The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and The Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in late January 2023 committing to foster the mobilization of family farmers and their organizations across the Asia region and promote agroecology, climate resilience, inclusive value chains and rural services. The formal collaboration will help move both organizations on the road to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

FAO and AFA have a long history of collaboration, dating back to their first MoU signed in 2015, renewed in 2018. Together they have achieved the following: strengthened capacities of farmers’ organizations; raised awareness on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT); enhanced the voice, representation, and participation of farmers’ organizations in policy dialogue and policy consultation processes; and advocated for and shared knowledge on key policy issues.

The new MoU provides a five-year framework that reinforces efforts to achieve the SDGs and FAO’s vision in the framework of the UN Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF), the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UNDER), the Scaling Up Agroecology Initiative, the Digital Village Initiative, the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, and the Regional platform on Biodiversity through Biodiversity Task Force.

Signing on behalf of FAO, Jong-Jin Kim, Assistant Director-General/Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, said, “Our collaboration contributes to FAO’s strategic framework, more specifically to some Programme Priority Areas in the FAO’s Four “Betters” – which aim to help our Member Nations achieve Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment and a Better Life for all – leaving no one behind.”  Chairperson Altantuya Tseden Ish, signing on behalf of AFA, stated, “This MoU will provide a framework for FAO and AFA to develop mutual actions fostering an enabling environment that grants small scale producers and family farmers access to and control over production resources in agriculture.”

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AFA is a regional alliance composed of 20 national federations and organizations of small-scale farmers and producers from 16 countries, reaching around 13 million farmers in Asia. Its mission is to build solidarity, raise its collective voice, and empower its members as key drivers and actors for sustainable rural development.

Related links: AFA https://asianfarmers.org/