Deep Roots

[

] 36

The integration of trees into annual food crop systems has

been adopted by tens of thousands of farmers in Malawi,

Zambia, Burkina Faso and Niger, leading to increases in

household and national food security. These farmer-driven

approaches are transforming lives and local economies.

A number of governments, such as those of Brazil,

Viet Nam, Cuba and France, support farmers to practice

agroecological farming at national or international level.

In Brazil, for example, agroecology has been adopted

into the national research agenda, and the findings are

being adapted to local farm use through farmer-to-farmer

networks and supported by the Government’s national

anti-hunger programme, Fome Zero (Zero Hunger).

At the international level, the Committee on World Food

Security has endorsed the Global Strategic Framework for

Food Security and Nutrition (GSF), which acknowledges

that agroecological practices are important in improv-

ing agricultural sustainability as well as the incomes of

food producers and their resilience in the face of climate

change.

Harnessing the private sector

Growing more food in more sustainable ways won’t

improve livelihoods unless farmers get a fair return for

their labour and investments. Assisting small farmers to

access markets is an essential step to increasing their pros-

perity. Factors such as poor logistics and large up-front

investments to meet quality standards mean that inter-

national markets are likely to be less important for most

family farmers. However, local and regional markets may

offer farmers more opportunities to sell their produce.

In fact, small-scale producers are the largest investors in

agriculture in many developing countries – although this

is poorly recognized and incentives are often set against

encouraging investment from farmers themselves.

Local and regional markets for food staples, livestock

and horticulture are all growing across the develop-

ing world. In Africa, the value of domestic and regional

markets for food staples alone is worth more than US$50

billion annually. This is considerably more than the value

of total international agricultural exports, and will grow

along with Africa‘s population and economy.

Small-scale

producers could be well positioned to compete in these

markets, provided that investments are targeted at helping

them to join cooperatives and associations, share risks and

costs, and negotiate and bargain collectively. Furthermore,

investing in processing can enable smallholders to choose

to target sectors where women are strongly involved,

providing additional opportunities for income and busi-

ness development for women. Some of these technologies

can also reduce women’s time and energy expenditure,

enabling them to invest in income-generating activities,

childcare or rest.

Putting in place policies for family farmers

The private sector has a crucial role to play, but it is policy

and legal structures that will eventually determine whether

family farmers will benefit from agricultural investments.

Governments ultimately share the responsibility of ensur-

ing that family farming is recognized in the agriculture and

food system. Policymakers across different institutions have

a critical challenge in this endeavour: to develop policy that

both supports small-scale producers and tips the balance of

private investment towards inclusive and sustainable models.

Without these, or in cases where policy priorities are skewed,

incentives may drive demand for large-scale land acquisitions

and lead to conflict, with negative impacts for both small-scale

producers and investors.

So what are the implications of ensuring that this year

in fact changes the lives of farmers? Broadly speaking, the

following areas need to be tackled:

• put gender equity front and centre

• build political leadership and invest intelligently

• build collaboration with farmers.

Poverty and marginalization are ultimately about a denial

of rights. Therefore, addressing them requires changing

cultural and social norms, and legal frameworks. There

needs to be a real commitment to empowering women and

addressing gender discrimination so that women farmers

have equal access to the necessary inputs to thrive. Doing

so will unleash massive untapped potential for more

productive and resilient farming systems.

Currently there are thousands of islands of success in

agroecological practices. These experiences need to be

integrated into comprehensive national agriculture strat-

egies and associated budgets to ensure implementation.

Also, it is necessary to invest in strengthening local insti-

tutions and farmers’ organizations so that they can act as

brokers, facilitating access to resources and information.

Investments need to be made in risk management tools,

including social safety nets, as a component of adaptive

strategies that can support smallholders to innovate and

adopt new practices.

Transforming the situation of the family farmer will

require marrying bottom-up approaches with top-down

actions. Farmers are a primary source of knowledge about

what will work in their local ecosystems. Research and agri-

cultural extension systems need to work more with farmers

rather than seeing them as recipients of technologies and

interventions. These activities need to take place at a scale

to avoid marginalizing communities, and they need to be

adapted so that information and knowledge is appropriate

to the targets. Women may have different extension needs

than men, for example.

The urgent task of reducing global hunger requires

us to take bold steps. All governments have recognized

the GSF. Now they should, with the support of donors

and international organizations, turn this commitment

into practice and systemically scale up agroecological

approaches. Support for family farming will require institu-

tional support, experimentation and innovation at all levels

from local to global. Both the success and the legitimacy

of these efforts will depend in large part on governments,

donors, multilateral organizations, the private sector and

civil society organizations. Family farmers are at the centre

of efforts to build local food production, expand domestic

markets and fight hunger. We cannot let them down.

eep

oots