Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA)

Empowering small scale women and men farmers in Asia

The Asia region is home to four and a half billion (or 60% of the world’s peoples, with half of them living in the rural areas, mostly relying on agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and pastoralism for a living. The region has vast natural resources, having 30% of the world’s arable lands, and the most extensive forest and fishery resources in the world. It is also home to 80% of family farmers working on an average farm size of two hectares or less, and who produce 60% of the world’s food. Yet, while many countries in Asia have achieved remarkable progress and growth, this development has left behind at least 490 million Asian peoples, or 61% of the world’s poorest and hungriest, and most of them live in the rural areas, with the highest concentration in South Asia.

The causes of poverty and hunger are complex, but throughout our consultations, our members decry their: (1) lack of access and control over natural, technological, education, health, infrastructure, information, production, financial, and market resources; (2) insignificant involvement in policy-making processes in agriculture and rural development; and, (3) degraded ecosystems and vulnerabilities in price and climate shocks that threaten their production, livelihoods, and incomes. The pervasive poverty in the rural areas has led to migration, aging of the farming population, and unattractiveness of agriculture to the youth. No farmer, no food, no future.

In a world that aims to end poverty and hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030, investments in family farming agriculture and in sustainable rural development is a clear imperative. A key investment is in building and empowering the organizations of women, men, and young family farmers at local, national, regional, and international levels. These organizations, when strengthened and made accountable to their members, will be effective and efficient agent of social, political, cultural, and economic change for development in their communities and societies. Farmers’ organizations and especially agri-fishery-forestry cooperatives (1) consolidate the voices, the produce, and the material and non-material wealth (such as knowledge) of their members, (2) promote democratic, just, inclusive, and participatory processes and systems, and (3) promote self-reliance and a collective shaping of their members/communities’ destinies. As a result, investments in empowering farmers’ organizations are investments in getting committed, dynamic, active partners, unleashing the potentials of millions of family farmers in the work of ending poverty and hunger in the world.

Our Nature

We are an Asian alliance of national farmers organizations composed of small scale women and men family farmers, fishers, indigenous peoples, forest users, herders, and pastoralists.

We were established in 2002 after a series of farmers’ exchange visits organized by AsiaDHRRA,  a partner Asian regional NGO.  In these exchange visits, conducted over three years, we saw the great need to come together to share, learn and act on our common desire for a better quality of life for ourselves, our families, and our farming communities.

AFA invites national farmer organizations as members. We work with other CSOs in facilitating the formation of national farmer organizations and cooperatives and in continuously building their capacities.

AFA convenes a General Assembly every two years, an Executive Committee meeting every year, and an online Management Committee meeting every month.

Our Vision

Just, free, peaceful, healthy, economically viable, sustainable and resilient family farming communities in Asia

Our Mission

To build solidarity, raise our collective voice, and empower our members as key drivers and actors  for sustainable rural development

Our Goal

To strengthen the capacities of the leaders and technical staff of national farmer organizations, leading to the eradication of poverty and hunger, increased resilience, and sense of well-being of family farmers in Asia

Our Priority Agenda  and Basis of Unity

1. Promote secure tenurial rights of small scale women and men family farmers over natural resources: lands, waters, forests, seeds

2. Produce diverse and nutritious food through sustainable, integrated, diversified, resilient, organic, agroecological  family farming systems and practices in farms and forested landscapes

3. Build and strengthen family farmers’ cooperatives and  their enterprises  that will give farmers stronger involvement in value chains and increase their market power

4. Promote fair treatment and ensure equitable rights and opportunities among women and men farmers

5. Promote agriculture towards the young and build their interests and capacities towards sustainable and resilient farming and related enterprises

AFA  promotes the five priority agenda through programs and projects that are coordinated at regional/international levels and implemented at national levels.  AFA links, networks, coordinates, and partner with like-minded institutions that help push forward our five priority agenda.

Our Key Program Interventions

Our thematic programs have the following cross-cutting  strategic interventions, matching AFA’s role  as a regional FO:

1. Policy Advocacy – As an influential advocate, AFA brings the voices of small scale family farmers in Asia to strategic national, regional, and international policy-making processes.  We make efforts to influence policymakers so that they will make laws, policies, programs, and investments that will benefit and improve the living conditions of small scale family farmers.
2. Capacity Building – As an effective capacity builder, AFA  strengthens capacities of the leaders and technical staff of farmers’ organizations so that they can efficiently manage their organizations and cooperatives, as well as their enterprises and businesses.
3. Knowledge Management – As a learning organization and a knowledge and learning hub for farmers and policymakers, AFA captures, shares and institutionalize knowledge and lessons learned by member and partner farmer organizations in promoting its priority agenda.  We do this through the facilitation of effective farmer-to-farmer exchanges workshops and learners’ circles, awarding of farmer and FO innovators, production of learning materials around our priority agenda, promotion of members’ products, and social media reporting.
4. Sustainability  – As a business development service provider, AFA  works so that we continue to be a large, diverse, strong, dynamic, trustworthy, and inclusive regional farmer organization, and that our organizational systems and processes are transparent, democratic, effective, efficient and sustainable. We endeavor to increase internally generated resources through our thematic interventions on Sustainable Agriculture and Cooperative Development.

Contact

Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA)

Location:
61-A Chico Street, Quirino 2-A, Quezon City, Philippines

Telephone:
(632) 8641 2067
(632) 7148 3052

E-mail:
afa@asianfarmers.org

Website:
www.asianfarmers.org

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