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From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 4 Jun 2013 14:00:01 -0400
Subject: INVESTING IN SMALL-SCALE FARMERS CAN HELP LIFT OVER 1 BILLION
PEOPLE OUT OF POVERTY – UN REPORT
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org
INVESTING IN SMALL-SCALE FARMERS CAN HELP LIFT OVER 1 BILLION PEOPLE
OUT OF POVERTY – UN REPORTNew York, Jun 4 2013 2:00PMGiven the right
conditions and targeted support, small farmers can unleash a new and
sustainable agricultural revolution, the United Nations environment
agency a partner agricultural development organization reported today
on the eve of <"http://www.unep.org/wed/">World Environment Day.
According to the report,
<i><"http://www.ifad.org/climate/resources/smallholders_report.pdf">Smallholders,
Food Security and the Environment</i>, an estimated 2.5 billion people
who manage 500 million smallholder farm households provide over 80 per
cent of the food consumed in much of the developing world,
particularly Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The report, commissioned by the UN Environment Programme's World
Conservation Monitoring Centre
(<"http://www.unep-wcmc.org/">UNEP-WCMC) and the International Fund
for Agricultural Development (IFAD), also shows that most of the 1.4
billion people living on less than $1.25 a day live in rural areas and
depend largely on agriculture for their livelihoods.
"Two decades of underinvestment in agriculture, growing competition
for land and water, rising fuel and fertilizer prices, and climate
change have left smallholders less able to escape poverty," said Achim
Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director.
"Smallholder farmers can continue to be marginalized or be recognized
as catalysts for a transformation of the way the world manages the
supply of food and the environmental services that underpin
agriculture in the first place," Mr. Steiner added in a
<"http://www.unep-wcmc.org/smallholder-farmers-key-to-lifting-over-one-billion-people-out-of-poverty_1030.html">joint
news release by UNEP and IFAD.
Earlier studies cited by UNEP and IFAD show that a one per cent
increase in agricultural per-capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has
five times the impact on the poverty gap than the same increase in GDP
in other sectors.
One study demonstrated that for every ten-per-cent increase in farm
yields, there was a seven-per-cent reduction in poverty in Africa, and
a reduction of over five-per-cent in Asia.
The report makes it clear that investing in the agricultural sector
offers the highest rate of return for those interested in overcoming
poverty, Mr. Steiner said, and speeds progress towards reaching the
eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) and building a post-2015 sustainable agenda.
Support for the small farming sector also supports the UN
Secretary-General's Zero Hunger Challenge which, among its goals, aims
to achieve 100 per cent access to adequate food all year round, and
the UNEP-UN Food and Agricultural Organization's (FAO) 'Think East
Save: Reduce Your Footprint' campaign to cut down food waste.
"Smallholder farmers hold a massive collective store of experience and
local knowledge that can provide the practical solutions needed to put
agriculture on a more sustainable and equitable footing," said Elwyn
Grainger Jones, Director of IFAD's Environment and Climate Division.
"To place these smallholders at the forefront of a transformation in
world agriculture, they need appropriate support to overcome the many
challenges they face," Mr. Jones added.
Among its recommendations, the report advocates for taking into
account the needs of the farmers, who advocate for shifting the focus
in sustainable agriculture from minimizing the negative impacts of
farming on the environment to greater growth opportunities for them.
The report also advocates investment in market-based mechanisms that
provide smallholders with incentives to invest in sustainability, such
as removing subsidies on unsustainable fertilizers or expanding fair
or green certification schemes that allow smallholders to compete in
new niche markets locally and internationally.
Today's report is ahead of World Environment Day (WED) on 5 June.
Hosted this year in Mongolia, the Day's theme is closely linked to
food security, focusing on reducing the estimated one third of all
food produced - 1.3 billion tonnes, worth around $1 trillion - that is
wasted or lost each year.Jun 4 2013 2:00PM
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