Family farming is a central piece of the agenda for African transformation. Declared the United Nations (UN) Year of Family Farming and the African Union (AU) Year of Food Security, 2014 will be particularly interesting, with key challenges for family farming in terms of policy directions, international processes and efforts on the ground. Ten reasons why: 1) The UN sheds its light on family farming To achieve a pro-family farming environment tailored to local conditions, the UN aims to reposition family farmers at the center of agricultural, environmental and social policies in national agendas. The ...
+++ ECDPM Challenges blog series. Post number six +++ Declared the UN Year of Family Farming and the AU Year of Food Security, 2014 will be particularly interesting. With key challenges in terms of policy directions, international processes, and Europe-Africa relations, conflicts can certainly arise; but next year we could also see some break-through in all these three dimensions. Policy dilemmas The main challenge, in terms of policy choices, is going to be related to the agricultural model that public and private decision-makers promote through their efforts to enhance food security in Africa. Some believe ...
The Vice-President of Liberia, Joseph Boakai, the Minister of Agriculture of Liberia, Florence Chenoweth, and other West African public officials met with representatives of the Network of Peasant Organisations and Agricultural Producers in West Africa (ROPPA) in Monrovia to talk about progress in agricultural development over the past decade. (full length interviews published below) M. Boakai stated that his government is increasing public investment in agriculture. However the President of ROPPA insisted that policy-makers in Liberia and other countries of the region should do more to support family farms. Djibo Bagna asserted that it is ...
