Major Group: Farmers
This statement was not delivered in Plenary due to time constraints.
13 session of the Open Working Group
Statement on behalf of the World Farmers’ Organisation, WFO
within the Farmers’ Major Group
Excellencies, co-chairs, esteemed major group colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the World Farmers' Organisation, within the Farmers' Major Group, I would like to congratulate the Open Working Group for the big achievement reached so far with the drafting of this complex and very important document.
We welcome very much the mentioning of food security and sustainable agriculture in the goal title 2, which reflects the close linkages between sustainable development and agriculture.
However, we feel that the document can still be improved to include a wider reference to the agricultural sector.
Let me take this opportunity to share a few words from famers.
In all countries, farmers are a responsible community of agro-preneurs who work with other stakeholders from around the globe in order to foster food system stability; respect the environment; acknowledge the rights of all farmers to be entrepreneurs and to increase incomes while respecting the farming community’s diversity.
The United Nations has declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming as Family Farming is a crucial link between the social, economic and environmental dimensions of food security. More than half of the food needed to ensure future global food security is produced by family farmers. As of today, 70% of the world’s food supply is provided by family farmers.
As the world population continues to grow, and the projections are daunting: 9.2 billion by 2050, we realize the importance of increasing food production to meet food security for all in a sustainable way.
Moreover, farmers are contributors to the fight against other global challenges like climate change, water management, land erosion and rural employment. Engagement in these processes requires better education, investment and entrepreneurial skills and opportunities that farmers need to enhance our role as food producers.
With the right knowledge, capacity building and technical assistance, farmers can adopt strategies that mitigate and adapt to climate change and other environmental challenges that simultaneously contribute to attaining global food security.
Farmers, because of our close relationship with the land, have an inner knowledge of ecology, agricultural products and their characteristics and nutrition factors. Farmers, better than anybody else, are capable to select and produce the highest quality food possible. Therefore, if we want to achieve better global health conditions and the proposed goals of the SDGs, we need to rely on farmers, their expertise and knowledge.
In light of the above, we turn to you, Excellencies, to ensure that farmers will be given the right space in this unique process as well as the right opportunity to contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as agents of solutions in all areas.
Thank you
13 session of the Open Working Group
Statement on behalf of the World Farmers’ Organisation, WFO
within the Farmers’ Major Group
Excellencies, co-chairs, esteemed major group colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the World Farmers' Organisation, within the Farmers' Major Group, I would like to congratulate the Open Working Group for the big achievement reached so far with the drafting of this complex and very important document.
We welcome very much the mentioning of food security and sustainable agriculture in the goal title 2, which reflects the close linkages between sustainable development and agriculture.
However, we feel that the document can still be improved to include a wider reference to the agricultural sector.
Let me take this opportunity to share a few words from famers.
In all countries, farmers are a responsible community of agro-preneurs who work with other stakeholders from around the globe in order to foster food system stability; respect the environment; acknowledge the rights of all farmers to be entrepreneurs and to increase incomes while respecting the farming community’s diversity.
The United Nations has declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming as Family Farming is a crucial link between the social, economic and environmental dimensions of food security. More than half of the food needed to ensure future global food security is produced by family farmers. As of today, 70% of the world’s food supply is provided by family farmers.
As the world population continues to grow, and the projections are daunting: 9.2 billion by 2050, we realize the importance of increasing food production to meet food security for all in a sustainable way.
Moreover, farmers are contributors to the fight against other global challenges like climate change, water management, land erosion and rural employment. Engagement in these processes requires better education, investment and entrepreneurial skills and opportunities that farmers need to enhance our role as food producers.
With the right knowledge, capacity building and technical assistance, farmers can adopt strategies that mitigate and adapt to climate change and other environmental challenges that simultaneously contribute to attaining global food security.
Farmers, because of our close relationship with the land, have an inner knowledge of ecology, agricultural products and their characteristics and nutrition factors. Farmers, better than anybody else, are capable to select and produce the highest quality food possible. Therefore, if we want to achieve better global health conditions and the proposed goals of the SDGs, we need to rely on farmers, their expertise and knowledge.
In light of the above, we turn to you, Excellencies, to ensure that farmers will be given the right space in this unique process as well as the right opportunity to contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, as agents of solutions in all areas.
Thank you