Introduction
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2019-2028 the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF). The UNDFF serves as a framework for developing public policies to support family farming worldwide and to contribute significantly to the achievement of the Agenda 2030, by strengthening family farming in order to eradicate rural poverty in all its forms and to address the need for a global food system that provides sufficient, affordable, environmentally sustainable and nutritious food.
Through a Global Action Plan, the UNDFF provides detailed guidance for the international community on collective, coherent and comprehensive actions that can be taken to support family farmers. Designed around seven mutually reinforcing pillars of work, the Global Action Plan recommends a series of interconnected actions from the local to the global level.
The multidimensional nature of family farming, the farm and family, food production and life at home, farm ownership and work, traditional knowledge and innovative farming solutions, the past, present and future are all deeply intertwined. This multi-functionality makes family farming key actors in promoting such a transformative vision of food system, once they are provided with effective support.
FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa region (RNE) has a history of engagement in efforts to strengthen small-scale family farming in the region. Since 2018, it has designed and implemented the three pillars of the FAO Regional Initiative on SmallScale Family Farming (RI-SSFF).
To facilitate the implementation of the Decade in the NENA region[1], building on the experience of the RI-SSFF, a UNDFF Regional Action Plan is being developed for the NENA region by FAO RNE, in consultation with strategic partners and relevant stakeholders. This seeks to contribute to a 10-year process in support of SSFF, implementing actions to achieve the UNDFF Global Action Plan (GAP) in the region.
This paper provides my perspectives, about stakeholders’ actions in regard to especially areas of focus and related partnerships at the global, regional and country levels, which would bring about sustainable development and scaling up of achieving SDGs by 2030.
In my response below, I present a discourse that gives insight into questions 2-5 with major focus on Question 5, that is 2) Sustainable transition towards more sustainable agri-food systems, 3) Towards an inclusive and equitable growth,4) Enabling environment for the implementation of UNDFF, and 5) Partnerships.
Partnerships
Partnerships associated with sustainable development initiatives can create synergies to address interconnected challenges that need to be addressed. With the aim to implement the UNDFF action plan in its seven pillars in the NENA region. Meaningful partnership can be built based on an analysis of the family farmer agroecosystem vis a vis turn points for sustainable development. In this discourse, I pull out what I consider as key gaps in the agroecosystem and indicate related innovative role players who would be appropriate components in building meaningful partnerships. Thus, meaningful innovative partnerships would best be built based on an agroecosystems/holistic farming landscape approach.
The agriculture sector is multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral. For the agriculture sector to sustainably perform and so cause sustainable development, it is especially multi-sectoral nature must be considered in all activities. Family farmers have needs very much aligned with needs of the community and nation at large. For this reason, family farmer related interventions must be holistic and so multi-sectoral. The Swedish Development Agency (Sida) funded Agroecology in Practice project that run for 6 years in Uganda (Uganda Martyrs University), Ethiopia (Mekelle University) and Sweden (University of Applied Sciences- SLU) aimed at bring about this aspect of Sustainable agriculture development. The project opened eyes of participating farmers to view the farm as a system, as well as the farm surrounding environment. It contributed to the sustainable land use and management in the TIGRI Region, under the effort of Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This way, farmers were able to understand the complexity of their environment, its components and necessary partnerships for their agriculture business to be sustainable. Thus, Agriculture, Health, Education, Communication/Transport, Commerce, Environment, Information Technology, etc all have strong contributions to sustainability of the Agriculture sector. Unfortunately, the community involvement part of the project was scaled down and more effort was put on building the necessary human resource (at Master and PhD levels) to influence policy and also do the training of family farmers beyond the project life.
Consequently, partnerships formed to ensure sustainable development of family farmers, must be multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral at local and international levels. Training of family farmers in applying a system wide development of their farms must be enhanced. Governments must initiate Public Private Partnerships (PPP) with strong elements of inclusiveness as is guided by the Malabo (2014) Declaration.
In country like Uganda the agriculture sector like all other sectors are driven majorly by the private sector. In this case, public private partnerships (PPP) are very paramount. As such, Governments need to recognize the contribution of the private sector to sustainable development. Whereas government organs develop policy and also guide the policy implementation process, for agriculture, family farmers are the on ground private sector implementers and direct beneficiaries of policy. In Uganda the Private sector Foundation, which is multi-sectoral participates in the budget process. Even though, the budget towards agriculture has never reached 5% in spite of the 10% that was directed by the Maputo Declaration ((2007). The Smallholder farmer Association in Uganda is also instrumental in influencing the sectoral budget.
Between 1986 and 1993, UNDP/FAO support the Development of Horticulture Industry in Uganda. Cognizant of the fact that most smallholder farmers/family farmers produced vegetables and fruits, a variety of new germplasm was introduced with minimal in put into partnering with planting materials producing companies. The developed government nursery capacity was minimal and later on the private sector embraced production of vegetative germplasm with limited expertize. This lack of key private partnerships resulted into distribution of infected plant materials and limited growth of the horticulture industry. Today seed production is privatized, which is a good way to implement the global policy on liberalization and privatization of business. However, the seed industry has caused sustainability issues. First crop diversity is reduced because the private seed industry is most interested in optimizing revenue, so they market only the highest yielding ones and phase out low yielding varieties. Local varieties are completely out competed and lost in spite of their unique characteristics and resilience. In South Africa, just out of Johannesburg, is a group of women who save and market seeds of indigenous varieties.
As regards mechanization, most family farmers still depend on the hoe, machete, and ax where a Massey Ferguson Tractor does not exist. There is evident lack of appropriate technology. A visit to the Appropriate technologies institute at Ede, Netherlands in 1989, exposed a variety of intermediary technologies that could be very handy for a family farmer. These would reduce drudgery and fit into the agroforestry, permaculture, and integration of fruit tree systems that are advocated for the family farmer to adopt so as to ensure sustainable agroecosystems. Such appropriate technologies would be adequate for a family farmer at all value chain segments.
Recent visits to BioFach, at Nuremberg, Germany showed the changing trend in exhibition from fresh produce to value added products. Most products had been produced at cottage processing industry level, especially those from Eastern Europe. Similar observations were made during the Organic World Congress, New Dehli, India. Family farming would do a lot in ensuring value addition based on cottage industry and in reducing postharvest food loss, which is key to addressing hunger as well as to maintain sustainable use of natural resources; avoiding pollution of the environment by non-renewable energy based industries. Such appropriate technologies are lacking at family farming level. In my personal experience, farmers processing tamarind into various products would have trees planted, tamarind pod waste used as fuel or composted to produce safe organic fertilizers/compost to substitute non-renewal sources. Many other production and appropriate processing technologies would be based on interrelated systemic connectivity that builds the desired sustainability.
In Uganda rural agro-industrialization has been highlighted every annual budget year, but it has not adequately taken off as those leading implementation have prioritized establishment of industrial parks, yet family farmers with appropriate technologies would bring about rural agro-industrialization with inclusiveness and equitable distribution. In Cameroon just out of Yaoundé is a women’s group that adds value to their production of cassava into a multiplicity of products. Another initiative is in Uganda where St. Jude Farm at Buseesa is known for solar fruit drying for export. In private research, the Center for Ecosystems Research and Development-CERD, Uganda has added value to local dry fruits by making sweet bars to substitute sweets that spoil children’s teeth.
Such industries would reduce postharvest losses and also reduce volumes of waste that are brought to urban settlements and yet cost money to be collected, as well as ending up into water bodies like Lake Victoria. The waste would remain on farm and add fertility and hence reduce on the currently on-going land mining through family farming.
At family level, on farm waste from cottage industries is a good feed into waste composting systems that would produce fertilizers for family farmer use, generate biogas for the family and reduce dependence on synthetic fertilizers. This would increase sustainability of family farms and reduce pollution of their drinking water as well as fresh water fisheries. In Austria, Lubke Land Management and Research Institute has appropriate composting systems that may be adopted for family farmers’ communities to use. A related rapid composting system can be found also at Katisi Organic Institute, Chongwe, Zambia, while small homestead waste output has been found by the Center for Ecosystems Research and Development-CERD to be good enough to sustain continuous production of compost at household level.
Furthermore and during 2018 and 2019, there were numerous interceptions of exports to the European Union due to infestation with prohibited organisms and overdoes of synthetic pesticides above minimum residue limits. Most of such produce was produced by family farmers and bulked for collective marketing. In spite of clear Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS), the competent authority (National Plant Protection Organization- NPPO) had limited intervention to manage the entire value chain. However, private exporters of fruits and vegetables had done their best to set up systems that would prevent escalation of interceptions. There was clear disjointed efforts between the private and public sector in addressing the concern, though the EUC did the best in alerting the NPPO/MAAIF. Thus, the north-south partnership between the EUC and NPPO would have achieved best results if the importer, NPPO, exporters and family farmers had formed a strong partnership to address this challenge.
Therefore, one would consider scaling up and replicating the initiatives describe as cases above and outlined below.
Key Partnerships to scale up or replicate
Sustainable development is a responsibility of all citizens of respective countries in the NENA region and beyond. It is a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral business. Governments, the private sector and various development agencies have to forge various strategic partnerships to cause sustainable development which would be a two way involvement of family farmers.
The Swedish Development Agency (Sida) funded Agroecology in Practice project that run for 6 years in Uganda (Uganda Martyrs University), Ethiopia (Mekelle University) and Sweden (University of Applied Sciences- SLU) aimed at bring about this aspect of Sustainable agriculture development would be very appropriate at family farmer level. The Multi-sectoral nature of family farming calls for a unified way of agricultural extension integrated with farmer to farmer and farmer field school methods.
Aligned with a systems approach is the blend of public and private partnerships. The case of Uganda where the Private Sector Foundation and the Small Scale Farmers Association participates in the budget process is a good lesson. Family farmers must influence the policy environment in order to perform sustainably and remain competitive.
Most family farms are smallholder or small scale. Their major involvement is production of fruits and vegetables either alone or mixed with animals. To ensure productivity, elite and adopted resilient germplasm is required. Such materials should be introduced from where they are and bulked in well managed and certified nurseries to avoid distribution of associated diseases and pests. In this regard, public private partnerships are necessary. Government Ministries of Agriculture, farmers and the industry must work hand in hand. The UNDP/FAO Development of Horticulture Industry (1986-1993) in Uganda was very useful in improving family farmer systems and need be scaled up and replicated. Lessons on indigenous seed variety conservation should be taken from groups like that at Johannesburg in South Africa. Cases of community seed backs in India and the ISSD supported community seed production in Uganda should be studied and included in multistakeholder partnerships for scaling and replicating.
At technology level, family farmers are stuck with the hoe. Appropriate technologies that best fit their agroecosystem must be accessed. This calls for south to south partnerships and with the north such as the Center for Appropriate Technologies, at Ede, Netherlands, as well as related industries in especially India and some places in Africa. These partnerships should involve bringing down experts from such institutes to work with family farmer associations and small scale industries who would be supported by Governments to afford paying for copy rights and patents or to support foreign investments in production of such appropriate technologies for different value chain segments. Involvement of UNIDO in bring family farmer adapted/customized appropriate agro-processing technology from Eastern Europe, India, cases of fruit drying and value addition by CERD thereafter in Uganda as well as cassava processing at Yaoundé are paramount.
Declining soil fertility is a common phenomenon among family farms in Africa. Synthetic fertilizers are one option, but most times family farmers do not afford and so end up simply mining their land and shifting to virgin plots, which has greatly contributed to environment degradation, poverty and hunger. Yet, smallholder family farms would generate their own fertilizers by composting farm waste. Partnerships with the Land Management and Research Institute-Lubke Technology in Austria, the Center for Ecosystems Research and Development-CERD as well as Katisi Organic training Institute, Chongwe, Zambia would enable this to happen through local training of trainers and equipping of farmers to practice composting themselves or by their associations.
In case of exports of fruits and vegetables from Africa, recent challenges have been inadequate compliance with Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards. The north-south partnership between the EUC and National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) would solve the problem. This would require creating strong partnerships between importers, NPPOs, exporters and family farmers. Instead of NPPOs concentrating on the upper part of the value chain, they would also be involved at the lower segment on farm through agroecosystem wide/unified extension services intervention. This implies also scaling up farmer to farmer learning and farmer field schools which were previously supported by FAO programmes.
Research is key to sustainable development. This, too, has to be by multi-disciplinary teams in order to produce relevant packages. Family farmer involvement is paramount. CGIAR centers must create partnerships with family farmers and conduct more on farm and farm lead research as opposed to the most practiced on station research.
Lastly, enabling policies are only possible through multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral processes. As such, governments should bridge existing policy gaps by bringing all stakeholders together to forge the future policy arena that will deliver sustainable development. Today’s policy makers in most African countries do not measure up to the task, and often very useful policies remain on shelf without approval or are not implemented.
Charles Ssekyewa