RECOMMENDATIONS for improving the FF collected from the reference documents for the World Conference on Family Farming

"Feeding the World, Caring for the Earth", enriched by the contributions of participants in the Working Groups. October 2011 FARMERS ORGANIZATIONS DEMANDS TO THE GOVERNMENTS Legal and true recognition of men and women farmers organisations through law, programmes and effective freedom of association and communication as privileged intermediaries of the pubic powers so that agricultural and rural policies defend Food Security and Food Sovereignty in every country. Encourage such recognition through the establishment of a favourable regulatory, legal and tax framework. In this perspective, adaptation and regulation of mechanisms of on-going institutionalized dialogue between the political powers and independent organisations of farmers inspired by the diversity of existing models in the framework of effective decentralization. Thereby, increasing their capacity to lobby at the level of local, national and global authorities. Recognition of the associative rural plurality, renouncing the creation or imposition of organisations related to political power. Promotion of applied public agricultural research at the service of national and local family farming, of its biodiversity and its genetic heritage, in close cooperation with the farmers associations in the country, rural NGOs, etc. Support public research on and dissemination/monitoring of the adoption of technologies adapted to the needs of Family Farmers. Provide agricultural organisations with public services in training, technical and financial sectors etc., in accordance with the needs expressed by them and respecting their autonomy. Facilitate access to information technology by farmers organizations. Provide social protection to farmers. Organizations should not assume the responsibilities of the state but collaborate in order to meet existing needs. Include specific and participatory budgets for the promotion of rural and agricultural organizations, their participation, training, exchanges etc.

FOR INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS, DONORS ETC. Effective recognition of different men and women farmers organizations, in all their diversity, as an essential part of their intermediation in agricultural and rural matters in each country and, as the case may be, at a regional or international level.

Promote and support the convergence and consensus among different sensitivity peasant organizations - such as the Farmers Forum under the auspices of IFAD - on particularly relevant themes such as the land grabbing, the protection and support to all forms of agriculture, especially those in developing countries, the fair regulation of markets and food prices, the promotion of gender equality in law, etc. and all this in the search for progress and fair and efficient solutions. Develop programs in order to strengthen local organizations at national and international levels. Support their net-working. Include special budget for all the points mentioned above.

FOR FARMERS AND PRODUCERS ORGANISATIONS Re-define their internal structures in terms of criteria of equity, participation, democracy, justice and sustainability. Promote women, youth, landless farmers, shepherds, artisanal fishermen and indigenous peoples will be an important issue. Generate, if possible, one common vision of the future of rural areas. Assume an effective leadership and develop capacities of farmers for advocacy at local, national and global level in order to improve the actual conditions of the farmers. Apply criteria of financial, technical and political transparency within the organizations, enhance national and international coordination between them and provide spaces and resources for networking, demand and take advantage of opportunities of influencing through participatory budgeting, consultations policies etc. Opt for a greater financial autonomy and capacity of income generation. Increase the organizations capacities of negotiation (political and commercial). Create international networks of national agricultural organizations, seeking the greatest possible unity between them. To this end it is essential to improve internal and external communication so that women and men farmers can increase their knowledge and participation in the organizations at all levels. Training in terms of net-working is necessary, especially for women and excluded groups. Improve the professional training of women and young persons in the farmers organizations. Assume a greater awareness and preparedness for environmental crisis, changes in the climatic system etc. For this, partnership-building is essential. Agricultural associations are and will be the great protagonists in the future of Family Farming, of its sustainability and socio-economic consolidation.

The farmers organizations would like to increment their social power and increase their self-esteem as an entity.

YOUNG FARMERS DEMANDS TO THE GOVERNMENTS Defining rural youth as priority group in national and international socioeconomic development policies. Establish a differentiated state budget, giving priorities to young farmers access to land, access to credit and sustainable land management. Promotion of policies in order to develop rural areas and slow down and/or reduce the process of forced migration from the country to the city and rural depopulation; favouring the integration of rural youth, young indigenous people, young fishers, etc. into the broad concept of Family Farming and providing income levels that allow a decent life in the countryside, the sea, jungle or mountain. Generate rural employment not restricted to agriculture and provide rural areas with physical infrastructure and services in order to increase the standard of living. Promote local markets. Improving the quality of life for young people in aspects related to participating in the economy, emancipation of rights, education regarding values, gender equality, health, recreation, free time and leisure through programmes and special budgets. Encourage access to natural resources for young men and women, particularly in response to the use and distribution of "land", recognizing its social role and its close relation to Food Security and Sovereignty and territory through a legal framework and national policy. Combine facilities in order to facilitate the installation of young farmers in the rural areas, giving better prospects for elderly farmers to retire. Stimulating the organisation of new associative and cooperative companies to strengthen management capability of rural youth. Providing financial support, in the initial stages, for production and service projects for young people with technical and feasible planning, focussed on the market, facilitating innovations and supporting entrepreneurial abilities of young people. Improving human capital through formal and informal educational offer in the field adapted to the rural environment and (potential) work available, with a programme of grants and scholarships that equals out the access conditions for the different levels of training. Incorporate local and traditional knowledge into the schools and training curricula and generate capacities to innovate in its framework. Include the sustainable management of natural resources and indigenous varieties, based on a systemic approach based on the territory. Provide financial support and training in sustainable practices. Provide environmental education practice, especially in terms of improved water management, renewable energy generation, protection of biodiversity, soil fertility etc. 4

FOR FARMERS ORGANIZATIONS Increasing the institutional aspect and opportunities to participate in the rural sector for young people and the intergenerational connection; favouring their auto-organisation and auto-representation and their full inclusion into mixed organizations. Open up decision-making spaces and support young and women leaders. Promoting sustainable production systems caring for the environment through training programs, innovation and intergenerational learning. Promote research related to traditional knowledge and uses, monitor them and advise on their use. Building up a range of experiences and social, economic, educational and environmental indicators, specific for rural young people. Drawing up this range of empirical data tackles two important topics. On the one hand, the current lack of real and statistical information on young farmers will be resolved and, on the other hand, this information will help to identify the motives and/or reasons that push many young people to leave the rural world even when it offers sustainable development opportunities. Facilitate exchange between young farmers. Empower the marketing capacity of young people, train in the generation of added value. Guaranteeing access for young rural women to the services generated by the rural development policies- access to employment, access to resources, education, salaries - in order to reduce the so-called gender gap. Increase their level of information through the use of ICT.

WOMEN FARMERS DEMANDS TO THE GOVERNMENTS END GENDER DISCRIMINATION Incorporate gender in key aspects of policymaking: design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, allocating the necessary budgetary resources and in consultation with women's associations (gender budgets). Eliminate gender discrimination in the national legislation -especially regarding land and livestock (co)tenure, access to resources, credits and markets, contractual rights -, taking into account the discrepancy between constitutional and customary law and the accessibility of related facilities. Make gender policy effective. End social taboos against women and support social movements in favor of womens rights. Take into account the diversity of womens cultural, social and economic conditions and characteristics. Prioritize gender disaggregated data to identify gaps and needs for policy and program. Define productivity more broadly and recognize the share of women to economic activities. Establish effective quotas (at least 40%) for all public and private spheres. Provide childcare services. Provide facilities for reconciliation (family life and professional life). Work on the equal distribution of household and caring tasks. Strengthen rural and local institutions abilities to become more gender sensitive in their analysis and programming. Revalue traditional farming systems that produce food. Develop more effective partnership with multi-stakeholders (governments, private sector, academics, producers and NGOs) to increase support for women farmers and their grass-root associations. Provide gender-sensitive credit and saving systems that support women farmers. Target investment to enhance womens knowledge, training, innovation, & capacity building for decision-making, after having listened to womens special needs and aspirations. Put special emphasis on their approaches towards sustainable development Provide educational support for girls and women through training facilities, scholarships, extension services and other forms of technical assistance close to rural areas.

INVEST IN WOMEN FARMERS

Provide access to low cost technology that is adapted to rural womens needs. Increase the number of women extension agents and train male extension agents to become more gender-sensitive. Train women on improved management and administration of farms. Provide access to market information and research results on markets. Reduce intermediaries. Support to local and traditional financial systems. Revalue and innovate old technologies. Acknowledge existing labor-saving technologies. Promotion of alternative and more adapted techniques. Education of rural women on climate change. Dissemination of systems of drinking water purification. Establish and strengthen adapted systems of risk management and disaster prevention. Boost renewable rural electrification (solar, wind etc.) Prioritize womens access to ICT. Facilitate rural womens participation in all relevant decision-making processes at all levels- through mandatory quotas (at least 40%), leadership training, information sharing and visibility. Encourage and support associations of rural women in order to defend their practical and strategic interests. Support womens cooperatives. cooperatives and their participation in mixed

PROMOTE WOMENS LEADERSHIP

Provide multi-purpose spaces for meetings, activities of the organization and cooperatives etc. Invest in women scientists and gender-based research in agriculture and rural development sector in developing countries. Engage grassroots women as advisors and informers on pertinent issues that relate to their rights. Developing action research that directly involves and allows for contributions of the local communities. Conduct training and gender-based leadership programs employing various methodologies that include farmers exchange visits, study tours, learning and reflection sessions.

Work with womens resiliency in food systems, responding to external shocks. Empower women related to their financial capacities.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS Raising awareness among women farmers about their rights. Educate and empower. Encourage the self-organization of women. Establish mandatory quotas (at least 40%) for women in CSO. Promoting the role of women - apart from being producers of food - as agents of development and change. Re-evaluate (traditional) peasant systems which produces food, but bearing in mind that there are persisting gender inequalities. Facilitate knowledge building of crop management. Support traditional systems of collection, conservation and distribution of seeds. Compile success stories of women that can serve to inspire other women in similar circumstances. Implement activities that increase individual and collective self-esteem.

ACCESS TO RESOURCES DEMANDS TO THE GOVERNMENTS Regulate, through laws and regulations, the different forms of ownership and use of land as well as the access and handling of natural resources. They must favour the most marginalized and under-resourced, women, indigenous people, shepherds, traditional fishers, young people and in general people who cultivate these lands or waters, taking into account the environment with special emphasis on traditional and ecologically vulnerable areas. Stop land grabbing. For this, establish national Moratoriums on huge land acquisitions or renting to governments, foreign or national companies, with the aim of strengthening Family Farmers by giving them priority in terms of access to land and water resources for the production of food for domestic consumption. Analyze the effects of such massive transfers of land for Food Security and Food Sovereignty of peoples as well as for biodiversity and food diversity. Agricultural organizations will be pivotal in defending the right to access to resources and protection of producers against the concentration of land and resources. Encourage institutions to assign land and resources. Furthermore, they will create or formalise the property registers in a participative way which gives a legal base and protection to the tenure of the land. The procedures should be simple, transparent and accessible for all the interested groups in preventing greater land concentration. The process of access to and tenure of land as well as its legal protection is included in the framework of a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform. In addition, customary regulations must been taken into account. Acknowledge communal ownership systems by regulating collective rights on land, waters, forests and seeds. Develop participatory strategies for managing natural resources favouring small farmers, based on traditional innovations and appropriate external interventions. Focus on the respectful use of the natural resources (efficiency, conservation, recycling, ecological methodologies etc.). Encourage insurance systems against the damage of crops due to natural disasters. It is crucial to strengthen local institutional capacities and promote policies that improve the farmers access to training services, technology, logistics, infrastructure, production, processing, market advice etc. This requires public investment and cooperation between governments, international agencies, NGOs, the committed private sector, research people and organised groups.

FOR RESEARCH AGENTS AND OTHERS Translate the general ecological principles and the concepts on managing natural resources into practical recommendations that respond directly to the needs of the poor, and have an impact on the situation of small owners, taking into account local ecosystems. Incorporate eco-friendly perspectives into the new technological approaches and combine knowledge and skills of the farmers with those from external agents in such a way that appropriate farming techniques can be developed and/or adapted. Emphasis must be placed on participative processes that involve the farmers in order to strengthen local research and the populations capacity to resolve their problems. Ensure democratic and egalitarian access to technological knowledge through training and cooperation between technicians and farmers. Research into the sustainable use of natural resources. Innovate at organizational level in order to share resources and strategies that promote better management of available resources at lower cost. Creation of platforms for the exchange of experiences, empowerment. Share the land with young farmers in order to transmit knowledge from generation to generation.

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ACCESS TO MARKETS WORLDWIDE Create and consolidate mechanisms that imprint greater efficiency and transparency to how the markets work, which will reduce situations of uncertainty and panic. Restructure the market in favour of small producers in order to provide fair and stable prices for farmers. Markets led by commodity based groups with community participation. Promote regional trade integration processes particularly in countries and/or regions with very little or no integration. Trade agreements that prioritize Family Farming. Intensify the work to break down barriers and improve the infrastructure to create and broaden sustainable internal and regional food markets. External support from development institutions must have more of a sustainable focus. Provide technical and economic assistance for less developed countries to develop their own agro-industry consolidates relations with the primary sector. Promoting ecological and sustainable production of food in order to reduce the vulnerability and the impacts derived from excessive use of fossil fuels.

AT NATIONAL LEVEL, DEMANDS TO THE GOVERNMENTS Give political priority to local food supply and value chains. Develop local markets. Put local production/proximity marketing in value. Implement policies of inventory (stock management). Establishing, when necessary, the due proportional customs protection, to avoid dumping or importing subsidized products that unduly damages local productions. Institutional support with more sustainable business focus, facilitating a legal framework that strengthens the consolidation of rural associations of producers. Offering farmers opportune access to affordable long-term public and private consumables and loans without excessive guarantees, plus public and private insurance instruments that cope with crop failure due to natural disasters, climate risks etc. Encourage public/private collaboration to consolidate strong, competitive local markets. Develop support systems for small producers so that they can obtain the greatest profit from their crops by reducing pre and post-harvest losses as

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much as possible. Support work intended to improve food quality and safety and reduce waste throughout the entire food chain by improving food handling, analyzing food, the processing equipment, techniques for storage, cooling chain systems and the transport infrastructure. Encourage the implementation of processes, increasing the quantity and quality of production of small farmers and generating added value to local products. Design plans for diversified production to ensure that the producers obtain several harvests per year and avoiding the decapitalization of the household economy. Facilitating the implantation of services in the rural environment that permit optimum development of the Agrarian Sector. Public investment for infrastructure development in rural areas. Modernization policy (subsidies) for young and women farmers. Promoting short commercialization circuits. The sensitivity of many consumers to the food that they consume is one way to promote the implantation of short commercialization circuits. These circuits encourage both food security (nutritional, quality), reduce the ecological impact (derived from reducing the use of fuels) and they are an effective means of maintaining levels of demand for farming products and therefore for maintaining producers whilst they analyze and set up new strategies (ruralurban). National programs to promote products from Family Farming such as the Government of Brazil's program to supply public canteens (schools, hospitals, etc.). In this respect, public-private collaboration is crucial. Provide an adequate environmental regulatory framework and mechanisms in order to guarantee the sustainable use of natural resources.

IN TERMS OF PRODUCERS' ORGANIZATIONS Strengthening their capability to organize themselves is essential so that they can take part in the decision-making processes and participate actively and efficiently in the markets, negotiation processes etc. Access to the right training permitting, on the one hand, improvements in their competitiveness and their negotiation capability whilst also being able to identify complementary and competitive activities to capitalize on the real advantages of small producers (efficiency, sustainability, etc.). Encourage setting up processes to increase the quantity and quality of production for small farmers and to generate added value to local production. Reduce commercial intermediaries and facilitate the direct contact between producers and consumers.

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Increase the support, coming from all sources, to improve market infrastructure and timely and reliable commercial information systems, including setting up and strengthening ties between the countryside and the city; effective use of information and communication technologies. Provide information for farmers in order to advise regarding products and their marketing possibilities. Facilitating the provision of infrastructures, particularly for transport, plus access to other technologies (communication) that can reduce costs and reduce uncertainty regarding the markets. Precise information on how the markets are working in real time reduces uncertainty and helps them to act appropriately. Re-value traditional crops. Transmit gastronomic heritage to children.

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