The new agreement continues support for farmers, recognizing their key role in achieving sustainable agrifood systems and the 2030 Agenda

27/01/2023 – 

Rome – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) have renewed their partnership through a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), reaffirming their shared belief that farmers, especially family and small-scale farmers, play a crucial role in achieving agrifood systems transformation and the goals of the 2030 Agenda.

FAO and WFO have a long-standing collaboration, dating back to the International Year of Family Farming in 2014, followed by the signing of their first MoU in 2018. Joint work has focused on improving the livelihoods of family farmers; increasing farmers’ technical and advocacy capacities; and sharing practical, workable solutions for coping with climate change and shifting towards sustainable agriculture and responsible natural resource management.

The new MoU provides a five-year framework that reinforces efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), FAO’s vision, and the implementation of the UN Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF). WFO is a permanent member of the International Steering Committee of the UNDFF, which is led by FAO and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

By engaging with WFO’s wide network of farmers’ organizations, and capitalizing on FAO’s expertise and country access, the partnership will strengthen collaboration to help engage food producers in policy making processes at national, regional and global levels. It will also enable strengthened collaboration to reverse biodiversity loss, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance adaptability and resilience, contributing to the actions following the UN Food Systems Summit, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations, and the UNDFF.

Signing on behalf of FAO, Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol said, “Our new MoU puts farmers – and importantly, women and youth – at its centre. The role that farmers play in food security cannot be overstated. We are here to renew our shared commitment with WFO to achieving the SDGs and work for, with, and alongside farmers, who are central to the solutions that can help us build a more resilient future.”

“We, as farmers, truly value the collaboration with FAO for the creation of an enabling political environment that, recognizing the strong nexus between food security and climate change, puts family farmers, including women and youth, at the centre as drivers of change towards more sustainable and regenerative food systems that leave no one behind,” said President Arnold Puech d’Alissac, signing on behalf of WFO.

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The World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) is a member-based association bringing together national farmers’ organizations and agricultural cooperatives from all over the world.

WFO’s mission is to bring the farmers’ voice into global political dialogue on agriculture and advocate for the interests of the worldwide farming community in all relevant international processes impacting the present and the future of the agricultural sector. In doing so, it seeks to create the conditions for the adoption of policies and programs that can improve the economic environment and livelihood of producers and rural communities, strengthening the contribution of agriculture in tackling the challenges humankind faces.

Related links:

The World Farmers’ Organisation: https://www.wfo-oma.org/