Main challenges faced by family agriculture in LAC presented in Spain

Madrid, October 13, 2014 (IICA). One hundred people discussed the challenges faced by family farming in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) within the framework of the presentation of the report Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas 2014, a joint publication of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC).

The participants in the forum, held at Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA), included delegates from that country’s public and private enterprises, non-governmental organizations, cooperation agencies and autonomous governments, as well as academics, students and diplomats.

According to the publication and the conclusions of the speakers, generational change, the participation of farmers in new, improved public policies, the threat posed by climate change and the recognition of the role of women in agriculture are some of the main challenges currently facing the LAC agricultural sector.

During the inauguration of the meeting, the Technical General Secretary of MAGRAMA, Adolfo Díaz-Ambrona, underscored the value of the publication and the importance of innovation and rescaling for the sustainability of family farming.

The report was presented by the consultant of IICA’s Center for Strategic Analysis for Agriculture, Rafael Trejos, and FAO Senior Strategy and Planning Officer Solomon Salcedo.

The presentation was followed by a colloquium on the challenges faced by family agriculture in the 21st century, during which emphasis was placed on the activity’s development in LAC, to which a long section of the publication is devoted, in keeping with the United Nations designation of 2014 as the “International Year of Family Farming.”

Involved in the discussion were representatives of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), the World Rural Forum (WRF), the non-governmental organization Ayuda en Acción, the Unión de Pequeños Agricultores (UPA) and the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV).

IICA, FAO and ECLAC have produced this report together since 2009, and this is the third year running that it has been presented in Madrid.

The activity enjoyed the support of MAGRAMA, the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) and the WRF. All the interventions at the meeting can be consulted on the collaborative platform http://chil.org/.

For further information: 
soraya.villarroya@iica.es
Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas: A perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean.