The Asian Farmers' Association (AFA) calls on governments and development partners to support family farmers as frontliners in the fight to eradicate COVID-19.
"Our organizations and cooperatives can strengthen our/family farmers’ capacities to play our utmost role in providing food and nutrition security to our fellow citizens. However, we remain challenged to upscale our local efforts. Thus, we call on our governments and development partners to support our endeavors: (1) in raising awareness on COVID-19 in our communities especially on who to call for emergency assistance; (2) in acting as local governments’ partners in the distribution of emergency food and cash assistance; (3) in increasing agricultural productivity through agro ecological and climate-resilient approaches and systems as well as ensuring supply of seeds and other production inputs; (4) in processing and distribution of food through post-harvest and transportation facilities as well as access to finance; (5) in strengthening capacities in policy and program engagement with local government units for water, health and sanitation facilities as well as agri policies during and post COVID-19 crisis; and (6) in regular communications and sharing of experiences to learn from good practices and capture lessons learned.
We firmly believe that when family farmers are regarded as frontliners and key actors during and post COVID-19, countries can be on track in implementing SDG1 (no poverty) and SDG 2 (end hunger, promote food security and sustainable agriculture) and fully supportive of the UN Decade on Family Farming (UNDFF)."
Read AFA's full statement here.