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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 agricul-tural plains.

… to tackle the planet’s challengesIn 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.

Pastoral milk production, Chad © Antoine Eberschweiler

AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT FAMILY FARMING

A history of increasing support by AFDDeveloping 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.

FAMILY FARMINGis 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.

Three main intervention areas1. Improve family farming performance and sustainability

To tackle the challenges of food security, employment and environ-ment preservation, family farms must start walking on a new develop-ment 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 curricu-lums and reinforced educators’ skills to increase the potential of future technicians and farmers.

In Benin, several thousand farmers are benefiting from farm-manage-ment 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 com-mon 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 coun-tries) have been represented in the WTO (World Trade Organisation).

Young woman in a rice paddy – Ambatolampy, Madagascar © AFD, Nicolas Hertkorn

AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT FAMILY FARMING

Family farming is:

2.6 billion people worldwide,

The world’s top employerwith 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.

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 informa-tion 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 volatil-ity. Risk reduction is an essential condition for investment and innova-tion 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.

Milk processing in a producers’ cooperative in Madagascar © AFD, Anne Legile

AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT FAMILY FARMING

DEVELOPING COFFEE PRODUCTION IN THE BOLOVEN’S PLATEAU IN LAOSIn 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.

AFD has provided

more than EUR 2 billion in support of more than 320 projects targeting family farmers.

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.

FROM 2008 TO 2012

IN 2012

AGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT FAMILY FARMING

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 risk-management policies and professional

agricultural organisations

Governance and equipment for rural areas

Sustainable natural resource management

€0 million €100 million €200 million €300 million €400 million

Committed over the period 2008-2012 (€1 billion) Estimate for the period 2013-2016 (€1.7 billion)

Rice cultivation in Cambodia © AFD, Éric Beugnot

3. Reinforce local government in rural areas

Family farming creates added value that is usually redistrib-uted locally. Improving rural communities’ ability to manage projects will boost development of rural areas and family farms. AFD is supporting the elaboration and implementa-tion 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 manage-ment of land use rights. AFD is also intervening to improve access to basic services in rural areas (health, water, educa-tion 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.

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.

AFD IS FUNDING 44 NGO INITIATIVES FOR A TOTAL OF €34.7 MILLION TO PROMOTE FAMILY FARMING

Inter Aidehelps structure services in deprived rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.

CCFD – Terre Solidaire (Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development) supports targeted political dialogue on food security in West Africa.

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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)

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.

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.

FFEM

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.ffem.fr

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.

www.proparco.fr

FAMILY FARMINGAGENCE FRANÇAISE DE DÉVELOPPEMENT

Cotton cultivation, Afghanistan, 2012 © AFD, Oriane Zerah