Image: Asian Farmers Association
Increasing impacts from climate change are already affecting the most vulnerable populations most especially smallholder family farmers. An estimated 475 million smallholder family farmers experience food insecurity, poverty and live in highly precarious conditions. They are highly vulnerable to climate change since most depend on rain-fed agriculture, cultivate marginal lands and lack access to technical and financial support to invest in climate-resilient agriculture.
Policymakers are increasingly aware of the need to help smallholder family farmers become resilient to climate change, however, there is still a lack of inclusive spaces for them to engage in policy discussions. The lack of spaces and meaningful participation result in inefficient and non-responsive policies that fail to recognize the context and realities of family farmers.
Inclusive policy frameworks must be present and family farmers must be included in these discussions so that interventions for climate change adaptation and mitigation will be appropriate and responsive to their needs. One important policy space that should include the voices of small scale family farmers is the Conference of Parties (COP) convention. The COP27 under the UNFCCC processes will be held in November wherein country delegations are preparing their statements, reports, and messages.
In this regard, AFA will hold a series of events to mark AFA’s 10th General Assembly and 20th year celebration on 18-23 October 2022 in the Philippines, in conjunction with Agricooph and PAKISAMA, with support from SEI Asia.
- October 18 a.m Women and Young Farmers Committees’ Meeting
- October 18 p.m Regional Learning Exchange on Biopesticides and Digital Agriculture
- October 19 Field Visit
- October 20, 09:00-15:00 AFA 10th General Assembly
- October 20, 17:00 – 21:00 AFA 20th Year Celebration
- October 21-22: Workshop on Pathways to Climate Resilience.
Graphic: Asian Farmers Association.
