The Decade of Family Farming

Opening remarks
Dominican Republic, August 25 2019

It is my honour, on behalf of FAO Director General, Dr. Qu Dongyu, to greet all

the participants in this important meeting.

In particular, I want to thank the people and the government of the Dominican
Republic for inviting us to this Launch of the Decade of Family Farming in Latin
America and Caribbean. I would especially like to acknowledge the efforts of
President Danilo Medina and the Minister of Agriculture, Osmar Benítez, who,
several months ago, set themselves the task of bringing us together in this
beautiful corner of our Latin American and Caribbean homeland to start the
implementation of this Decade.

I would also like to thank, on behalf of FAO, the people and government of
Costa Rica, without whose leadership we would not have the Decade of Family
Farming.

Without prosperous and inclusive rural territories, there will be no sustainable

development, and without a renewed and healthy family farming sector, which
occupies its proper place in our societies, there will be no prosperous and
inclusive rural territories.

Family farming is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Without it, we cannot eradicate extreme poverty and achieve SDG 1, let alone

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be able to reach the SDG 2 goal of Zero Hunger, or provide Latin Americans
and Caribbean with the healthy food we need to curb and reverse the epidemic
of overweight and obesity and other forms of malnutrition.

Family farming is irreplaceable if we really want agriculture and food systems

to be more sustainable, and if we aspire to making food production much more
compatible with the conservation of terrestrial and marine biodiversity,
because we must not forget that the concept of family farming includes
artisanal fishermen and small-scale fish farmers. If we want to save the forests,
and stop the fires in the Amazon, then we must strengthen the rights and
capacities of the indigenous communities that inhabit this important biome of
the planet in each of the countries of the Amazon basin. SDGs 14 and 15
simply cannot be achieved without family farming.

We live in an era of enormous instabilities and uncertainties, where climate

change has disrupted the natural cycles we thought were unchangeable. What
we call family farming today has more than 12,000 years of history — family
farmers are the greatest experts on this planet in adaptation and resilience,
and from generation to generation they have passed on their knowledge and
wisdom, from which we can learn guiding principles for the climate transition
that faces our farmers.

We are talking about 16.5 million agricultural, livestock and forestry producers,
to which we must not forget to add 2.3 million artisanal fishermen. These
producers represent 68 million people, a little more than one in 10 inhabitants
of Latin America and the Caribbean, and 80% of all agricultural producers in
the region, controlling a total 400 million hectares.

They are an important part of our societies, they have in their hands many of
the keys to our common future, and yet they have not received the recognition

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they deserve. This is the reality that we are going to change with the Decade
of Family Farming.

FAO is proud to have contributed to helping position Family Farming as a

strategic priority. We have supported this process in different ways:

o FAO has made a concerted effort to put family farming at the

center of each of our five strategic objectives.
o We have encouraged family farmers to contribute to the
Organization with their experience, knowledge and technical
capacity.
o In Latin America and the Caribbean, we have worked together with
member countries to improve their legal and regulatory
frameworks, as well as their public support services for family
farming.
o Also, throughout the 33 countries in our region, we maintain a
strong and, for us, vital partnership, with hundreds of local,
territorial and national family farming organizations, as well as with
regional organizations and alliances related to this sector.
o We were a central actor in the coordination of the International
Year of Family Farming in 2014.
o Today, we are proud to be, together with IFAD, the Technical
Secretariat for the Decade of Family Farming.

What goals do we want to achieve in this Decade of Family Farming?

The global plan of action for the Decade of Family Farming includes a roadmap
with clear objectives. By the end of the decade, in 2028, we hope to have
achieved the following:

1. A much more conducive public policy environment for family farming,

particularly for young people and for women who are part of the
sector;
2. Much stronger family farmers’ organizations, with greater reach,
providing better services to their members;
3. A broad and robust social recognition of the cultural heritage and
environmental services that family farming brings to our societies;

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 4. And, as a result of all the above, a family farming sector that enjoys
social and economic inclusion, and which is profitable, sustainable and
resilient.

We must be clear. None of the above will be achieved by doing more of the
same. Family farming has an enormous challenge ahead, an obligation, to
transform itself, to renew itself, to innovate. The Decade of Family Farming
must be a decade of innovation. And this means there is an important role for
our governments and leaders, many of whom are here at this meeting. Dear
friends and colleagues: the Decade of Family Farming must be a decade of
change.

FAO has made itself available to the governments of our region and family
farming organizations so that, in ten years, when we meet to take stock of the
Decade, we can be proud of the concrete results achieved.

Thank you very much.