Rice cultivation in Vietnam © AFD, Nils Devernois
Agence Française de Développement
FAMILY FARMING
AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT FAMILY FARMING
Family farming: a universal model… Family farming represents the social base for most developing countries and constitutes the main form of agricultural organisation worldwide. It contributes to both domestic and international markets. Family farming thus accounts for almost 80% of global food production, 98% of food production in Sub-Saharan Africa and almost all cotton, cocoa and coffee production worldwide. Covering around 40% of the planet’s agricultural land, family farms are the number one source of employment worldwide. Yet they also paradoxically account for the majority of farmers living in poverty and food insecurity. Family farms are hugely diverse in terms of cultivated area, equipment used and type of production. They exist in all ecosystems, from arid grazing lands and urban hinterlands to the large fertile agricultural plains.
… to tackle the planet’s challenges In 2050, the planet will be populated by 9 billion inhabitants. Most population growth will take place in developing countries and cities, which will require more resources. Dwindling energy supplies and climate change will call for new models for sustainable agriculture. Family farms are capable of meeting these challenges and have demonstrated their capacity for innovation and adaptation over centuries. They will however need support, particularly in countries in the global South, from ad hoc policies and mechanisms (such as professional training and land tenure security). Rapid improvement in family farming performance is possible, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where productivity remains lower on average than in other parts of the world despite similar soil conditions. The farmed area could be increased and production intensified while preserving natural resources and biodiversity. These new production modes can be achieved through public and private investment.
FAMILY FARMING is a form of agricultural production where organic links are established between family, on-farm division of labour and production processes. The family takes the decisions and provides most of the resources for production, including labour.
A history of increasing support by AFD Developing family farming has been for several decades at the heart of AFD’s missions. More than 300 projects directed to family farmers were financed between 2008 and 2012, most in Sub-Saharan Africa. AFD’s technical skills and its network of agencies have provided a wealth of experiences in the field. In order to accompany family farm evolution towards more inclusive and sustainable models, AFD aims –in Sub-Saharan Africa from 2013 to 2016 – to increase its food security and rural development commitments to 15%. This would make EUR 400 million available for about 30 new programmes each year during this period.
Pastoral milk production, Chad © Antoine Eberschweiler
AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT FAMILY FARMING
Three main intervention areas 1. Improve family farming performance and sustainability To tackle the challenges of food security, employment and environment preservation, family farms must start walking on a new development path. In Africa, given the demographics, training rural young people is a significant challenge. Farming must be professionalised to increase farmers’ skills and their share of responsibility in strategic planning and development at the local, national and international level. In Cameroon under the Debt Reduction and Development Contract (C2D), AFD is accompanying several complementary projects to boost farming sector competitiveness (involving 25,000 farms). For example, the AFOP project (support for professional training) has revised curriculums and reinforced educators’ skills to increase the potential of future technicians and farmers. In Benin, several thousand farmers are benefiting from farm-management advice to spectacular effect, resulting in a reduction in hardship periods of food shortage between harvests, improvement in harvests and revenues and a trend of emerging new projects, particularly those run by women (creation of commercial and transformation activity).
On the technical side, agro-ecology – which AFD has been promoting for 15 years in partnership with CIRAD (International Centre for Agricultural Research for Development), notably in Madagascar, Cameroon and Laos – is today seen as a necessity. Ecological inten sification brings together greater production and environmental protection. Given their number and lack of influence as individual units, family farmers group together in professional organisations to develop common economic functions (such as commercialisation) and to make their voice heard. For example, the Burkina Faso National Cotton Producers Union – Africa’s top cotton producer – has benefited from AFD’s support throughout its lifetime. Members have become shareholders in cotton companies and participate actively in joint trade organisations and in the running of the industry. It is also thanks to this type of professional organisations that cotton producing countries Benin, Mali, Chad and Burkina Faso (the C4 countries) have been represented in the WTO (World Trade Organisation).
Family farming is:
2.6 billion people worldwide,
The world’s top employer with 40% of the total active population,
500 million farms of which 95% are less than 5 ha in size.
95% of rural people live in developing countries and 96% of their jobs arise from family farming.
Young woman in a rice paddy – Ambatolampy, Madagascar © AFD, Nicolas Hertkorn
AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT FAMILY FARMING
2. Promote targeted public policy Family farming can be a high-performing economic model with high social and environmental added value as long as it benefits from adequate public policy support. With this in mind, AFD is supporting capacity building for public actors and professional organisations. In Madagascar, AFD has supported the strengthening of local information systems (rural observatories and rice observatories). The briefs and information they produce are highly valuable tools to allow informed decision making by professionals and administrators. Investments in agriculture require a favourable environment and tailored financing. AFD is supporting public policies focusing on infrastructure and risk management relating to health or price volatility. Risk reduction is an essential condition for investment and innovation in the agricultural sector and this is why AFD supports the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) common agricultural policy and the Platform for Agricultural Risk Management (PARM), which was developed in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the European Union and CAADP*. AFD is improving access to financing by for economic stakeholders in agriculture at all levels by reinforcing rural microfinance institutions, banks supporting SMEs and farms and sub-regional banks such as WADB (West African Development Bank). *CAADP: Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, a NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) programme.
FROM 2008 TO 2012
AFD has provided
more than EUR 2 billion in support of more than 320 projects targeting family farmers. IN 2012
900,000 family farms
benefited directly from AFD’s financial support, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar but also in the Mediterranean region, Southeast Asia and Haiti.
DEVELOPING COFFEE PRODUCTION IN THE BOLOVEN’S PLATEAU IN LAOS In Laos, AFD is funding a programme to reinforce the family coffee growers’ capacity to meet regional and international market standards and to directly commercialize their produce. AFD is supporting the Boloven’s Plateau Coffee Producers Groups Association (AGPC), helping producers master transformation and commercialisation and increase their added value. Thanks to the development of fair trade labelling, AGPC is allowing its 1,600 members to benefit from exposure to the international markets.
Milk processing in a producers’ cooperative in Madagascar © AFD, Anne Legile
AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT FAMILY FARMING
3. Reinforce local government in rural areas Family farming creates added value that is usually redistributed locally. Improving rural communities’ ability to manage projects will boost development of rural areas and family farms. AFD is supporting the elaboration and implementation of local development plans relating to soil use, natural resource protection and the development of collective infrastructure (such as rural roads) as well as local management of land use rights. AFD is also intervening to improve access to basic services in rural areas (health, water, education and energy). This is happening in Cameroon under the National Participative Development Programme, cofinanced by the World Bank, which helps communities put their skills to use and improve services for local people.
Rice cultivation in Cambodia © AFD, Éric Beugnot
Expected trends in AFD commitments by type of intervention EUR 2.7 BILLION BETWEEN 2008 AND 2016 Financing family farms and small transformation units Rain-fed food crops and livestock Food crops with water and fishery management Non-food and export-oriented industry crops Agricultural, nutritional and riskmanagement policies and professional agricultural organisations Governance and equipment for rural areas Sustainable natural resource management €0 million
€100 million
Committed over the period 2008-2012 (€1 billion)
€200 million
€300 million
€400 million
Estimate for the period 2013-2016 (€1.7 billion)
AFD IS FUNDING 44 NGO INITIATIVES FOR A TOTAL OF €34.7 MILLION TO PROMOTE FAMILY FARMING
Agronomists and Vets without Borders (Agronomes et vétérinaires sans frontières – AVSF) reinforces peasant organisations and organisations supporting agriculture in 20 countries in the global south.
Inter Aide
CCFD – Terre Solidaire
helps structure services in deprived rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.
(Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development) supports targeted political dialogue on food security in West Africa.
AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT
FAMILY FARMING
AFD is present on four continents where it has an international network of seventy agencies and representation offices, including nine in the French Overseas Provinces and one in Brussels. It finances and supports projects that improve people’s living conditions, promote economic growth and protect Earth, such as schooling for children, maternal health, support for farmers and small businesses, water supply, tropical forest preservation, and the fight against climate change. In 2012, AFD approved EUR 7 billion to finance activities in developing countries and the French Overseas Provinces. Main outcomes of AFD’s funding are monitored every year. For instance, money delivered will help get 10 million children into primary school and 3 million into secondary school; they will also improve drinking water supply for 1.79 million people. Energy efficiency projects financed by AFD in 2012 will save nearly 3.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
Cotton cultivation, Afghanistan, 2012 © AFD, Oriane Zerah
This publication was printed in an environmentally responsible manner using vegetable-based ink and PEFC™ paper, chain of custody n° 19-32-319 (sustainable forest management).
Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is a public development finance institution that has been working to fight poverty and foster economic growth in developing countries and the French Overseas Provinces for seventy years. It executes the policy defined by the French Government.
PROPARCO, AFD’s subsidiary dedicated to private investment, promotes private investment in emerging and developing countries in order to boost growth, promote sustainable development and reach the Millennium Development Goals. Its financing is tailored to the specific needs of investors in the productive sector, financial systems, infrastructure and private equity investment.
FFEM is a bilateral public facility set up by the French Government in 1994 following the Rio Summit. It aims at promoting global environmental protection via sustainable development projects in developing or transition countries. The French Global Environment Facility supports physical projects in recipient countries. Its operations are learning-based and support experimental, innovative or exemplary approaches.
www.proparco.fr
www.ffem.fr
AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT 5 rue Roland Barthes 75598 Paris Cedex 12 – France Tél. +33 1 53 44 31 31 Fax +33 1 44 87 99 39 www.afd.fr
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT (SDD) Agriculture, rural development and biodiversity (ARB)
Creation: Planet 7 – March 2014
FFEM