Countries of the Americas presented their public policies to strengthen family farming and discussed how to advance faster and better, in Dialogues convened by the Brazilian government and IICA

San José, 12 September 2023 (IICA) - Strengthening family farming is essential to guarantee regional and global food security, and this can only be achieved with a new generation of public policies that prioritize productive inclusion in competitive and sustainable agri-food systems.
 
Senior national officials, representatives of peasant and indigenous organizations, authorities of international organizations and technical specialists who participated in the Family Farming Dialogues of the Americas agreed on this diagnosis.
 
This multi-stakeholder, high-level debate, in which experiences were exchanged on programs to promote family farming that are being carried out in the hemisphere, took place at the Itamaraty Palace, headquarters of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the country’s capital, Brasilia.
 
Governments of the Americas offered details of their public policies, through which they are investing resources and providing technical capacities to support smallholder farmers, who are essential for  territorial development in their countries.
 
Access to land, easier entry into trade markets, technology transfer, mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, empowerment of women and youth, and financing, are the pillars of the projects that seek to strengthen the weakest link in the agricultural sector.
 
The activity was organized by the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming of Brazil (MDA), together with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
 
Opening remarks were shared by Paulo Teixeira, Minister of Agrarian Development of Brazil; Gisela Padovan, Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil; Miguel Gómez, President of the National Institute of Family, Peasant and Indigenous Agriculture of Argentina; and Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA.
 
The activity began with a minute of silence for the victims of the last military dictatorship in Chile – on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup d'état – during which 400 peasants were murdered or made to disappear.
 
Minister Teixeira explained that there are several programs being developed in Brazil to support and promote family farming. Some of them include the mandatory purchase of food from family farmers for schools, the Armed Forces and other institutions.
 
“One of the pillars of our projects is agroecology, which constitutes the transition towards more sustainable agriculture, and is our ally in the mitigation of climate change,” said Teixeira.
 
“It is impossible to think about family farming without thinking about social participation. It's not just about producing more food, but making it accessible and diverse. Family farming provides a diversity that is tied to our food culture and tradition, which is not covered by large producers,” he added.
 
Ambassador Padovan explained that in Brazil, family farming accounts for 77% of farms, hence its crucial role in the development of Brazil and the region: “Family farming is key to generating employment in the countryside and in small and medium-sized cities. Also, for the fight against hunger and inequality.”
 
“It is time to act together to strengthen family farmers, who produce 80% of the food we consume. There are 60 million people who give life and meaning to our rural areas. And in addition to producing food, they are the guardians of our territories, because they protect biodiversity, which is a priority in global discussions in the face of the climate crisis,” said Otero.
 
The Director General of IICA praised Brazil and other countries in the hemisphere for the programs that are underway. He also warned that smallholder farmers must stop being “the adjustment variable” in each economic crisis. “Our region exports 14% of the world's food and this has to grow together with family farmers, through access to land and new technologies and the promotion of cooperatives,” he added.
 
Promoting productive inclusion
 
The ministerial panel was an opportunity to present and exchange ideas on the public policies of the countries, aimed at the productive inclusion of family farming in sustainable agri-food systems.
 
Limber Quispe, from the Ministry of Rural Development and Lands of Bolivia, explained that there is a national registry of family farming in his country, created in 2013, which offers credits and inputs, and supports the implementation of different programs and projects.
 
Elizabeth Landa, Minister-Director General for the Strengthening of Family Farming of Mexico, said that one of the priorities is to promote associativity. “We do everything,” she pointed out, “with a participatory approach. It is the producers who define their projects. We have a national rural development program that reaches 420 rural territories. More than 100,000 producers have already benefited from the support of 1,267 technical experts.” One of the priorities in Mexico, as the center of origin for corn, is to conserve native corn.
 
In Colombia, an agrarian reform process is being developed that consists of the purchase by the State of lands currently belonging to large landowners who do extensive livestock farming, to put it in the hands of peasants, as part of a comprehensive rural development project. This was explained by Mario Moreno, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
 
“A strong family and peasant agriculture can help us achieve food security for our country. We consider it a central element for development, given that we still have 17.4% of food insecurity and 34% of obesity, both of which are related,” said Ricardo Moyano, Agricultural Attaché of Chile in Brazil.
 
Odette Varela, Director of the National Center for Agricultural and Forestry Technology (CENTA) and the National School of Agriculture (ENA) of El Salvador, assured that small-scale agriculture is growing in her country in areas that were previously controlled by gangs. “We promote family farming in a densely populated country, where space to live competes with space to produce food,” she explained.
 
For her part, Fernanda Machiaveli Mourão de Oliveira, Vice Minister of Agrarian Development and Family Farming of Brazil, reported that in her country there are 29 million smallholder farmers, which represent 14% of the population and occupy 94% of the territory. “44% of our family farmers – she stated – are living in poverty or extreme poverty. They produce food but many suffer from food insecurity. This must change.”

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int