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Mountain farming is largely small-scale and family farming. Mountain areas, with their dispersed patches of useable land at different altitudes with different climates and with their often highly fragmented landscapes and narrow limits for mechanization, are most efficiently and effectively managed by family farms.

We wish to bring to the attention of the readers the publication “Mountain farming is family farming”, which gives an overview of the global changes affecting mountain farming and the concrete strategies that mountain communities have developed to cope. The publication features a collection of case studies from all over the world, among which are some nice and inspiring examples of women-centered initiatives, such as:

·         Building on traditional cooperation among women (Fouta Djallon Highlands, Guinea)

In the Fouta Djallon Highlands in West Africa, solidarity and collaboration among women have traditionally ensured they can rely on mutual assistance in case of need. Building on these practices, development projects have established women’s interest groups in the area, with the aim of increasing and diversifying incomes of small family farms.

·         Agribusiness development through cooperation (India)

Due to poor market access, low production output and their lack of information, capital and services, farmers in Uttarakhand, India, traditionally received low prices for the Malta oranges they produced. However, a farmers’ federation helped increase production while a cooperation based on women self-help groups has enabled the processing and marketing of these fruits, increasing the farmers’ incomes threefold.

·         Kitchen gardens for improved well-being (Kyrgyzstan)

In the high-altitude communities of Kyrgyzstan, the overwhelming majority of health problems affecting women and children are related to malnutrition. As shown by a project initiated in two districts of Kyrgyzstan in 2006, producing vegetables in kitchen gardens at the family farm level can prevent this problem by significantly improving nutritional and health status. Anemia of mothers decreased by 42%and of children by 39%. Kitchen gardens also increased household incomes significantly – even in regions that have never grown vegetables before.

To read more, please access the full publication at http://www.fao.org/docrep/019/i3480e/i3480e.pdf. 

Research for development, casSe of Pig Production and Marketing Uganda Limited and International Livestock Research Institute.

Uganda has the most rapidly growing pig industry in East Africa; this is indicated by increasing  pig population for the last 3 decades from 0.19 to over 3.2 Million – UBOS in 2008. Uganda also has the best per capita consumption of pork in Sub-Saharan Africa (3.4Kg/Person/year) – FAOSTAT. Over 1.1 Million households (UBOS 2008) keep pigs in Uganda.

The sector is faced by a number of constraints and amongst all is limited access to production information and dynamic markets by smallholder pig farmers.

A company (Pig Production and Marketing Uganda Limited - 2012) owned by two youthful entrepreneurs who were pig farmers themselves was initiate to solve mainly the constraints of both market and information access together with production services.   

Youth led businesses face many problems and this may be the reason why most of these collapse in earlier stages of growth. These problems rage from lack of business training, access to finance, inadequate resources to pay consultants and others.

The International Livestock Research Institute initiated a research project on pigs in Uganda and unlike other research programs, their project focused on the whole pig value chain. This gave benefit to the company because later, it was selected as one of project partners. The company is making efficient use of the experts at the project office. They offer advisory services and bridging relationship between company and other value chain actors; this is done at no cost.

The institute sponsored company leaders to acquire business skills from Kenya to enable proper business management. This is on addition of different trainings to build potential of the team to initiate, manage and evaluate trainings with farmers. As a result, the company has held two successful pig farmer trainings last year. Through the trainings, farmers realized the importance of working together as team hence the birth of Uganda National Pig Farmers Association whose registration is underway.

The unconditional sharing of research output backed by relevant advice on proper entrepreneurial actions is helping the company progress with success.

The business

Pig Production and Marketing Uganda Limited; slaughter and sale pork, offer consultancy and advisory services on pigs and sale breeding stock. The company’s core product is pork but because there is no other institution supporting farmers to produce quality farm products, the company is handling other products and services as indicated above. For slaughter pigs are sourced from various farmers attached to the company, this help them access reliable market for their farm produce.

Currently, this company is the only institution doing for profit business on pigs in Uganda.

Marketing is such expensive, the company opted to use the internet to market its products. Social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) were created and constantly used to market company products.  Website and blogging sites were also created to market and offer production information to farmers.

Finance is remaining a major constraint because banks are not willing to give credit without reliable security. The company is handling the constraint by managing credit systems with suppliers on addition of different strategies to acquire funds with assistance from International Livestock Research Institute.

The Case of Kumba, Cameroon.

Bringing young people and girls in Agriculture, nutritional values and health considerations in a Town like Kumba with over 320,000 people is a big challenge.

Young people especially girls see agriculture as the no option on the table especially as they have grown from peasant backgrounds which have remained poor, malnourished, increasing diseases and lack of social amenities.

Increasing capacities in agricultural innovation and involving youth in extension agriculture and training programs which combine food security, green economy, health and climate change adaptation can reverse this historical peasant sufferrings and innovate agriculture in most communities in the country.

Thank you all for your insightful contributions to this discussion. We’ve received dozens of new comments from participants around the world, who are sharing innovative ways to connect women and youth with the resources they need to be engaged in the food system—as farmers, as scientists, as agronomists, as food business leaders, and a whole range of other professions in agriculture.

Several points were reiterated by commentators, including the need to include men in community gender trainings, the need for university programs to promote agricultural workforce development, and the importance of teaching women and youth how to create value-added food products.

Chelsea Graham shared the success of the World Food Programme’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative, which has created training networks to teach women about food production techniques, farm business management, and financial planning.

But Ken Davies, also of P4P, warns that due to the immense variation between cultures, strategies to assist women farmers cannot be ‘one-size-fits-all’. Implementation must be informed by country, context, and culturally-specific assessments that determine the needs of women farmers and tailor approaches to address underlying causes of inequality.

Many commentators, including Lalita Bhattacharjee, pointed out that women tend to spend income on addressing their family’s needs for nutrition, education, and health care. This means that providing women with inputs and financial training creates benefits for everyone.

And commentators had numerous suggestions for engaging youth in productive farming. Writing from India, Dr. RB Tiwari points out that, due to urbanization, many young girls and boys are not at all even aware where food is produced. Schools can engage this demographic by organizing agricultural excursions for urban youth.

Cordelia Adamu writes that in Nigeria, most young people view agriculture as a subsistence poverty reduction tool because of the way it is practiced in rural areas; “the farmer suffers to produce, sells at a loss to the urban marketer, who adds value to it and makes all the cash.” If universities were to create demonstration farms, perform agricultural laboratory research, and teach value-added food production, then many students would begin viewing agricultural as a viable professional path, she says.

Juan Antonio Garcia Pineda expressed the need for governments adopt laws mandating that universities provide agricultural training. In Venezuela, he shared, the Simón Bolívar University created the Cocoa Industry Management Diploma aimed at professionals and entrepreneurs who want to specialize in cocoa and its derivatives.

Nyla Coelho asserts that universities must not only emphasize agricultural education, but should emphasize appropriate, ecological agricultural education. Agricultural textbooks mostly address industrial style chemical farming. Given this, the urban learner has lost out on the farming reality and the rural learner from a farming family is learning the wrong things about farming.

According to Dr. Lisa Kitinoja, improving post-harvest storage is essential to reducing food losses and capturing more agricultural income. Training women and youth in proper crop storage and food processing methods will contribute to their success as farmers.

Finally, Kjell Havnevik tied the discussion back to larger issues that smallholder farmers -- including women, youth, and men -- face in light of the development of modern industrial agricultural. He writes that large-scale agricultural production now dominates most economies, but creates competition with family farmers over access to vital resources.

This conversation doesn’t end here! We’ll be continuing the discussion at the International Year of Family Farming Global Dialogue in Rome October 27th and 28th. Please stay tuned for more information!

All the Best,

Danielle Nierenberg

www.foodtank.com

[email protected]

Dear Colleagues,

I have been struggling for years on the question of creating human and institutional capacity among the rural poor smallholder producer communities, if they are to be put to work gainfully, are to be sustainable in the long term, contribute to economic development and growth.

Nyla Coelho in her contribution yesterday has laid the foundations through education, providing us with a methodology and the supporting curriculum, meeting the needs of developing countries.

It is now for the multilateral orgs like UNICEF, FAO, UNCTAD, IFAD, etc., to make this the basis of change if we are to reduce hunger, malnutrition, poverty, suicides and the effects of climate change whilst improving livelihood and increasing net income/ purchasing power, say over the next 10 years.

Warm regards

The Future of Family Farming: Providing Resources for Women and Young Farmers.

Homestead production or family farming is the primary source of energy and nutrients for subsistence households. Family farming also plays a role in biodiversity conservation, and can contribute to household income generation. Taking the example of rural Bangladesh, 75% of households reportedly have a home garden. Estimates show that a range of 25 fruit crops, 29 vegetables, and 12 spices can be cultivated, even in small home gardens of less than 50 square-metres. Usually controlled by women, income from home gardens is more likely to directly benefit women and children through education, health care and other spending. 

However, in community contexts that face risks and challenges of land decline, increasing soil salinity and water logging as in the South of Bangladesh, home gardening needs to include enhanced resilience to land degradation, water scarcity, biosecurity (especially avian flu), and climate change. Integrated household farming interventions need to be adapted to sustainably contribute to improve dietary diversity and nutritional status and income, especially of subsistence and small women farmers. 

From a futuristic perspective, there is for strengthening agriculture and nutrition entry points with a view to linking communities, women and young farmers to agricultural extension, nutrition behavior change and income generation resources. Agricultural intervention programmes should include explicit objectives of improving nutritional status with a focus on addressing child under nutrition.

• Resources and training support for extensive homestead gardening, fish, poultry and cattle farming which address access issues to nutritious local foods, need to be encouraged to ensure an adequate supply of protein and micronutrient rich foods (small livestock, fish, beans, leafy and yellow- orange vegetables and fruits among others). Training on agricultural practices and ensuring high-yielding variety seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and machinery at reasonable price could be helpful for this purpose.

• An emphasis on community based approaches providing better access to seeds, tools and materials; training of women farmers/households/agricultural extension workers on appropriate food preparation, food processing for nutrition, use of appropriate technologies, promotion of nutrition and health education and strengthening public private sector collaboration for value addition and income should be particularly implemented.

• Child stunting can addressed through building strengthened linkages between complementary feeding requirements/practices and agricultural production. The most sustainable, cost effective way to improve complementary feeding of children in poor rural households is by ensuring that nutritionally appropriate foods are available and utilized at household and community levels.

• Food based nutrition training tools and materials need to be used by the agriculture sector as part of capacity building and extension including sub national level training of trainers, farmer field schools and women- famer groups. For example, innovative nutrition materials, recipes and nutrient dense foods, fish-based products and food processing with a focus on improving diets and nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life need to be included in the training of women farmers and communities.

• To this end, there is need for strengthening the capacities of agriculture, livestock and fisheries service delivery structures and mechanisms at national and sub national levels, towards ensuring that nutrition sensitive interventions can be adequately planned, implemented and monitored for impact on nutrition status.

[Received through LinkedIn]

In many places on this planet, women and youth have always been encouraged to work in agriculture and given important roles.

It is important though that we take into account what kind of agriculture we are talking about and how people are being encouraged. For example, SRI/SCI (system of crop or rice intensification) has been working extremely well in some places in India especially where there are farmer field schools and farmers and farming households are teaching newer farmers how it is done.

It is extremely important that farming households be flexible and taught by one another how to do this, in the present world of changing climate. For example, farmers can learn from one another how to conserve water, ways of modifying drip irrigation, conserving every drip of rain waer that falls, even if it is all at once in a very short period of time. Building ponds to conserve water also helps. In addition, being able to switch what is grown in any season, if there is more or less rainfall, is another way of increasing production. But, commercial, industrialized agriculture does not fit this model.

[Received through LinkedIn]

Suggest you have a look at the integrated dairy schemes in Afghanistan. FAO's gender (ESP) and dairy (AGS) people have some material.

There is some information about the programme on these links.

http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/rap/files/epublications/AfghanistanedocFINAL_01.pdf

http://coin.fao.org/cms/world/afghanistan/en/Projects/IntegratedDairyDevelopmentProject.html

http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/home/en/news_archive/aga_in_action/Milk_making_the_difference.html

http://www.thedairysite.com/news/27032/fao-dairy-project-succeeds-in-afghanistan

Hello everyone,

Family farming on the edge

Value chains

I’ve recently been looking at value chains for selected crops/livestock in East Africa. Me and may hundreds of others, of course, for ‘value chains’ are the current flavour of the month that – if nothing else – helps to better understand the interdependency of all the people involved between farm and consumer: traders, transporters processors, service agents, public services and more, in addition to that original smallholder producer. Getting people in the value chain to appreciate the value of the modeling involved, however, is challenging.

Family farming?

What can be said that’s not already been said? Sure there’s a role for the family – irrespective of scale – but for the majority of contributors this is likely to mean ‘small-scale’ and, in context, small-scale usually means limited resources, inadequate education, inability to take risk and more. This is peasant farming in all but name and the challenge then becomes shifting him (but more importantly shifting ‘her and her family’) out of that cycle of inadequacy, poverty and more. That’s why the youngsters are leaving the land - they see no future there.

So, my contribution to the debate is to explore the over-view; the reality of national planning that is belatedly focusing upon ‘agriculture’ as a source of wealth and, equally, trying to encourage people to remain where they are and to work with what they have available. City life, of course, beckons the young, mobile and, for best, educated. Here it is that issues of markets and time become relevant.

Meeting market demand

First this thing about markets. With a 4 000 m2 garden, the typical East African family growing food crops to feed the family barely survives. Where is the space to grow commercial crops? How to shift from one to the other? Where is that measure of financial/food insurance that will enable the family to take risk? As a single grower the family has few options. Join a mutually-supportive producers group, however, and opportunities may arise - this means a joining a commercial producer group. The reality is one where the many hundreds of thousands of smallholder producers can be linked into a large-scale processor who has the capabilities to exploit markets (for the products and standards required).

East Africa, for example, imports >4,000 tonnes frozen ‘French fries’ (‘chips’ in Anglo-English) annually at a cost of around half million US dollars. They cost almost eight times per kilo the equivalent of the local product, but issues of traceability and demand enable them to find ready markets – with costs, of course, passed on to the consumer. The quantities are insignificant when compared to market demand - >220,000 tonnes (and growing) - but not the costs.

And not just processed foods, but staples too. The most popular staple in East Africa is maize with annual production around 12 million tonnes augmented with imports of >500 000 tonnes to make up for deficiencies of supply. Imports cost >USD 183 million. South Africa provides the bulk of maize imports (as it does throughout much of SSA). This country produces maize at half the cost of that produced in the East African countries – it a more efficient producer.

Further, small-scale production and lack of infrastructure results in post-harvest crop losses of the order 40% for maize in East Africa. And it doesn’t stop there for neither is the productivity of domestic producers improving – yields remain largely static across the region from year to year.

That small-scale agricultural wealth equation simply doesn’t add up. But then it can do. Check out the success story of the Ugandan farmer growing passionfruit on a small block of land near Fort Portal. Nothing succeeds like success; and these are people to be watched and followed. More at: http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/652399-kaduru-earns-millions-from-passion-fruits.html.

Also check out the opportunities that arise from shared investment by development partners, government and the private sector. More than 50 000 smallholder growers on either side of the Kenya/Uganda border are producing exotic horticultural fruits for processing within networks that are supported by leading agro-processing companies. More at: http://www.technoserve.org/files/downloads/project-nurture-partnering-for-business-opportunity-and-development-impact.pdf

A couple of examples doesn’t set the arguments in concrete, but the messages are clear – you need scale and investment to compete with the best of the imports; and this is not the case with the majority smallholders. They need collectivization, organization, producer groups and access to investment funds at reasonable cost if they to remain in business; to prosper means reaching another level.

Secondly there is this issue of time

The number of people in Africa continues to increase and, with current 2-3 percent growth rates, the continental population will be estimated two billion by 2050 of which >700 million will be East Africans. Even by 2020 the population of East Africa will be estimated 240 million (50% more than today). The East African regional population will dominate the continent and represent the third largest worldwide (after South Asia and East Asia) according to UNICEF*.

The changing dynamics of climate on food production in Africa are also likely to have an increasing impact on the security of food supplies into the middle- and long-term, and particularly for people who are already food insecure**. It is a paradox of unmitigated proportion that in a continent that has ample fertile lands, large resources of surface and subterranean water and a relatively benign climate in which all kinds of crops can be grown, that insufficient food is available for estimated 40 percent of the people.

Much the same applies to the countries of East Africa, notwithstanding significant socio-economic advantages of education, language, infrastructure, agricultural potential, abundant national resources and relative political stability. And when sufficient food is produced, large numbers of people – usually the most vulnerable: women and rural poor - cannot afford to purchase it.

The unpredictability of climate change and the erratic nature of weather patterns that result will impact upon crops that depend upon seasonal rains. Desertification already affects the extent of grazing lands in the north of the region, but all croplands everywhere are expected to receive less rainfall further increasing the incident of droughts. Rising temperatures will impact upon key staple food crops, with decline in yields projected 5-20 percent.

So time is short with the challenge of feeding ever greater numbers of people from much the same resources. And we’ve not even made mention of changing dietary demands.

What to do about it

First the socio-economic options include:

1. Focus upon the resilience of smallholder family producers – boosting land productivity.
2. Focus upon marginalized people: provide access to economic assets, rights and decision-making.
3. Educate people – about what to produce and what to eat.
4. Provide safety nets: crop insurance, food-for-work-programmes (for environmental care, etc.).

Then provide the public-private partnerships that will shift national rhetoric and planning into action by:

1. Introducing fair and transparent government in which everyone can make a contribution.
2. Getting serious about climate change and those essential mitigation programmes.
3. Mobilize populations.
4. Industrialize agriculture.
5. Provide access to funds and appropriate financing mechanisms.

Mvua mzuri, mazao mzuri na chakula mzuri sana.

Peter Steele

Agricultural Engineer

Rome

06 October 2014

*http://www.unicef.org/publications/index_74751.html (Generation 2030 Africa)

** http://hdr.undp.org/en/2013-report (Human Development Report 2013)

>>ENGLISH VERSION BELOW<<

Bonjour!

Voici ma contribution

Question 1: Rôles des écoles et universités

Les écoles et les universités peuvent contribuer à la promotion agricole que si elles disposent des moyens nécessaires. Les jeunes devraient commencer la pratique de l'agriculture depuis leur jeune âge. Face à cela, je propose de:

 - Développer  la culture maraîchère dans les écoles primaires

- Doter les écoles d'agronomie des équipements agricoles et des laboratoires perfomants

Question 2: Promotion de l'égalité des agricultrices

 ''l'union fait la force''

En milieu rural certaines femmes ne disposent pas de terre cultivable. Pour promouvoir l'égalités des agricultrices, je propose:

- l'organisation des femmes en association par filière autour des champs communautaires

- promotion des champs commnautaires pour faire bénéficier tout le monde

ou

- promotion des transformations agroalimentaires pour celles qui n'ont pas des terres

cultivables

Question 3: Rôles des organisations de développement et des pouvoirs publiques

La sécurité alimentaire est le fait d'avoir accès à une alimentation saine et équilibrée en tout temps et en tout lieu. je propose donc:

 - amélioration du réseau routier afin de rendre accessible les zones rurales

- amélioration des moyens de stockage et conservation

- organisation de la commercialisation

- développement des NTIC en milieu rural

- promotion de microcrédit pour les agricultrices et les jeunes

Question 4: L'autonomisation des femmes n'est plus à démontrer. Les femmes s'occupent de tout: le petit élevage, la culture maraîchère, la culture vivrière, la transformation agroalimentaire

Adèle Irénée GREMBOMBO, Ingénieure Agronome Nutitionniste, MSc

Hello!

This is my contribution

 Question 1: Role of schools and universities

Schools and universities can contribute to the promotion of farming only if they have the necessary means.  The young should start practicing agriculture from an early age. Regarding that, I propose:

. - Develop market gardening in primary schools

. - Provide agricultural equipment and efficient laboratories to agricultural schools.

 Question 2: Promote equality for women farmers

 " Union gives strength"

In the rural environment some women do not have arable land. In order to promote equality for women farmers, I propose:

. - organize women in sectorial associations around communal fields

. - promote communal fields to benefit everyone

or

. - promotion of agro-food processing for those withoutland to cultivate.

 Question 3: Role of development organizations and public authorities

Food security means having access to a healthy and balanced diet at all times and in every place.  Therefore I propose:

. – to improve road networks so that rural areas are accessible.

. – to improve the means of storage and conservation

. – to organize marketing

. – to develop new Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in rural areas.

. – to promote microcredit for women farmers and young people

 Question 4: The empowerment of  women requires no further proof. Women are engaged in everything: rearing small animals, market gardening, food crops, agro-food processing

 Adèle Irénée GREMBOMBO, Ingénieure Agronome Nutritionniste, MSc [Nutritionist Agricultural Engineer]