Lights, Camera, Action Plan... Farmers’ Organizations have policy dialogues to discuss the way forward for Family Farming in Jamaica

The Farmers’ Organizations for Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific in collaboration with FAO Jamaica have so far conducted two policy dialogues forums to further support improvements in the policy framework to strengthen the capacity of Farmers’ Organizations to promote sustainable Family Farming in Jamaica. The first Policy Dialogue meeting was held on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, while the second Policy Dialogue meeting was held on Wednesday, September 14, 2022.

The initial policy advocacy dialogue meeting was focused on discussing and outlining the expectations for the policy advocacy dialogue meetings as well as reviewing examples of policy advocacy plans. The second policy advocacy dialogue meeting centred on the background of the Farmers’ Organizations selected to participate in the training programmes and the factors surrounding the challenges faced by Farmers’ Organizations in Jamaica and strengthening the capacity of these organizations towards advancing family farming in Jamaica.

Background of UNDFF

On the 20th of December 2017, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 72/239, which declared 2019 – 2028 as the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF), recognising the enormous contribution of Family Farming to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the role that family farms play in improving nutrition and ensuring global food security, eradicating poverty, ending hunger, conserving biodiversity and achieving environmental sustainability. The resolution encourages all States to develop, improve and implement public policies on family farming, and share their experiences and best practices of family farming with other States.

About the FO4ACP Programme

In the advancement of the UNDFF, the Farmers' Organizations for African, Caribbean and the Pacific (FO4ACP) Programme is an initiative on sustainable Farmers’ Organizations (FOs) which focuses on increasing the capacity of small-scale producer organizations. The programme aims to increase the incomes and improve the livelihoods, food and nutrition security, and safety of organized smallholders and family farmers in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries by strengthening regional, national and local farmers’ organizations.  In the Caribbean, the FO4ACP Programme is implemented by the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, PROCASUR Corporation and Agricord. In addition to Jamaica, the programme is being executed in Belize, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti and Saint Lucia. It is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), together with the European Union (EU) and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).

 Purpose

These policy dialogue meetings will seek to facilitate the multi-stakeholder consultations involved in the process that will ultimately lead to the development of a detailed roadmap and methodology to elaborate the National Action Plan (NAP) and to establish a National Dialogue Committee. The policy dialogues will become a platform for dialogue between public authorities, Farmers’ Organizations representatives, FAO, IFAD and other partners and will help to improve the involvement of stakeholders in the process of developing and implementing the NAP, strengthen coordination and provide a link between other public policies and the NAP.

A National Action Plan (NAP) is a contextualized, country-specific framework of action for the support of family farming, providing a roadmap for countries to progress in the implementation of the UNDFF towards sustainable food systems. In line with the seven (7) pillars of the GAP, the NAP addresses the challenges and the potential of Family Farming from a comprehensive and multidimensional approach and envisages the articulation of the different sectors that intervene in the rural areas. Thus, the NAP contributes to national priorities not only in the agricultural sector, but also with regard to nutrition, environment, or health, among others.

 Next Steps

Coinciding with the national policy dialogue meetings, the farmers’ organizations will also be benefitting from capacity building initiatives designed and delivered, with the support of recommended partner agencies and organizations in Jamaica. It is anticipated that these trainings will help to alleviate some of the effects of the challenges highlighted and promote the success and sustainability of small-scale farmers in Jamaica. The remaining policy dialogue sessions will be held every two weeks and will include FOs and multi-stakeholders.

For more information, please contact:

Selvine Stephenson

FO4ACP Consultant

[email protected]