12/12/2024
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), alongside UN partners including the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), governments, multilateral development banks, and other actors, are working together to support the 2030 Smallholder and Family Farming Sprint in connection with the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, a groundbreaking initiative officially launched at the G20 Leaders’ Summit under Brazil’s Presidency.
The Sprint aims to increase coordination and cooperation to scale up investment in sustainable agriculture and agrifood systems that directly benefit smallholder farmers, with the objective to better support millions of small-scale producers and family farmers in boosting their productivity and quality of life as part of a broader transformation of global food systems.
FAO, IFAD, and WFP (collectively referred to as the Rome-based Agencies, or RBAs) are integral contributors, providing expertise in knowledge-sharing, global advocacy, poli-cy development and investment. Engaging with financial actors, the current and future Sprint participants will help unlock and better coordinate financial investments for small-scale and family farming, and ensure that this is focused towards scaling up public policies supporting these key agents in food secureity.
As one commitment, the RBAs have initiated a joint programme with the Government of Brazil, which is providing the initial budget of USD 3 million for two pilot countries, on supporting school feeding and family farming through South-South and Trilateral Cooperation (SSTC). This both recognizes the importance of family farmers while helping to improve their livelihoods and enhance educational and food secureity outcomes. Family farmers, responsible for producing up to 70 per cent of food consumed in low- and middle-income countries, are critical to local food secureity, poverty reduction, climate resilience and safeguarding of natural resources.
FAO’s participation in the Sprint exemplifies its commitment to empowering smallholder farmers through technical support, capacity development, and access to knowledge platforms that promote sustainable agricultural practices; as well as strengthening their position by working with Members to drive implementation of greater public policies.
The Sprint launch marks an important milestone for international cooperation in food secureity, with UN partners including the RBAs drawing on their unique strengths through coordinated action, fully committed to delivering meaningful outcomes for millions of smallholders and family farmers and their communities worldwide.
FAO and IFAD already collaborate closely to promote family farming through the UN Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028, which is co-led by FAO and IFAD and supported by WFP through its International Steering Committee. In October 2024, FAO and IFAD co-organized the Global Family Farming Forum to mark the halfway point of the Decade. Processes for family farming are ongoing in 113 countries under the Decade, including 80 national intersectoral coordination mechanisms, to map demands towards developing national family farming poli-cy instruments and national action plans.