FAO calls for increased support for mountain family farming

A press release from the FAO: Securing land tenure, providing access to resources for mountain family farms, and improving basic infrastructure in mountain regions are among the key solutions to improving the livelihoods and food security of mountain and lowland communities, FAO said today.

Around 40 percent of mountain populations in developing and transition countries - about 300 million people - are food insecure, with half of them suffering from chronic hunger, according to a new FAO publication, Mountain Farming is Family Farming, launched today to mark the UN's International Mountain Day.

Globally, mountains provide freshwater to half of the world's population, mainly due to the water and soil management practised by millions of mountain farmers. Mountains are also reservoirs of global biodiversity and mountain farmers have been the custodians of this genetic wealth, while providing valuable nutrition for their families for centuries.

"The report comes out at a time when the post-2015 development agenda is being discussed," said Eduardo Rojas-Briales, FAO Assistant Director-General for Forests. "We need to ensure that issues related to sustainable mountain development are adequately reflected in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda. Raising the profile of mountain farmers and supporting them through an enabling policy environment will benefit both mountain people as well as populations living in lowlands who benefit from their products and services."....

Tutemani with its single farm settlements is a cultural landscape typical for eastern Nepal. Despite the barren landscape, rice, wheat and maize is grown. The surrounding hills used to be covered in trees. Photo: Fritz Berger/Etter Studio, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license