The International Year of Family Farming
In 2014 agricultural co-operatives from across the world are supporting the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF). Throughout the year the International Co-operative Agricultural Organisation (ICAO), the sectoral body of the International Co-operative Alliance, has launched a number of initiatives in support of the IYFF.
In September ICAO collaborated with the Food and Agricultural Organization to co-host a conference on the theme of IYFF. The conference was preceded by ICAO’s general meeting, which was held in conjunction with the regional assembly of the International Co-operative Alliance for the Asia-Pacific region. The conference was attended, among others, by international organisations working in agriculture and rural development and ICAO/ICA members seeking to support and promote their home countries’ family farmers and smallholders.
From the centuries-old subak in Bali to a novel “land trusteeship” initiative in China, the conference discussed the ways co-operative systems have supported and continue to support the world’s family farmers and smallholders. It highlighted challenges, some new, others familiar, facing co-operatives and their members: regulatory reform in Japan, international politics in Poland, a lack of youth in agriculture in Uganda. And, through the peer-to-peer/farmer-to-farmer work of AgriCord and the technology and education initiatives of the FAO, it offered some solutions to the problems endemic in agriculture and rural development. All conference presentations may be found on the ICAO website, at www.icao.coop
Mr. Hiroyuki Konuma, assistant director general of FAO Regional Representative of Asia & the Pacific sent his message for the FAO-ICAO Joint Conference on IYFF. He said that FAO, in collaboration with partners such as ICAO, was facilitating the implementation of the year with the objectives such as: support the development of agricultural, environmental and social policies conducive to sustainable family farming; attain better understanding of family farming needs; potential and constraints and ensure technical support; Increase knowledge, communication and public awareness; and create synergies for sustainability. He emphasised that there is an urgent need to examine family farming in the region in an inclusive way to understand the situation of marginalised small-scale family farmers and the context of power relations, structures and equity with the family farms and specific to each country. Mr Konuma’s full remarks are available www.icao.coop.
Two members of ICAO’s executive committee have also attended the FAO committee meetings. One of those, Rev. Fr. George Angala of the Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA), also participated in a side-event organised by COPAC, a committee made up of the cooperative movement and the United Nations and its agencies.
Rev. Fr. Angala talked about how to provide integrated services to co-operatives and producer organisations. In Uganda the co-operative business model has been used as a strategy for sustainable development. This, he said, has helped avoid the chronic problem of crop finance, contribute to provision of financial services to members and link family farmers to service providers.
FAO’s new Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) guidelines
The FAO’s Committee on Food Security has published new guidelines for Responsible Agricultural Investment. The guidelines include references to co-operatives, highlighting that states should provide adequate resources for education, training and capacity development to small enterprises, cooperatives, and producer organisations. This, according to the document, would help foster their ability to engage with other market actors and/or to produce the goods that they need. The guidelines add that civil society organisations – including producer organisations and co-operatives – have a key role to play in advocating application of the Principles for responsible investment within their constituencies and the food insecure and serving as key drivers for accountability. Read the document online.
Photo: Won-Byung CHOI, chairman of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation in Korean and president of ICAO speaking at the joint conference.
