This declaration is originally published by WRF

In the framework of the crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, we, Family Farmers’ Organizations and other CSOs committed for decades in the different regions of the world to strengthening and promoting Family Farming and Sustainable Food Systems would like to make this urgent appeal to governments, United Nations agencies, and institutions, international and bilateral cooperation institutions and other stakeholders.

We acknowledge the enormous impact of this unprecedented pandemic in the life of every family, every person in the world and we would like to express our solidarity with the millions of people and other sectors different from agriculture suffering from its terrible effects.

Family farmers – including peasants, indigenous communities, fisherfolk, and pastoralists –are among the most vulnerable people and are particularly exposed to the effects of pandemics. Indeed the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated some of the problems that affected family
farming. The health, economic and social crisis generated by Covid-19 has led to other serious problems for family farmers in terms of access to production inputs (shortages and price increases), product conservation (lack of refrigeration and storage systems), access to markets (restrictions on movements, closure of markets and other marketing channels such as public procurement programmes) and reduced internal capitalization (default in repayments, lost revenues), among others. These impacts represent a very serious threat to local food systems and are a tangible reminder of the urgent need to strengthen family farming systems so that they are resilient to any type of crisis.

Nevertheless, we have seen family farmers and their organizations and cooperatives on the front line since the beginning of the crisis, developing alternative solutions to maintain and/or strengthen their production and processing, bringing their fresh products closer and directly both to rural and urban local markets and developing its sustainable natural resource management functions.

Considering the unique link between healthy and quality food and family farming and the capacity of resilience and innovation shown by family farmers during crisis, the plans and interventions to address the current emergency should necessary involve the strengthening of local food systems based on family farming and should guarantee social protections for family farmers and their organizations.

In this context, as family farming organizations and other civil society organizations, we:

Recognize that the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF) 2019–2028 is a concrete and consensus instrument of great importance for defining comprehensive policies in support of family farming and offers a framework of collaboration facilitating the implementation of these policies.

Urge governments, agencies and institutions of the United Nations, international and bilateral cooperation institutions, the International Steering Committee of the UNDFF, its Joint Secretariat and other interested parties to:

1. Involve family farmers, their organizations and National Committees of Family Farming in the definition and implementation of strategies, policies, and programs developed to prevent and fight against the pandemic and beyond, ensuring that the different actions take into consideration the targets aim at achieving the Global Action Plan of the UN Decade of Family Farming and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
2. Offer their strong, decisive and highest-level support to family farmers, cooperatives and organizations that represent them, so that it is the family farmers themselves who can respond to the crisis generated by Covid-19, by producing healthy and quality food, making it available to consumers in local markets and ensuring dignified revenue for the family farmers themselves. In this regard, both policies and programs focused on immediate response and in building resilience particularly for women, young people and vulnerable communities will be crucial.
3. Allocate the necessary resources, including financial resources, to accelerate the progress and scale up the implementation of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF) 2019–2028 at the international, regional, and national levels to contribute towards the economic, social and environmental sustainability of family farming. It is necessary to support and strength the spaces of dialogue, -including National Committees of Family Farming- and mobilize the different stakeholders – including governments, family farmers’ organizations and FAO and IFAD national and regional offices- towards the development of specific national and regional Action Plans of the UN Decade of Family Farming.
4. Maintain and reinforce the continuous dialogue with Family Farmers’ Organizations, National Committees for Family Farming, and other platforms for policy dialogue, defining and implementing policies and plans, including the UNDFF National Action Plans. These Plans should include short-, medium- and long-term measures and actions that improve resilience, sustainability, and inclusiveness and underpin the viability of family farming. This will be the best way to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on food systems and rural livelihoods and to prevent further major disruptions from potential future crises.

Finally, we wish to highlight the enormous opportunity that the response to the current crisis offers to renew agriculture and food policies, to put in place the means and resources to ensure the sustainability and resilience of our food systems, promoting transformation towards more sustainable approaches in farms, fishers, forest, and pastoralism. We reiterate our commitment with participatory and inclusive policy dialogue at all levels – local, national, regional, continental, and international- and our best disposal to tackle together the present and future challenges.

Read More: WCC Declaration_COVID-19 and Family Farming

Published by: WRF, 30 June 2020, https://www.familyfarmingcampaign.org/en/organizaciones-agrarias-y-de-la-sociedad-civil-de-todos-los-continentes-urgen-acelerar-la-implementacion-del-decenio-de-la-agricultura-familiar/