FAO to work with Farmers' Path, the world's largest small producer organization

FAO signs new agreement with the most representative movement of small producers

elizabeth Mbofu, General Coordinator of the Farmers' Way, and FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

2013 year10 month4 day, Rome-FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and the General Coordinator of Farmers' Way, Elisabeth Mbofu, today formally signed an institutional framework for cooperation between the two institutions and developed proposals for cooperation in areas of common interest.

The agreement is a milestone in the development of the relationship between FAO and civil society organizations, as Farmers' Path is the world's most engaged movement for food producers. The agreement, reached during a meeting at FAO headquarters in Rome, is part of a new FAO strategy for partnerships with civil society organizations. This new strategy aims to strengthen links with social movements, institutions and non-governmental organizations that share the common goal of eradicating hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity. Through the initiative, FAO also recognizes the Farmers' Path in coordinating the voices of small-scale food producers around the world and their efforts to build societies free of hunger and malnutrition in a spirit of solidarity, equity and social justice.

"This exchange is important because FAO works with a movement that represents more than 0.2 billion farmers around the world, and with a network that is committed to pioneering efforts to realize the right to food for all," Graziano da Silva said, ". He added: "I have always believed that working together does not mean that we have to agree on everything. The important thing is to have the same goal, and we believe that small farmers are part of the solution to hunger."

"It has been a long journey and we are very happy to be here today. The Farmers' Path defends food sovereignty and protects ecological smallholders, so I think the partnership that is launched today will bring about many changes."

today's meeting is a continuation of a series of consultations launched in Jakarta last May, when Graziano da Silva and an international delegation from Farmers' Way discussed ways to strengthen the links between FAO's work and the goals of the campaign. During that discussion, the two sides decided that the cooperative relations established in areas of common interest will be formalized through the exchange of letters in Rome today.

The Farmers' Way is one of the largest social movements in the world. It brings together more than 0.2 billion small farmers and producers, landless farmers, women, youth, indigenous peoples, migrants and agricultural workers from 164 organizations in 79 countries around the world. The network of these organizations is an autonomous movement that defends small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity.

FAO will support Farmers' Way to engage effectively at different levels in the political process and promote dialogue for the development of sustainable local initiatives, projects and emergency interventions. This relationship is based on cooperation in the areas of knowledge sharing, dialogue, policy development and normative activities. The meeting will also discuss various issues of common interest, including land, seeds and agro-ecological methods for smallholder farmers.

Regional leaders of the Farmers' Way from Mozambique, Italy, India, South Korea, Niger, Nicaragua, Canada, Romania, Spain and Argentina also attended the meeting. During her visit to FAO headquarters, Elizabeth Mbofu and other regional leaders also participated in a session entitled "Dialogue with Civil Society: Dialogue with the Farmers' Path", which covered the role of women and youth in agriculture and explored the synergy between the campaign's priorities and FAO policies and strategies.

http://www.fao.org/news/story/zh/item/201833/icode/

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