A Learning Framework For Inclusive Integrated And Innovative Public Policy Cycles For Family Farming

Public policies for family farming – when done appropriately – provide a perfect match between different policy areas related to productive, economic, social, environmental and cultural dimensions of sustainable food systems. The Learning framework for inclusive, integrated and innovative public policy cycles for family farming was developed under the framework of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019–2028) to support policymakers, family farmers’ organizations and other relevant stakeholders to increase their understanding of public policy cycles and family farming related policies. This technical and methodological capacity development programme is adaptable to local, national or regional priorities. It offers a holistic perspective to building knowledge and capacity of the various actors involved in the design, implementation and review of effective and coherent policies and programmes. This learning framework responds to the needs of multiple actors, expressed during the UNDFF pre-consultation process, to identify ways to create truly effective and efficient policy frameworks for family farming, and to better engage and participate during policy processes. To provide an appropriate answer to these needs the learning framework was designed through a participatory process building on the experience of governments and family farmers’ organizations, researchers and UN staff, gathering inputs from all relevant actors around the world.

The Regional Action Plan for strengthening family farming in South Asia has been elaborated through a participatory and multi-stakeholder approach in the framework of the UN Decade of Family Farming and in close collaboration with SAARC Agriculture Center, the Asia Farmer Association for Sustainable Rural Development and the International Cooperative Alliance – Asia Pacific. Consultations with farmers’ organizations, cooperatives and other relevant stakeholders at country level first helped identifying and prioritizing key interventions for the region along the seven pillars of the Global Action Plan. These initial inputs then contributed to the overall drafting of the contextualized pillars led by recognized experts from the region. The draft pillars were presented during a first regional virtual consultation on UN Decade of Family Farming: Formulating Strategies and Action Plan to Strengthen Smallholder Family Farmers in South Asia held on the 5–6 November 2020. A follow up regional consultation meeting on review and finalization of the Regional Action Plan for strengthening family farming in South Asia was then organized on 29 July 2021. The objective was to present, discuss and validate the draft Regional Action Plan for strengthening family farming in South Asia. This Regional Action Plan aims at facilitating and accelerating the process of developing national action plans through inclusive multi-stakeholder processes, not only putting family farmers at the centre but recognizing them as critical partners.

This book is an output of a regional experts’ consultation meeting on “UN Decade of Family Farming: Formulating Strategies and Action Plan to Strengthen Smallholder Family Farmers in South Asia”, 5-6 November 2020 organized by SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC), Bangladesh in collaboration with Asian Farmers’ Association (AFA), Philippines, and the International Cooperative Alliance Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP), India, and the technical assistance of the Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO RAP) Thailand. This book is the concrete result of active engagement and participations of SAARC Member States’ National Focal Point Experts, invited UNDFF experts, authors, and participants. This book focuses on- family farming’s constraints, challenges, opportunities, and government policies to contribute on attaining the targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at country and South Asia regional levels.

The Global Action Plan of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019–2028 (UNDFF) recognizes the need to promote rural communication services (RCS) to advance sustainable food systems. RCS comprise demand-led communication processes, media applications and institutional arrangements to respond to the needs of family farmers and rural populations in a sustained and inclusive manner. This report presents a comprehensive summary of the virtual UNDFF Forum on Inclusive Rural Communication Services for Family Farming, which took place on 11 July 2022. Organized by FAO’s Communication for Development (ComDev) team, in collaboration with specialized communication entities, the forum marked the global culmination of an extensive consultative process. The report captures the key outcomes, insights, and strategic recommendations from these global and regional processes, offering guidance for promoting and advancing RCS for family farmers.

This book aims at explaining the nature and strength of the links between the families and their farms looking at their diversity throughout the world. To do so, it documents family farming diversity by using the sustainable rural livelihood (SRL) framework exploring their ability to adapt and transform to changing environments. In 18 case studies in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, it shows how family farms resist under adverse conditions, seize new opportunities and permanently transform. Family farms, far from being backwards are potential solutions to face the current challenges and shape a new future for agriculture taking advantage of their local knowledge and capacity to cope with external constraints. Many co-authors of the book have both an empirical and theoretical experience of family farming in developed and developing countries and their related institutions. They specify «what makes and means family» in family farming and the diversity of their expertise draws a wide and original picture of this resilient way of farming throughout the world.

This first International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers called for inclusive research and education systems to facilitate innovation; robust bridging institutions; support to family farmers; and integrated policies and increased investments to create an enabling environment for innovation and scaling up. Innovation is the process whereby individuals or organizations bring new or existing products, processes or ways of organization into use for the first time in a specific context. Innovation in agriculture cuts across all dimensions of the production cycle along the entire value chain - from crop, forestry, fishery or livestock production to the management of inputs and resources to market access. The symposium provided inspiration for innovation actors and decision makers to unlock the potential of innovation to drive socio-economic growth, ensure food and nutrition security, alleviate poverty, improve resilience to changing environments and thereby achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

This report provides an overview of a study conducted in the NENA region in 2015-2016 in partnership with FAO, CIRAD, CIHEAM-IAMM and six national teams, each of which prepared a national report. In the six countries under review in the NENA region (Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan and Tunisia), agriculture is carried out primarily by small-scale family farmers, the majority of whom run the risk of falling into the poverty trap, largely due to the continuous fragmentation of inherited landholdings. As such, the development of small-scale family farming can no longer be based solely on intensifying agriculture, as the farmers are not able to produce sufficient marketable surplus due to the limited size of their landholdings. An approach based strictly on agricultural activity is also insufficient (as small-scale family farms have already diversified their livelihoods with off-farm activities). In fact, developing small-scale farming cannot be achieved by focusing strictly on t he dimension of production.