The United Nations (UN) Goodwill Ambassador of the International Year of
Family Farming and World Farmers Organisation (WFO) Member, Mr Gerd Sonnleitner,
has declared that strengthening family farming is the answer to global
challenges in agriculture, reports NaijaAgroNet.
He made this known to NaijaAgroNet
at the occasion of the 14th Asian Farmers’ Group for Cooperation
(AFGC), saying that as a family farmer himself, “It is a sustainable, flexible
and resilient model, especially with regards to achieving food security.”
Sonnleitner said he could understand from his own experience the role
family farmers play - not only for the development of domestic markets but also
with regards to international trade.
“They need to be adequately supported, as the economic risk and the
responsibility lie in their hands – especially through the development of
policies which favour them,” he said.
The 2-day-event which ended at Saturday, March 1, 2014 was hosted by the
Cooperative League of Thailand (CLT) in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
NaijaAgroNet gathered that
it is co-organised by the Japanese farmers’ organization JA Zenchu which
provides the permanent secretariat of the AFGC, offering opportunity to
exchange information and experiences and to promote cooperation amongst the
participating member organizations.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that
AFGC is a platform for farmers organizations was established in 1999 in Tokyo.
Members are national farmer and cooperative organizations from nine countries
in the Asian monsoon region (India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam). Small-scale family farming is
the main model in agriculture in these countries.
Isaac Oyimah/SA/GEE
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