYFF, FAO recognises the importance to reposition family farming at the centre of national and regional development programmes. And for that to happen, it notes that governments have a key role to play in family farming to reach its potential.

FAO intends to work with governments to offer technical help and policies that support improved productivity of family farms. This , FAO notes will be done through placing ap­pro­priate technologies within their reach; improving access to resources like land, credit, markets, and creating an enabling environment.

Family farming is not a totally new concept. It has been the basis of farming in many countries and has been the case for farming in PNG. Family farming is a way of life, it is something that we have lived with for many generations.

 Family farming is more than providing food or cash income, it is the way our people farm and live. Family farming is not only place of food production; it is the home to the farming family. It is the place they belong, it the place the family lives and where their children grow up. Family farming is part of our cultural heritage.

While family farming has al­ways been a part of lives and the way we live, what can we learn from the emphasis the UN has placed by declaring 2014 as the IYFF? 

It is critical to look at the why family farming is important and why it needs to be reshaped. It is obvious family farming can make a strong contribution to alleviating hunger and poverty, and providing food and nutrition security. It can contribute to economic development by creating employment and generating income, improving livelihoods, maintenance of agricultural biodiversity, and sustainable use of natural resources.

It is true these pro­mises may not be realised these days. No access to markets and credits, lack of infrastructure, low commodity prices coupled with issues like the changing climate, and young people no longer interested in agriculture will greatly affect family farming.

It is on this basis that we need to work with FAO to among others, create an enabling environment to maintain and improve family farming. While it is true that family farming has and can survive in adverse conditions, it is true that creating an enabling environment can help family farming reach its full potential. 

Our family farmers are struggling to find ways to improve their way of farming and finding responses to difficult situations. 

Thus, identifying successful responses, building on novel practices, and linking them into dynamic processes of change must be central items on our agenda.