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Demands of Family Farming organisations during the International Year of Family Farming IYFF-2014.
Following the declaration of the IYFF- 2014 by the United Nations General Assembly, 22nd December 2011, and the creation of more than 50 National Committees, representatives of Farmers’ Organisations from five continents –Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania– met in Abu Dhabi on January 21st-22nd 2014, with the intention of updating and approving the main demands which will be the subject of negotiations with governments and international institutions throughout the Year. The meeting was organized by the World Rural Forum, with the support of Khalifa Fund and Agriterra.
In the statement agreed during the meeting, the participants reaffirmed that “Family Farming can and must become the cornerstone of solid sustainable rural development, conceived of as an integral part of the global and harmonised development of each nation and each people while preserving the environment and natural resources”.
“However, for this to be achieved Family Farming requires genuine public support which is non-existent today in most countries. A support which ensures the access to and control of land, water and other natural resources, to nearby markets, credit, investment and agricultural extension as well as equitable responses to the specific needs of rural women and youth”, emphasize farmers’ leaders.
To claim such support, family farming organizations agreed on five main demands to be forwarded to decision makers during the IYFF-2014. The demands are listed below in summary form (for more details, please consult full document):
- Each nation should have the right to develop its own food production as the basis for Food Security on the way to achieving Food Sovereignty, taking into account climate change as one of the serious threats to Family Farming.
- Governments must assume as an urgent priority the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests which they themselves approved within the Committee on Food Security -CFS-.
- In order to promote Family Farming, nations the majority of whose population is active in agriculture must proceed with the transparent and adequate allocation of financial resources to national agriculture budgets. The same criteria should apply to development aid and public investments on the basis of the meaningful participation of family farmers’ organisations as well as other Civil Society entities.
- Institute the equality of rights between men and women family farmers. Women who live and work in rural areas are frequently discriminated against in terms of equitable access to productive resources such as land, water, credit and extension services.
- Policies in favour of the insertion of youth in agriculture must be approved, taking into account that only genuine public support to Family Farming will make this profession attractive to them.