March 2018
Representatives of regional and national farmer organizations, civil societies and research institutions from Africa, Asia, Europe, South America and the Pacific met for two days in Derio, Bilbao, Spain on 20 and 21 February to design a Collective Action to work on participatory research activities between Family Farmers, Civil Society/ Rural Communities and Research Institutes.
PIFON was a part of the delegation being represented by PIFON Chairman, Mr. Afamasaga Toleafoa. The two day workshop entitled “Enhancing participatory processes between Family Farmers, Civil Society/Rural Communities, Research Institutes” was organized by the World Rural Forum (WRF) with support from the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR).
The workshop agreed that the official adoption of the Decade of Family Farming creates an opportunity to promote the current role of family farming in, among other things producing 80% of the world’s food in value terms, in sustaining the environment and landscapes, and in safeguarding the legacy of nature based foods and diet systems developed by the peoples of the world over countless generations. The adoption of the Decade of Family Farming also recognizes the close links between family farming methods and the ability of rural communities to effectively address Sustainable Development Goals numbers 1,2,5,6,7,8,12,13,14,15,17. In other words, promoting and enhancing the capacity of family farming will contribute significantly to help achieve a significant number of SDG objectives.
At the conclusion of the workshop, the participants from Asia (AFA), Africa, South America, the Pacific (PIFON) and Europe (WRF) met to discuss the need for coordinated plan of Action for the decade.
