Quezon City, Philippines – Following the success of last year’s national celebration of International Year of Family Farming Knowledge Learning Market and Policy Engagement (IYFF KLMPE), the national Technical Working Group on IYFF—composed of the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the International Fund for Agriculture and Organization (IFAD),  AsiaDHRRA, PhilDHRRA, AFA, PAKISAMA, ANGOC, and, AgriCord Philippines Synergy—continued the collaborative effort through the 2015 KLM-PE with the theme: “IYFF+1 Partnership for food security, nutrition and climate resiliency: increasing farmers market power.” It was held on 25-26 November 2015 at DA-BSWM Convention Center, Quezon City.

The 2015 IYFF+1 KLM-PE aimed at a) generating progress updates, reviewing current challenges and opportunities on 2014 IYFF declaration and commitments; b) drawing lessons from current models/innovations on climate-resilient agriculture, institutional purchase and farmers’ market, and agri-cooperatives; and, c) agreeing on action points for 2016 that would advance capacity building and effective participation of family farmers in policy making and program implementation, monitoring and evaluation of current government programs that build family farmers’ cooperatives, increase their market power and capacity to mitigate climate change. It also signalled the decade celebration of IYFF, dubbed as IYFF+10.
It was participated by at least 250 participants from government agencies, civil society organizations (CSOs) and farmers’ organizations (FOs). AsiaDHRRA mobilized participation of the Region 8 FO Alliance composed of FOs being supported through its Post-Yolanda Fund Local Initiatives, and, of FO-partners of PhilDHRRA.
The gathering commenced with the opening of interactive learning exhibits and sessions that showcase public and private programs and knowledge products related to family farming. During the opening programs, Dr. Liza Lim, PhilDHRRA’s Board Member, gave a remarks on behalf of the civil society organizations (CSOs). She encouraged the participants to take a unified action in addressing challenges especially on climate change, confronting family farmers.

Ms. Marlene Ramirez, AsiaDHRRA’s Secretary General, presented the progresses made and challenges faced by CSOs in taking actions related to 2014 IYFF declaration. Undersecretary Rosalinda Bistoyong of the DAR and Mr. Soc Banzuela of PAKISAMA also did the same on behalf of the government and the famrers’ organizations (FOs), respectively.

The 2015 IYFF+1 KLM-PE also served as venue for introducing good practices on a) sustainable agriculture and climate resiliency, b) enlarging farmers’ market power, and, c) agri-cooperatives. AsiaDHRRA anchored the workshop on sustainable agriculture and climate resiliency wherein the participants agreed that there is a need to:

• promote integrated and diversified farming systems to combat climate related disaster risks based on the experiences of AsiaDHRRA’s partner-FOs in Yolanda affected areas;
• provide family farmers a better access to appropriate sustainable agriculture technologies such as those introduced by SIBAT—an NGO promoting organic agricultural practices;
• preserve and promote indigenous knowledge and practices in protecting and managing natural resources such as in the case of Second Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project (CHARMP2) of the DA with support from IFAD; and,
• organize family farmers to help them in constructively engaging with the government and in accessing public programs.

Recommendations from the three workshops were consolidated into 2015 Philippines IYFF+1 Action Agenda.
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Highlights of the workshop on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Resiliency may be read on this link.