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Farming First is at the United Nations today, addressing a session on Financing for Development and the Post-2015 process. The delegation is bringing agriculture’s central role in achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals to the attention of negotiators, not just those relating to hunger.
Sue Carlson, Chair of the Women’s Committee of the World Farmers’ Organisation has also highlighted concern that access to inputs and extension is not currently featured in the draft outcome statement of the International Conference on Financing Development. Read her statement below. Continue reading →
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23rd April 2015, 1:15 – 2:30 PM
New York, U.S.A
Room 13, UNHQ Conference Building
Farming First is joining forces with the International Coalition for Advocating Nutrition (ICAN) and WaterAid to hold a side event on how the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), nutrition and agricultural sectors can partner to deliver a comprehensive Post 2015 Development Framework and explore the feasibility of collaborative implementation, monitoring, and measurement of progress. The event will be titled “Multipurpose indicators: Linking WASH, nutrition and agriculture to achieve a Comprehensive and Sustainable Post 2015 Development Agenda”Continue reading →
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A delegation of Farming First supporters is currently in New York, meeting with negotiators involved in the Post-2015 Intergovernmental Negotiations taking place at United Nations Headquarters this week. These discussions will inform the new Sustainable Development Goals which will come into force in September.
Mildred Crawford of the Jamaican Network of Rural Women Producers and World Farmers Organization delivered the following statement at the Interactive Session of UN Post 2015 discussions on February 19th, 2015:
Your Excellencies,
Food is the basis of all human activity. It fuels us. It nurtures us. As a farmer and a mother, it is poignant to observe the impact of food security. Indeed, food and nutritional security are the foundations of a decent life, a sound education and the reduction of poverty.
For this reason, your excellencies, we strongly believe the declaration of sustainable development goals should cite hunger as one of today’s challenges.
More than 1 billion people in the world live in absolute poverty. Over 800 million people do not have enough food in order to sustain life and work. The great majority of these people live in rural areas, and most of them are farmers. Children in rural areas are nearly twice as likely to be underweight as those in urban areas. Farmers constitute about one third of the world´s population, but half of the world´s hungry.
I represent the Farmers’ Major Group. I come from the Jamaican Network of Rural Women Producers, which is a national NGO that aims to address the inequalities that women farmers face in particular. It goes beyond facilitating women’s economic empowerment and focus on the myriad of challenges facing women as farming entrepreneurs and primary caregivers. We assist them with capacity building programs, health and micro finance. Many women farmers and do not have equitable access to land and credit around the world. Smallholders, especially women worldwide, are absent from the social safety net.
We believe firmly in the call for countries living up to their commitments as an underpinning of all social justice. This should include commitments to rural poor and women in the form of national policies, regional programmes, and ODA. We know agriculture has too long received too little of this attention. Investment in agriculture needs to grow from all actors.
We want to encourage an elimination of the gap between policy and implementation. The gap means important decisions do not have impact at a grassroots level. This declaration should reiterate implementation and inclusiveness to increase actions at the highest level with an opportunity for farmers input.
Farming must be appreciated as decent work and acknowledged for the pivotal role it plays in the achievement of food security, diverse nutritious diets, and in economic development. We are all – member states, NGOs and private sector, including farmers – capable of achieving together the world we want by 2030. Thank you.
On 20th February, Farming First and the Government of Canada will host a side event at UN Headquarters. H.E. Guillermo Rishcyhnski, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada will chair the debate entitled “Declaring Food and Agriculture Matters“, on agriculture’s role in eliminating hunger and poverty. Female farmers from Jamaica and Uganda, as well as representatives from the International Council of Science and One Acre Fund will share their thoughts on ways to improve food security.
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This week in New York the first Open Working Groups will begin to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire in 2015. In an effort to inform the SDGs, Farming First has launched a creative infographic that skips forward in time to 2030, when the SDGs will be set to expire to show what the future of food and farming could look like, depending on decisions made now.
Just as you must decide on a location before you set out on a journey, when setting goals you must be certain of what you are trying to achieve. With that in mind – why don’t we reposition the “post-2015” agenda, and instead think about the measures we must put in place “pre-2030”? The infographic gives us this clear view of what we must achieve in terms for food, people and the planet by 2030, and how innovations in agriculture can help get us there.
So what does the world look like for food and farming in 2030? Global wealth is expected to continue growing, but mostly in the emerging economies. Resources will become even more scarce, especially on a per capita basis. The end of hunger and malnutrition could be in our sights, but we’d have to work harder to put this on the agenda for it to happen.
In terms of population growth, most of this will happen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. For sub-Saharan Africa, this will increase demand considerably — poverty will persist and net food imports will get bigger.
Water scarcity is going to be a big threat — with about half the 2030 population being impacted. Agriculture’s expected water use needs alone will surpass currently predicted levels by 2030.
Land use efficiency will continue to improve, showing how modern agricultural practices are making the most of what land resources we have, but we must improve this even further to prevent further biodiversity losses by promoting R&D and technologies with high potential impact
While most forecasts look forward to a range of dates – from 2020 to 2050 and beyond – this is the only collection of 2030 data that gives a focussed look on where we could stand at the expiration of the SDGs.
Join us in asking policy makers to consider this possible future outlook, if agriculture is not empowered to play an important part in the SDGs.
Farming First is hosting a high-level luncheon “Eradicating Hunger and Malnutrition in our Lifetime” at the United Nations (West Terrace Dining Room) in New York this Monday, 25th November, 1-3pm.
Participation is limited so please RSVP to [email protected] to secure your place.
Agriculture should be central to the post-2015 development process and the formulation of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Supportive policies are needed to encourage investments in agriculture and innovation that lead to food security, economic development, rural employment and national security. The intersection of food security with development is not only an immediate measure of hungry mouths, but also the long term implications on a country’s well being.
The luncheon will be organized in eight roundtables dealing with the proposed Post 2015 topics and have a roundtable discussion on the key metrics for that goal. Facilitators and rapporteurs will be assigned to each table to guide and record the specific discussion points which arise.
End hunger and protect the right of everyone to have access to sufficient, safe, affordable, and nutritious food.
Reduce stunting and anemia for all children under five.
Increase agricultural productivity with a focus on sustainably increasing smallholder yields and access to irrigation.
Adopt sustainable agricultural, ocean and freshwater fishery practices and rebuild designated fish stocks to sustainable levels.
Agriculture should be central to the post-2015 development process and the formulation of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Supportive policies are needed to encourage investments in agriculture and innovation that lead to food security, economic development, rural employment and national security. The intersection of food security with development is not only an immediate measure of hungry mouths, but also the long term implications on a country’s well being.