Family farming provides 70 percent of the food produced in the world by FAO, IFAD, Oxfam, ActionAid, agencies 11:15am 16th Oct, 2014   Oct 15, 2014    It does not make the headlines, but 2014 is the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) and family farming will be centre-stage at this year’s World Food Day on Oct. 16 at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).    “If we are serious about fighting hunger we need to promote family farming as a way of production and also as a way of life. It is much more than a way of agricultural production”, says Marcela Villarreal, Director of FAO’s Office for Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development.    According to FAO, family farming – which is the largest employer in the world – can help combat hunger and poverty and contribute to healthy food systems. It can also play a role in protecting the environment and managing natural resources in a sustainable way.    Family farming is estimated to provide 70 percent of the food produced in the world, sustain 40 percent of households worldwide and is twice more effective in reducing poverty than any other productive sector.    There is no official definition for family farming, which sometimes replaces the term ‘smallholders’, but its key features are family ownership and the use of mainly non-wage labour provided by family members.    Family farming is estimated to provide 70 percent of the food produced in the world, sustain 40 percent of households worldwide and is twice more effective in reducing poverty than any other productive sector.    A FAO working paper, which used figures from the World Census of Agriculture, calculates that “there are more than 570 million farms in the world and more than 500 million of these are owned by families.”    The paper also notes that 84 percent of the world’s farms are smaller than two hectares and operate on about 12 percent of the world’s farmland. The remaining 16 percent of farms are larger than two hectares and represent 88 percent of farmland.    East and South Asia along with the Pacific account for 74 percent of the 570 million farms, with China and India accounting for 35 and 24 percent respectively. Only three percent of farms are located in the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean represent four percent each.    Farmers’ organisations from Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania met in Abu Dhabi in January at the start of IYFF and issued a set of five demands to make family farming 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.”    Among others, they called for strategies to attract young people and prevent migration, creating the conditions for them to take over their parents’ farms or set up new farms.    With regards to gender equality, they criticised discrimination over inheritance rules and wages as unacceptable, saying that women are the backbone of the farming sector and have a crucial role to play in improving nutrition through food preparation and the education of children.    The farmers’ organisations also called on governments to finance the creation of cooperatives, and guarantee access to markets and loans for smallholders.    According to José Antonio Osaba, Coordinator of the IYFF-2014 Civil Society Programme of the World Rural Forum, all nations, and especially developing nations, “have the right to protect their agriculture so as to be able to feed themselves and trade under equitable conditions … the reverse is now the case: a small handful of major exporting nations with high productivity levels and considerable subsidies dominate the world food market.”    Ranja Sengupta, senior researcher at the Third World Network in India, shares Osaba’s position. On the side-lines of the Asia-Europe Peoples’ Forum held in Milan, Italy, on Oct. 10-12, she told IPS that free trade agreements pose a serious problem for the capability of developing countries to sustain their people.    “I think in countries like India, large countries with a large, hungry population, there is no alternative to strengthening small family-based farms”, she said.    “We cannot depend on imported food. So for us, if we have to provide food to our people, we have to take it from our producers and we have to ensure that they are able to produce; that’s why we do need to give essential subsidies – at least for now”, she added.    “It is something which should be non-negotiable for any developing country government and no global agreement should be able to actually say ‘no’ to that”, Sengupta concluded.    Family farmers produce over 70% of the world’s food, their rights cannot be ignored.    The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, calls on Governments to protect the rights of family and small holder farmers working worldwide. Family farming, Ms. Elver says, is a crucial element in the global fight against hunger, and key to the protection and sustainability of natural resources.    “With over 70% of the world’s food production reliant on family farmers, this type of farming represents the vast majority of agriculture worldwide, both in developed and developing countries. Most of these farmers own less than two hectares of land, and cultivate only a small share of the world"s farmland. Protecting their rights is paramount to the eradication of hunger and ensuring food security and adequate nutrition.    There is an estimated 500 million family farms worldwide, many of which currently face increasing challenges that are undermining agricultural production, including soil erosion, increased water scarcity, deforestation, climate change, globalisation of the food sector and an ever expanding monoculture for export and large corporations.    Family farming is based on tradition, and forms the social fabric of many societies playing a key role in protecting the world’s biodiversity and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources.    Women, who account for some 43% of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, play a crucial role in enhancing food security and nutrition in the household as well as increasing agricultural output and every effort must be made to ensure that they are afforded the same rights and access to necessary resources as their male counterparts.    On the occasion of World Food Day I urge all States to show a more meaningful commitment to the development of social and economic policies specifically targeted at smallholder and family farms.    I call on all Governments to do everything in their power to ensure that the rights of family and small holder farmers working worldwide to eradicate hunger and sustain natural resources are protected.”    http://www.fao.org/family-farming-2014/en/ http://www.fao.org/world-food-day/home/en/ http://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/en/ http://www.ifad.org/events/iyff/ http://www.familyfarmingcampaign.net/en/home    http://www.un.org/apps/news/newsmakers.asp?NewsID=112 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Food/Pages/FoodIndex.aspx http://www.srfood.org/en/press-releases http://www.ipsnews.net/news/development-aid/food-agriculture/ http://www.cgiar.org/consortium-events/2014/10/16/world-food-day-2014/ http://www.trust.org/food/ http://www.trust.org/item/20141008130139-nzawe/?source=fiBlogs    http://reliefweb.int/topics/food-nutrition http://www.fao.org/righttofood/right-to-food-home/en/ http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-home/en/ http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/critical-and-emerging-issues/en/ http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/campaigns/about-grow http://blogs.oxfam.org/en/blogs/14-10-15-falling-out-love-committee-world-food-security http://blogs.oxfam.org/en/blogs/1856 http://oxf.am/EB9 http://www.fian.org/ http://www.fian.org/library/multimedia/the-right-to-food-a-peoples-struggle/ http://viacampesina.org/en/ http://www.actionaid.org/what-we-do/food-and-land-rights    http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/un-rome-based-agencies-reveal-food-security-and-nutrition-targets-post-2015-agenda http://www.wfp.org/food-assets http://www.wfp.org/purchase-progress http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/building-resilience-critical-end-hunger-and-undernutrition-2025 http://www.2020resilience.ifpri.info/ http://www.gainhealth.org/ http://www.landcoalition.org/en/what-we-do/land-monitoring http://www.landcoalition.org/en/blog    http://www.rtfn-watch.org/ http://www.grain.org/ http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/publications http://business-humanrights.org/en/issues/other/right-to-food http://www.actionaid.org/news/press-release-taxpayer-money-and-government-policies-are-driving-global-land-grabs http://www.communitylandrights.org/ http://www.etcgroup.org/ http://www.cesr.org/article.php?id=1646 http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/10/world-bank-group-proposed-policy-setback-rights http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/ http://www.socialwatch.org/node/16451    15 October 2014    Rural women are key agents for achieving the transformational economic, environmental and social changes required for sustainable development. But limited access to credit, health care and education are among the many challenges they face, which are further aggravated by the global food and economic crises and climate change.    Empowering them is key not only to the well-being of individuals, families and rural communities, but also to overall economic productivity, given women’s large presence in the agricultural workforce worldwide.    “Collectively, rural women are a force that can drive global progress,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a message marking the occasion, which he also said was especially personal.    “My mother has lived her whole life in the countryside. Although she did not receive much of a formal education, I grew up appreciate her wisdom, resilience and intelligence,” he said.    These qualities are shared by millions of rural women around the world, said Mr. Ban. This is why women living in the countryside are essential if we as an international community to move ahead on the post-2015 development goals and conclude a universal climate agreement.    “Because they often live on the frontlines of poverty, natural disasters and other threats, rural women have an enormous stake in the successes of our global campaigns,” the UN chief added.    First, we must address the discrimination and deprivation that rural women continue to suffer, Mr. Ban said. Too many lack access to land, markets, finance, social protection and services. Many also face grave security risks in the course of their life-saving tasks, such as collecting water or fuel.    The majority of rural women depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. In developing countries, they make up more than 40 per cent of the agricultural labour force. They produce, process and prepare many of society’s meals, frequently taking primary responsibility for household food security, health status and education opportunities.    “When we give rural women access to productive agricultural and natural resources, we empower them. They, in turn, can contribute more to alleviating hunger and boosting the ability of their communities to cope with the effects of climate change, land degradation and displacement. This benefits all people,” said Mr. Ban.    Rural women need to be at the heart of all development efforts says Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director.    Today, on the International Day of Rural Women, let us all, individuals, governments and the United Nations system, commit to recognize the contributions and rights of rural women, including their rights to land and resources. We need to build momentum together to support and ensure the empowerment of rural women so that they can claim the rights they deserve and fully enjoy the benefits of development.    Throughout the world, gender inequality in land and other productive resources is intrinsically related to women’s poverty and exclusion. Women’s rights to access, use, control, and ownership of land and other productive resources are essential to reverse this. Sustainable solutions are not imposed from the outside. It is of utmost importance that rural women’s voices are heard in discussion, debates and policymaking about their lives.    Every day rural women face complex obstacles blocking their rights to land. These include discriminatory laws and practices governing inheritance and marital property; gender-biased land reform that privileges men over women; unequal access to land markets; and discriminatory attitudes and beliefs.    Such discrimination greatly decreases rural women’s potential as agricultural producers, limiting their contributions to food security, frustrating their sustainable land management efforts, and undermining their well-being and that of their families.    This situation persists, despite international and regional instruments and policies that recognize women’s rights to land and important developments in many countries to ensure and protect these rights.    UN Women’s publication “Realizing Women’s Rights to Land and Other Productive Resources ,” published with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, gives a comprehensive picture of the critical issues affecting women’s rights to land and presents recommendations, good practices and success stories.    Change is possible through determined action. Governments and civil society must accelerate their efforts to revise obsolete national laws and promote security of tenure. They must ensure the prohibition of forced eviction for women whose civil status has changed.    Marriage and family laws need to be made to guarantee women’s rights to property. Communal lands are powerful property; they represent the capital that secures the rights of a collective.    But those that work communal land also need to be supported to ensure that their rights translate into returns. Finally, governments and civil society must generate awareness-raising and training so that women know and can claim their rights.    It is critical that women’s rights to land and other productive resources be addressed in the post-2015 road map and embraced by the future Sustainable Development Goals. As we know, there is a strong and positive correlation between ensuring women’s rights over land and improved household welfare, women’s increased power and autonomy in their families and communities, as well as in their economic and political relationships.    In order to implement appropriate policies in the post-2015 era, we need adequate data that is gender-disaggregated to shape the evidence base for policy change. We need to strengthen ongoing efforts to collect this data.    The International Day of Rural Women is an opportunity to focus global attention on the contributions and concerns of rural women, whose situations and voices are so often unheard.    http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/rural-women http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/rural-women-food-poverty http://www.empowerwomen.org/ http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2013/11/realizing-womens-right-to-land http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/10/international-day-of-rural-women-ed-statement http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/home http://www.ifad.org/gender/ http://www.ifad.org/ http://www.wfp.org/focus-on-women http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/158377/icode/ http://unsdn.org/?cat=24 http://blogs.oxfam.org/en/blogs/14-10-15-support-women-farmers-could-help-us-beat-hunger Visit the related web page
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