Farmers Speak out in Favour of Farming First

Ajay Vashee, the President of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, describes the ‘Farming First’ framework at a press conference in New York on 24 February 2009.

He discusses the many challenges that the world’s farmers face in the 21st century and warns the policymakers of the world that new emphasis needs to be placed on how agriculture affects sustainable development:

12 responses to “Farmers Speak out in Favour of Farming First”

ashutosh pant April 25, 2009 at 2:42 pm

I am a farmer from the hills of Kumaon (india) and am running an NGO to involve other farmers in developing income generation source through innovative agriculture.

Yashwanth July 9, 2009 at 1:52 am

I strongly believe “Cultivators of the Earth are the most valuable citizens”.

Lot of small farmers are facing challenges like poor market knowledge, unproven farm policies, insufficient credit facility,lack of advanced farming techniques, natural calamities and poor irrigation.

Farmingfirst.org policies are excellent like Safeguard natural resources, Share knowledge, Build local access,Protect harvests…. it’s nothing but sustained agriculture.

I hope Farmingfirst.org will support all farmers,eradicate their poverty and protect the environment.

Frank Woolf August 31, 2009 at 1:04 am

The world needs many more people like you. I truly believe that we are headed for a global catastrophe and the only way to save millions is by helping them to grow their own food.

Small farmers must stop growing cash crops that don’t earn enough to feed their families. They must start growing food for the family with maximum diversity. Permaculture is the perfect example and has already saved many people in India and Africa. Permaculture is not only sustainable, it actually increases the fertility of the land.

Do you have the text of the videos? My Internet connection is too slow for video and I have trouble remembering what was said. I can refer back to text.

dr.m.b.patil September 18, 2009 at 2:25 pm

only my request is that it should not become one more addition to the common addresses of big people at intl.conf.as they generally appear without any outreach action/initiatives. let us involve first ourselves in this assignment rather telling others to involve.

Dr.Lwanga Herbert October 1, 2009 at 3:37 am

Let’s Put Farming First:
We run an Organisation Community Welfare Services (COWESER UGANDA) in Masaka District. our emphasis today is to work with communities under small families to produce food for the famillies in a sustainable manner. Many challenges facing our communities include: Extreme drought which now calls for mulching and irrigation; Soil nutrient depletion which calls for organic manure; Bacterial Wilt diseases which have wiped away the Banana plantains in the region. There are No Financial facilities to support small farmers!!
We are now forming a Farmers cooperative towork together for sustainable Agriculture.

victor chimombo October 2, 2009 at 12:04 pm

dear all,
farming is man’s first God-given job. we must sustain it. am planning to open my own farm to reduce dependency on jobs provided by employers by many graduates. i know God is by my side. i salute ”farming first”

Victor
Malawi

Prem Narayan October 3, 2009 at 11:24 am

Dear All small farmer communities

Avery body knows food items all over the world are being costly, due the global resession . Our small farmers are less producer as well as great consumer . Their demands are more and more . They are saling their crops due heavy cop-up with the loan the cannot their produce for best price. The trader enjoyed their profit of share . They are every time feel just like cheated by the top brass of the society . Our government always in the favour of trader not farmer. They depend on god and natural monsoon

Paras October 4, 2009 at 12:46 pm

Agriculture is the first job which human start to do.In all countries,it is the main job. But in INDIA,the agriulture is like a devil. Many farmers of India live a painful life. They give food to whole country but they don’t earn enough money that they could eat food.

manish bhandari October 5, 2009 at 8:38 am

First and Foremost , by sitting in air-conditioned offices you can’t talk about the real problems faced by the farmers accross the world. What farmers speak is never heard in real. I am into contract farming from last 15yrs in India and have seen change only on the farms of wealthy and rich(converting their black money into white), the condition of farmers have gone worse from bad everywhere. we need fair NGO’S, officials, federations and Ministers to solve this, not giving lectures or speeches in big five star hotels or air conditioned seminar halls. am blunt but its the hard reality and well observed truth.
regards,
manish.

chidambararaja October 18, 2009 at 5:56 am

Dear Mr. ajay vashee it is nice to know about your status of being the key person of IFAP. you could probably talk to the suit clad kinds and try to talk them into looking down at the have nothing to clad kind. Does IFAP have a indian chapter what does it do it needs to go to the field as in india the farmer does not have access to mail twitter and all the other tech gizmos. it is time we also motivated young people and told them there is a great danger lurking around the corner as farming is being neglected and the world is loosing more green cove

Ikpeama victor October 22, 2009 at 12:15 pm

The importance of sustainability in agriculture cannot be overemphasized.I there encourage the youth in Africa to engage in it.

vpullamraju February 1, 2011 at 5:44 am

Dear sir.,
Farmers are striving hard for getting good yields in India.But they are failing in getting good market to their produce,as the cost of cultivation is increasing year by year and the pricesof products are not correlating withe the increase in production cost.Please devlop polacies for getting good prices to the produce.
Dr .Pullamraju