FAO launches digital one-stop-shop, lauds family farmers

NaijaAgroNet:

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Director-General, Jose Graziano da Silva has reiterated that family farmers are crucial allies in the fight against hunger and rural poverty through feeding the community and taking care of the earth, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Director-General speaking at the launch of a new digital platform that aims to become a "one-stop shop" for information, data and legislation on the sector that produces some 80 per cent of the world's food, NaijaAgroNet gathered, recognized the contributions of family farmers to food security and poverty eradication worldwide.

The new digitized platform would gather information on family farming from all over the world, cutting across public programs, national and regional legislation and academic researches, thus creating an enabling environment for governments to build stronger policies in support of family farmers and farmers’ organisations.

Reiterating this stand, Chief of the Advocacy Unit in FAO's Office for Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development, Francesco Pierri, noted that there was a need to share knowledge on family farming on the different kinds of policies that governments have implemented and the numerous activities of family farmers and their organizations in the field.

“There is a lot of information available on the web, but it's scattered -- we wanted one single access point for all the information out there, for anybody working in this field to use," he said.

The platform NaijaAgroNet learnt, would benefit diverse international entities including governments, family farmers' networks, United Nation agencies, Non Gonvernmental Organisations and research organizations. 

FAO maintained that with governments partnership, through the provision of large portion contents for the platform’s legal database that allows users to browse through a catalogue of family related policies and programmes per country, the UN agency aims at a second phase initiative to also host online policy dialogues after successfully establishing the platform.

Daniel Nsolibe/GEE

 

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Agro stakeholders brainstorm on family farming in Africa

NaijaAgroNet:

Stakeholders in the agricultural sector across the continent are brainstorming on the family farmers ability to feed Africa and change the face of the sector, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Forum, NaijaAgroNet gathered is part of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) framework, coordinated by the five regional farmers’ organisations namely the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), ROPPA (Network of Farmers' and Agricultural Producers' Organisations of West Africa (ROPPA), Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU), Regional Platform of Central African Farmers Organization, (PROPAC), Union Maghrébine et Nord Africaine des Agriculteurs (UMNAGRI) and their continental platform Pan African Farmers’ Organisation (PAFO) together with the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency. 

A press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet by the duo of Benito Eliasi from SACAU and NEPAD’s Mwanja Ng’anjo, stakeholders in the agriculture sector are examining the much bigger role in creating employment to increase disposable income levels and household food security on the continent. 

NaijaAgroNet gathered that participants focus would be on the potential for sustainable economic growth, family farming - Africa’s backbone in agriculture. 

However in order for the women and men at the helm of agriculture to reach their full potential, a coalition of partnerships was required; to bring African agriculture to world class production levels, hence, the partnership with several regional farmers group, between November 10 and 12, 2014 at the Garden Court within the axis of Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. 

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that SACAU is a co-host of the forum that is connected to the United Nations (UN) International Year of Family Farming and the AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security. 

NaijaAgroNet recalls that this is a strong signal that the international community recognizes the important contribution of family farmers to world food security. Noting that in June, African heads of state committed themselves to use agriculture growth to double food productivity, halve poverty and eliminate child under nutrition by 2025 when they came up with the Malabo Declaration following a meeting in Equatorial Guinea.

The role of family farmers on the continent, NaijaAgroNet learnt will be critical in achieving these goals. While the forum would be attended by farmers and representatives of their organisations, high-level government representatives, private sector stakeholders and international role-players and is also open to representatives who work in, with or for African agriculture.

NaijaAgroNet the four thematic areas to be looked into by the different regional farmers’ organisation for the 2014 CAADP Africa Forum including “Climate Change and climate -smart agriculture (SACAU);  Farmers’ Organisations and marketing and trade (EAFF); Mechanisation and family farming (ROPPA); and Family farming and finance (PROPAC). 

+Remmy Nweke  +Naija AgroNet +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +NEPAD/APDEV African Platform for Development Effectiveness +NEPAD Agency +Nepadaprmnigeria @Mwanja Nga'njo

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