Xinhua, United Nations :
The United Nations said Thursday that the world’s family farmers can play a crucial role in ending hunger in the world, where more than 800 million people still lack access to healthy, nutritious food, and their strong participation can help “turn the tide” in shaping a new agenda for a sustainable future.
“Family farmers are key to unlocking global progress,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday in his message marking the annual observance of World Food Day.
“They run the vast majority of farms in the world. They preserve natural resources and agro-biodiversity,” Ban said, adding they are the “cornerstone of inclusive and sustainable agriculture and food systems”.
The theme of the 2014 World Food Day, which is celebrated on Oct. 16 annually in honor of the date of the founding of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1945, is Family Farming: Feeding the world, caring for the Earth, and has the stated goal of drawing attention to the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers in an effort to help eradicate poverty and help safeguard the environment.
This year’s World Day also coincides with the International Year of Family Farming, designated by the UN General Assembly in 2012, through a resolution that recognized the important contribution that family farming and smallholder farming can play “in providing food security and eradicating poverty in the attainment of the internationally agreed development goals,” including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
MDGs are a set of eight anti-poverty targets to be reached by 2015.
Amid continuing global efforts targeting the goal of “zero hunger,” the secretary-general said in his message that there are 100 million fewer hungry people today than there were 10 years ago and 63 countries have managed to halve the portion of their population suffering from undernourishment.
Moreover, Ban pointed to the recent Climate Summit held at UN headquarters in New York ahead of the UN General Debate in September, during which more than a hundred organizations and governments pledged to work more closely with farmers, fishers and livestock keepers to improve food security while also focusing on addressing climate change.
Nonetheless, Ban said much work remained to be done.
“More than 800 million people do not have enough healthy, nutritious food to lead active lives. One in three young children is malnourished,” he warned, adding that in 2015, the international community finally had an opportunity to “turn the tide by achieving the Millennium Development Goals” and achieving a new agenda for sustainable development.
“A world free from poverty and hunger where all people have realized their right to adequate food is central to the future we want,” he said.
Hilal Elver, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, said protecting the rights of family farmers was “paramount to the eradication of hunger and ensuring food security.”
“With over 70 percent of the world’s food production reliant on family farmers, this type of farming represents the vast majority of agriculture worldwide, both in developed and developing countries,” Elver said.
“Family farming is based on tradition, and forms the social fabric of many societies playing a key role in protecting the world’s biodiversity and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources,” he said.
The UN expert also underlined the crucial role played by women in agricultural development, noting that some 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries is female.
Elver insisted that “every effort” be made by member states to ensure that women in agriculture are afforded “the same rights and access to necessary resources as their male counterparts.”
The majority of rural women depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. They produce, process and prepare many of society’s meals, frequently taking primary responsibility for household food security, health status and education opportunities. As a result, a number of UN initiatives are geared towards enhancing their ability to work on farms and fisheries in a way that guarantees parity.
In Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, for instance, UN Women helped educate scores of women farmers about how to advanced irrigation systems while in Zimbabwe, the agency helped women from the Tonga ethnic group break into the male- dominated fishing industry. Instead of selling fish purchased from men’s boats, they now market their own catch, said UN officials.
