Family-owned farms more resilient to climate change
– IICA study finds
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, June 21, 2018
A recent study by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has found that a majority of farms in Guyana are family operated and this helps them adapt to climate change.
The study surveyed farms in Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, speaking at the launch at the Regency Suites noted: “There are two important roles of family farmers. One is on food security –availability, access and utilization of nutritious food; and the second is sustainable production to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. Interestingly, the study found that about 75 percent of all farms in Guyana may be categorised as family farms because our farmers rely solely on the farm for their livelihood.”
In addition, Minister Holder said the findings of the IICA investigations are timely: “As I see it, there are two important roles of family farmers. One is on food security –availability, access and utilisation of nutritious food; and the second is sustainable production to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. On the latter, family farming is seen as an approach for sustainable, integrated, diversified, organic, low-input, natural agriculture which is in line with the Green State Development Strategy of Guyana.”
Meanwhile, IICA’s representative in Guyana, Wilmot Garnett said the national consultation serves to refresh stakeholders’ understanding of family farming and the global effort to raise the profile and support for it.
“The expected results are to improve clarity of the concept and potential benefits for agricultural development as an important base for pursuing further interventions in family farming, to build consensus that the characteristics of family farming within the agricultural community are sufficiently strong to stimulate interest in pursuing farming as an integral part of the national agricultural development framework and to support viable for interventions towards strengthening the capacity of family farming to enhanced entrepreneurial operations.”
Link to report: http://repositorio.iica.int/bitstream/11324/6104/1/BVE17109315i.pdf