By Nyima Drammeh
Stakeholders from within the agricultural value chain on Wednesday concluded a two-day workshop were they reviewed and validated a ten-year action plan on family farming for The Gambia.
The validation of the National Action Plan for the United Nations Decade of Family Farming, 2019- 2028, was held at Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi from the 15 to 16 October, 2019. It was jointly spearheaded by the NCC-IYFF and the World Rural Forum, and bankrolled by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Banjul office.
A research by Mansa Banko Online reveals that family farming is the most common operational farming model in developed countries. Family farming is aimed at eradicating hunger and ensures food security by improving the engagements of families in agriculture, fisheries, forestry and pastoralism.
The UN Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 is a programme that sheds light on the meaning of family farming in a rapidly changing world.
It is in this regard that The Gambia, as an agrarian country, joined the rest of the world in developing a ten-year action plan on family farming.
Mrs. Haddy Lamin Njie, representative of FAO at the officially opening ceremony, said the rising number of undernourished people among the world’s poorest countries have resulted to increasing pressure to provide food for a changing environment and growing population.
Family farming has been gaining prominence since 2014 as an effective strategy for food self-sufficiency, she said.
Mr. Musa Humma, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, noted that with the support FAO Banjul office and other development partners, issues related to family farming would be solved in The Gambia.
He further noted that the government was on the verge of establishing a national committee of family farming.
Mr. Humma assured that the validated ten-year action plan would be implemented as expected.
About the United Nations Decade of Family Farming
In December, 2017, Resolution A/RES/72/239 (https://undocs.org/A/RES/72/239 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2019-2028 the United Nations Decade of Family Farming.
Under the Resolution, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is to lead the implementation of the Decade in collaboration with other relevant organisations of the United Nations System. The Resolution also invites governments and other relevant stakeholders, including international and regional organisations, civil society, the private sector and academia, to actively support the implementation of the Decade.
Family and farm represent a unity that continuously co-evolves, fulfilling economic, environmental, social and cultural functions of the wider rural economy and within territorial networks in which they are embedded.
Family farmers run diversified agricultural systems and preserve traditional food products, contributing to both a balanced diet and the protection of the world’s agro-biodiversity. Safeguarding local cultures, they spend their incomes mostly within local and regional markets, thus generating many agricultural and non-agricultural jobs. Family farmers, thus, hold a unique potential to improve the sustainability of agriculture and food systems, for which an enabling policy environment supports them in this path is an imperative.
Building on the success of the International Year of Family Farming of 2014 and on the improved knowledge about the multiple contribution of family farmers to sustainable rural life – family farming produces over 80 per cent of world’s food, and at the same time improves environmental sustainability of agriculture, preserves and restores biodiversity and ecosystems, traditional and nutritious food, thus contributes to a balanced diet and to the maintenance of cultural heritage in rural areas.
The United Nations Decade of Family Farming aims at focusing the efforts of the international community to work collectively on the design and implementation of comprehensive economic, environmental and social policies in order to create a conductive environment and strengthen the position of family farming.
The systematic work on cross-cutting and multi-dimensional issues which are of concern to family farmers will, in turn, automatically improve national results in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while positioning family farmers as key agents of change in transforming food systems.
The global launch of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming took place at FAO headquarters in Rome on 29 May 2019. I was co-organized by FAO and IFAD as the Joint Secretariat of the UN Decade.
The launching was preceded, on 27th and 28th May 2019, by farmers’ knowledge exchange sessions and regional dialogues on priorities for the implementation of the Decade. The session was open to the participation of representatives of the relevant stakeholders (governments, civil society organizations, producer’s organizations, academia, and the private sector).
