Press Release

World Day to Combat Desertification: Empowering farmers as agents of change

June 17, 2008, Paris, France - Land degradation affects around two billion people and 70 per cent of the world’s agricultural land. The International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) is working together with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to find solutions that recognize farmers and farmer organizations as agents of change in establishing innovative and farmer-led strategies to revitalize degraded agricultural land to increase food security and create vibrant rural communities. In order to be effective, farmers’ organizations must be the primary partners with governments and development institutions in designing and implementing investment strategies in dryland areas.

Farmers are the most vulnerable to the effects of desertification. However, throughout the centuries they have developed practices to combat desertification such as composting, mulching, the collection of rainwater, agro-forestry, zero tillage, and conservation agriculture. These efforts need to be documented more efficiently for replication and up-scaling purposes. The President of IFAP, Ajay Vashee who is a farmer in Zambia, said that “The current food and energy crisis should instil a much greater sense of urgency in evaluating the overall consequences of desertification and land degradation in agriculture and the positive effects of farmers’ conservation efforts. However, isolated farming technical practices cannot alone ensure the sustainable development of rural communities in arid areas. Governments need to put in place integrated development plans at the national, regional and international levels. These plans should include capacity-building measures of stakeholders in local communities so that they can play their full role in integrated development measures.” Vashee insisted that governments also need to put in place incentive systems and stewardship programs to encourage farmers to adopt the most sustainable agricultural practises. “It is the farmers who will improve the productivity of land ecosystems,” said Vashee, “but they cannot do it without the backing of their national government.”

The research and development community is also a critical partner for farmers in the battle to reverse the trend of desertification and land degradation. Building on generations of local and indigenous knowledge, farmers and researchers need to modernize agricultural practices and develop appropriate technologies adapted to specific varieties of crops in dry land areas.

Policy makers have to create enabling environments to attract investment from private business, donors and NGOs in the development of arid areas. These development partners need to work with farmers’ organisations and national governments to upgrade extension services to farmers so that they can make the necessary adaptations, which are particularly important in relation to climate change. As well as adapting to climate change, farmers can also play a role in mitigation. For example, dry land areas represent huge reservoirs to fix carbon. There is a big opportunity here for farmers to generate income through carbon sequestration activities such as agro-forestry, and conservation agriculture. Governments should ensure that carbon credits created by a change of agricultural practices be attributed and paid to the farmer. This would provide farmers with an alternative source of income while promoting good agricultural practices.

“The World Day to Combat Desertification provides an excellent opportunity to draw attention to the need for pro-farmer policies aimed at improving the productivity of land ecosystems,” said Ajay Vashee, “and I look forward to an early opportunity to meet with the UNCCD to move forward on this.”

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