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AGENDA 21, CHAPTER 32



STRENGTHENING THE ROLE OF FARMERS






NOTE:     This is a final, advanced version of a chapter of Agenda 21, as adopted by
          the Plenary in Rio de Janeiro, on June 14, 1992.  This document will be
          further edited, translated into the official languages, and published by the
          United Nations for the General Assembly this autumn.





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                         INTRODUCTION

32.1.  All references in this chapter to "farmers" and 
"farming" include all rural people who derive their livelihood 
from activities such as farming, fishing and forest 
harvesting.


                        PROGRAMME AREA

Basis for action

32.2.  Agriculture occupies one third of the land surface of 
the Earth, and is the central activity for much of the world's 
population.  Rural activities take place in close contact with 
nature, adding value to it by producing renewable resources, 
while at the same time becoming vulnerable to overexploitation 
and improper management.

32.3.  The rural household, indigenous people and their 
communities, and the family farmer, a substantial number of 
whom are women, have been the stewards of much of the Earth's 
resources.  Farmers must conserve their physical environment as 
they depend on it for their sustenance.  Over the past 20 years 
there has been impressive increase in aggregate agricultural 
production.  Yet, in some regions, this increase has been 
outstripped by population growth or international debt or 
falling commodity prices.  Further, the natural resources that 
sustain farming activity need proper care, and there is a 
growing concern about the sustainability of agricultural 
production systems.

32.4.  A farmer-centred approach is the key to the attainment 
of sustainability in both developed and developing countries 
and many of the programme areas in Agenda 21 address this 
objective.  A significant number of the rural population in 
developing countries depend primarily upon small-scale, 
subsistence-oriented agriculture based on family labour.  
However, they have limited access to resources, technology, 
alternative livelihood and means of production.  As a result, 
they are engaged in the overexploitation of natural resources, 
including marginal lands.

32.5.  The sustainable development of people in marginal and 
fragile ecosystems is also addressed in Agenda 21.  The key to 
the successful implementation of these programmes lies in the 
motivation and attitudes of individual farmers and government 
policies that would provide incentives to farmers to manage 
their natural resources efficiently and in a sustainable way.  
Farmers, particularly women, face a high degree of economic, 
legal and institutional uncertainties when investing in their 
land and other resources.  The decentralization of 
decision-making towards local and community organizations is 
the key in changing people's behaviour and implementing 
sustainable farming strategies.  This programme area deals with 
activities which can contribute to this end. 

Objectives

32.6.  The following objectives are proposed:

     (a)  To encourage a decentralized decision-making process 
through the creation and strengthening of local and village 
organizations that would delegate power and responsibility to 
primary users of natural resources;

     (b)  To support and enhance the legal capacity of women 
and vulnerable groups with regard to access, use and tenure of 
land;

     (c)  To promote and encourage sustainable farming 
practices and technologies;

     (d)  To introduce or strengthen policies that would 
encourage self-sufficiency in low-input and low-energy 
technologies, including indigenous practices, and pricing 
mechanisms that internalize environmental costs;

     (e)  To develop a policy framework that provides 
incentives and motivation among farmers for sustainable and 
efficient farming practices;

     (f)  To enhance the participation of farmers, men and 
women, in the design and implementation of policies directed 
towards these ends, through their representative organizations.

Activities

(a)  Management-related activities

32.7.  Governments should:

     (a)  Ensure the implementation of the programmes on 
sustainable livelihoods, agriculture and rural development, 
managing fragile ecosystems, water use in agriculture, and 
integrated management of natural resources;

     (b)  Promote pricing mechanisms, trade policies, fiscal 
incentives and other policy instruments that positively affect 
individual farmer's decisions about an efficient and 
sustainable use of natural resources, and take full account of 
the impact of these decisions on household food security, farm 
incomes, employment and the environment;

     (c)  Involve farmers and their representative 
organizations in the formulation of policy;

     (d)  Protect, recognize and formalize women's access to 
tenure and use of land, as well as rights to land, access to 
credit, technology, inputs and training;

     (e)  Support the formation of farmers' organizations by 
providing adequate legal and social conditions.

32.8.  Support for farmers' organizations could be arranged as follows:

     (a)  National and international research centres should 
cooperate with farmers' organizations in developing 
location-specific environment-friendly farming techniques;

     (b)  Governments, multilateral and bilateral development 
agencies and non-governmental organizations should collaborate 
with farmers' organizations in formulating agricultural 
development projects to specific agro-ecological zones.

(b)  Data and information

32.9.  Governments and farmers' organizations should:

     (a)  Initiate mechanisms to document, synthesize and 
disseminate local knowledge, practices and project experiences 
so that they will make use of the lessons of the past when 
formulating and implementing policies affecting farming, forest 
and fishing populations;

     (b)  Establish networks for the exchange of experiences 
with regard to farming that help to conserve land, water and 
forest resources, minimize the use of chemicals and reduce or 
reutilize farm wastes;

     (c)  Develop pilot projects and extension services that 
would seek to build on the needs and knowledge base of women 
farmers.

(c)  International and regional cooperation

32.10.  FAO, IFAD, WFP, the World Bank, the regional 
development banks and other international organizations 
involved in rural development should involve farmers and their 
representatives in their deliberations, as appropriate.

32.11.  Representative organizations of farmers should 
establish programmes for the development and support of 
farmers' organizations, particularly in developing countries.

Means of implementation

(a)  Financing and cost evaluation

32.12.  The financing needed for this programme area is 
estimated in chapter 14 entitled "Promoting sustainable 
agriculture and rural development", particularly in the 
programme area entitled "Ensuring people's participation and 
promoting human resource development".  The costs shown under 
chapters 3, 12 and 13 on combating poverty, combating 
desertification and drought, and sustainable mountain 
development are also relevant for this programme area.

(b)  Scientific and technological means

32.13.  Governments and appropriate international 
organizations, in collaboration with national research 
organizations and non-governmental organizations, should as 
appropriate:

     (a)  Develop environmentally sound farming technologies 
that enhance crop yields, maintain land quality, recycle 
nutrients, conserve water and energy and control pests and 
weeds;

     (b)  Conduct studies of high-resource and low-resource 
agriculture to compare their productivity and sustainability.  
The research should preferably be conducted under various 
environmental and sociological settings;

     (c)  Support research on mechanization that would optimize 
human labour and animal power and hand-held and animal-drawn 
equipment that can be easily operated and maintained.  The 
development of farm technologies should take into account 
farmers' available resources and the role of animals in farming 
households and the ecology.

(c)  Human resource development

32.14.  Governments, with the support of multilateral and 
bilateral development agencies and scientific organizations, 
should develop curricula for agricultural colleges and training 
institutions that would integrate ecology into agricultural 
science.  Interdisciplinary programmes in agricultural ecology 
are essential to the training of a new generation of 
agricultural scientists and field-level extension agents.

(d)  Capacity-building

32.15.  Governments should, in the light of each country's 
specific situation:

     (a)  Create the institutional and legal mechanisms to 
ensure effective land tenure to farmers.   The absence of 
legislation indicating land rights has been an obstacle in 
taking action against land degradation in many farming 
communities in developing countries;

     (b)  Strengthen rural institutions that would enhance 
sustainability through locally managed credit systems and 
technical assistance, local production and distribution 
facilities for inputs, appropriate equipment and small-scale 
processing units, and marketing and distribution systems;

     (c)  Establish mechanisms to increase access of farmers, 
in particular women and farmers from indigenous groups, to 
agricultual training, credit and use of improved technology for 
ensuring food security.

.
