Bangkok, Thailand – AFA promoted the International Year of Family Farming during a global panel discussing health and food security at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) 2013 Main Conference held at Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Center at Central World on January 31-February 2, 2013.
PMAC is an annual conference attended by a wide-range of experts and development players focusing on issues in public health. This year’s theme is “A world united against infectious disease: cross-sectoral solutions.”
The event was attended by around 1,000 participants from across the globe.
AFA joined the panel “Contribution of the One Health Paradigm to Food Security” moderated by Dr. David Nabarro, UN Senior Coordinator for Avian and Pandemic Influenza and Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition.
Ms. Lany V. Rebagay, Policy Adovacy Officer of AFA, spoke about the role of small-scale farming in ensuring health, nutrition and food security. She said that “small-scale farmers feed the world and care for the earth.”
This is also the theme of the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), which the UN declared after a worldwide campaign by a broad range of CSOs anchored by the World Rural Forum (WRF) and actively participated in by AFA.
She pointed out that in the discussion of One Health paradigm, a multi-sectoral collaboration to address health concerns integrating human-animal-environment dimension, participation of small-scale farmers is crucial.
She also asserted that small-scale women and men farmers feed 70% of the world’s population while ensuring environmental sustainability through agro-ecological farming systems that also ensure a diverse source of micronutrients that support sustainable diet.
Click here for more information about the panel
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