At the opening session of the fourth meeting of the Farmers Forum 2012 on February 20, 2012, the Asian Famers’ Association (AFA), a Steering Committee member of FAFO, asked IFAD to partner with farmers organizations in upscaling and mainstreaming sustainable agriculture.
In the opening statement read by Secretary General Ma. Estrella Penunia, AFA informed IFAD of the victories of small farmers and producers since the last FAFO in 2010.
These successes include the UN declaration of 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming, implementation of the Medium Term Cooperation Program in the Asia Pacific, implementation of the Global Agriculture for Food Security Program with FO participation, and organization of the Civil Society Mechanism for the UN Committee on Food Security also with FO participation.
Ms. Penunia also pointed out challenges such as the Rio+20’s non-inclusion of small scale farmers and producers and the silence on sustainable, agroecological, smallholder family farmer agriculture; lack of clear decision on climate financing for adaptation in the UNFCC meeting in Durban; and lack of operationalization and involvement of FOs in the ASEAN and SAARC framework on food security and climate change.
Thus, AFA called on IFAD to partner directly with FOs in involving more women and youth in agriculture; in participating in dialogues with governments at all levels; in efforts at knowledge management; and in truly involving FOs in IFAD’s governance processes.
(In the photo: AFA Execom Member Vicente Fabe from PAKISAMA in the Philippines)
Download the full Opening Statement in PDF
Click here to read more about FAFO 2012
Click here to see the Agenda of FAFO 2012
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