IYFF-2014: A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE FAMILY FARMING

(We support family farming! Representatives of AFA and other FOs participating in the MTCP2 launch and startup workshop are in Bangkok for the IYFF conference organized by FAO.)

PRESS RELEASE

IYFF-2014: A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE FAMILY FARMING

• Thousands of farmers throughout the world vindicate the role of Family Farming, through simultaneous activities on the occasion of the official launching of the International Year of Family Farming IYFF-2014, which is to be held tomorrow 22 November in New York.
   
• 70% of the food consumed in the world comes from Family Farming and 40% of families live from this activity.

• The World Rural Forum, coordinator of the IYFF-2014 Civil Society programme, highlights the need to agree on public policies that promote the development of Family Farming potential and recognise the right of nations to produce the majority of their food.

Civil Society organisations in the five continents these days will assert the role which Family Farming carries out in the well-being and development of countries, through simultaneous activities that will be held in more than 20 countries on the occasion of the launching of the International Year of Family Farming IYFF-2014. The official act will take place tomorrow 22 November in the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, in a ceremony which will reveal the value of Family Farming in the fight against Hunger and Poverty.

For the World Rural Forum (WRF), coordinator of the Civil Society programme for the IYFF-2014 and promoter of its declaration, together with more than 360 organisations in five continents, the launching of this International Year opens up a unique opportunity to promote public policies in favour of the development of Family Farming, whose role and potential as guarantor of food security is not sufficiently acknowledged.

A delegation of the WRF –consisting of its Executive Secretary, José María Zeberio, and the Coordinator of the IYFF-2014 Civil Society Programme, José Antonio Osaba– will participate tomorrow at the official launching in New York, together with top representatives of the United Nations, FAO, IFAD and various national governments.

For their part, agricultural organisations, NGOs, research centres and other entities, grouped in national committees; throughout this week are organising activities under the slogan IYFF-2014: Feed the world, look after the planet. Thousands of farmers and citizens will participate in fairs, press conferences, seminars and marches to vindicate the role of men and women who work the land and sea.

Among other examples, various agricultural fairs will be held in countries such as Slovakia, El Salvador and Colombia. Thanks to the impetus of the respective national committees of the IYFF-2014, family farmers in New Zealand will meet with members of the national parliament while there will be press conferences in the Philippines, the United States,Burkina Faso and Spain. The National Committee of the IYFF-2014 in Uganda has prepared an important launching event with a festive march and exhibition as well as a presidential talk on Family Farming. The government of Costa Rica will also be present at the launching while in Brazil the IYFF-2014 will be at the forefront during the commemoration of the 50 anniversary of CONTAG.

Strengthening Family Farming is the most efficient means to combat Hunger and Poverty. 70% of the food consumed in the world is produced by Family Farming, in all its diversity, and 40% of the families in the world live from this activity.

“The most effective way to combat Hunger and Malnutrition is to produce food near the consumers, precisely what Family Farming does, not the large itinerant investors”, explains Jose Antonio Osaba (WRF), Coordinator of the IYFF-2014 Civil Society Programme. In his opinion, to strengthen the work of the millions of family farmers in the world (nearly 2,500 million people in rural areas live from agriculture in developing countries) it is necessary for countries to guarantee “the protected access to land, water, sea and other natural resources). In addition, “the right of people to produce their own food” needs to be acknowledged.

For more information and interviews, please contact the press officer of WRF (Joseba Imaz) at WRFsecretary@ruralforum or on the telephone +34 945 12 13 91.

Family Farming According to the FAO, is a “way of organising forestry and agricultural production, as well as fishing, grazing and aquaculture, which is managed and conducted by a family and which largely depends on the family labour force, both men and women. The family and exploitation are linked, they co-evolve and combine economic, environmental, reproductive, social and cultural functions”. When speaking of Family Farming we also refer to artisanal fishing people, shepherds, harvesters, landless day-labourers and indigenous communities.

The IYFF-2014 is the first International Year preceded by a Civil Society campaign, promoted by the WRF and backed by more than 360 civil and farmers’ organisation in five continents. After its declaration by the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Civil Society promoted its celebration as a tool to obtain public policies in favour of the sustainable development of agricultural systems based on the family unit: all of this with a commitment and spirit of cooperation with the official programme of the United Nations, organised by FAO.

The World Rural Forum is a forum of international scope which promotes reunions, analysis and observation on Family Farming based rural development, cooperation with universities and training/research centres, agricultural organisations, NGOs and other networks. The WRF, whose secretariat is situated in Vitoria (Basque Country, Spain) promotes the coordination of the Civil Society programme for the International Year of Family Farming.