Farmers News - Communication for Development In Support of Family Farming

The XIII United Nations Inter-agency Round Table on Communication for Development is currently taking place at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy (16-18 September 2014) under the title: “Mainstreaming Communication for Development in Policies and Programmes. Enabling social inclusion to support food and nutrition security, resilient livelihoods and family farming”.

The Round Table (RT) will specifically focus on how Communication for Development can improve the quality of policy processes in food and nutrition security, family farming and resilient rural livelihoods through wider access to information, greater citizen – government interaction, public and private sector partnerships, and knowledge sharing.

The RT will be attended by approximately 60 people consisting of Communication for Development specialists from UN Agencies, NGOs and selected donors, plus a number of invited participants from member countries, projects and civil society organizations. 

FAMILY FARMING PERSPECTIVE

In light of the 2014 International Year of Family Farming, the RT themes will also be addressed from a family farming perspective.

Family farming is much more than an agricultural economy model: it is the basis of sustainable food production and the management of the environment as well as its biodiversity. Family farming issues are broad: they range from the challenges of food security and environmental management to the socio-cultural heritage of rural communities. Contributions and discussion points on ComDev policies in support of family farming include:

• Women’s role and contribution to family farming.
• Education and training of young farmers and women.
• Migration or inheritance of the family farm - awareness raising actions to make agriculture attractive, profitable and a credible career to the youth.
• Policy implications for family farming - access to land, market information and financial resources.