The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on May 29 launched the United Nations' Decade of Family Farming and a Global Action Plan to boost support for family farmers, particularly those in developing countries.

According to press released issued by FAO, family farms represent over 90 per cent of all farms globally, and produce 80 percent of the world's food in value terms.  They are key drivers of sustainable development, including ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition.

The Decade of Family Farming reportedly aims to create a conducive environment that strengthens their position, and maximizes their contributions to global food security and nutrition, and a healthy, resilient and sustainable future.

The Global Action Plan provides detailed guidance for the international community on collective and coherent actions that can be taken during 2019-2028.

It highlights the need to increase, among other things, family farmers' access to social protection systems, finance, markets, training and income-generating opportunities.

Family farmers are important drivers of sustainable development

Family farming encompasses the production of all food - be that plant-based, meat, including fish, other animal products such as eggs or dairy, and food grown on agricultural lands, in forests, in the mountains, or on fish farms - that is managed and operated by a family, and is predominantly reliant on the family labor of both women and men.

Family farmers provide healthy, diversified and culturally appropriate foods, and grow most of the food in both developing and developed countries.

They generate on- and off-farm employment opportunities, and help rural economies grow.

They preserve and restore biodiversity and ecosystems, and use production methods that can help reduce or avert the risks of climate change.

They ensure the succession of knowledge and tradition from generation to generation, and promote social equity and community well-being.

Although family farmers produce most of our food they - paradoxically - face poverty, especially in developing countries.

They face challenges because they lack access to resources and services to support their food production and marketing; because their infrastructure is poor; because their voices go unheard in political processes; and because the environmental and climatic conditions on which they rely are under threat.

In general, women farmers face greater constraints.  Rural youth are also highly vulnerable due to a lack of incentives for on-and off-farm employment opportunities.

The Global Action Plan of the Decade of Family Farming is a guide to develop policies, programs and regulations to support family farmers, putting forward collective and coherent actions that can be taken during the next ten years.

It details specific activities to address interconnected challenges, and target a range of actors - governments, United Nations agencies, international financial institutions, regional bodies, farmers and producer organizations, academic and research institutes, civil society organizations and the private sector, including small and medium enterprises.

As far as Tajikistan is concerned, although only 5 percent of the country’s land area is farmable due to its mountainous geography, agriculture accounts for 53 percent of total employment.  Among those households that engage in agriculture, almost 90 percent can be classified as small family farms.