Making Family Farms Secure, Sustainable, and Viable in Asia

70% of women across Asia are involved in farming, but only 6.5% to 28% have access to and control over land and natural resources

ILC Asia's Family Farming Initiative focuses on building strong small-scale farming to ensure equitable land distribution and public investment that supports small-scale farming systems. This goal was discussed and agreed upon during a regional meeting with the ILC Secretariat during the Global Land Forum 2018 held in Bandung, Indonesia, in September 2018. The present initiative is conceived as part of the numerous contributions from different stakeholders to the global process of the UNDFF implementation at the national, regional and global levels. ILC members determined the following outcomes based on the new engagement strategies of the ILC:

Changes in Practice

• Formation and/or strengthening of multi-stakeholder platforms of the National Committee for Family Farming (NCFF) in each country within the framework of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming
• Knowledge exchange and documentation of farming technology

Changes in Policy

Cultivation of an enabling policy environment for land tenure and sustainable agriculture for family farmers, including women, youth, and elderly at national and regional levels. Some of these policy reforms could cover:

• Magna Carta of Family Farmers
• Tenure Security (collective or individual titles, user rights, etc.)
• The succession of ownership of awarded land to family members (especially for women and youth)
• Preventing land conversion to non-agricultural use
• Push for policies/laws regulating land investments
• Policy support to farmers via Agri-coops and sustainable farming

Strengthened Capacity for Transformation

Capacities of ILC network members in promoting the implementation of UNDFF commitments at regional and national levels are strengthened through collecting cases, practices and strategies and sharing in platforms related to UNDFF implementation, such as NES and NCFF.

This platform can support the activities of members on precedent/landmark cases involving family farmers through mobilisation, case documentation, advocacy, media work, research, and knowledge management, thereby, enhancing their capacities at promoting UNDFF commitments.