FAO brings together five continents to advance land governance and equitable access to land for family farmers

Today, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) opened the joint Seventeenth International LANDNET Workshop and Second Interregional Dialogue on Family Farming, convening policymakers, land professionals, researchers and representatives of civil society and the private sector to identify practical solutions for more equitable access to land and improved land governance.

Held from 8 to 10 September in Budapest, Hungary, the event brought together about 140 participants from more than 45 countries – and some 100 participants joining virtually – to connect experiences from the following FAO regions: Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Near East and North Africa, North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Rural communities around the world are facing climate, economic and conflict-related pressures. During the three-day workshop, participants will examine how secure tenure rights, inclusive access to land, and effective land governance can support family farmers and strengthen their resilience. Discussions will address land fragmentation and abandonment, generational renewal in agriculture, women’s access to land, land reform, and the need for well-functioning agricultural land markets. Key and proven land policy instruments, such as multipurpose land consolidation and land banking, will also be on the agenda.

“By bringing together experiences from five continents, we create a unique opportunity to learn from one another and to identify solutions that can be adapted and scaled in different contexts,” said Viorel Gutu, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia, at the opening of the event. “Let us use this opportunity to build new partnerships and advance solutions that improve the lives of rural people and strengthen the resilience of our agrifood systems.”

For his part, the Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative of FAO’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rene Orellana Halkyer, welcomed this joint space for dialogue, which brings together diverse stakeholders to identify proposals and policy solutions that benefit family farming. “Your contributions are essential to advancing solutions that strengthen family farming, promote more equitable access to land, and contribute to building more sustainable agrifood systems,” he emphasized.

The event is supported through FAO’s Regional Technical Platform for Family Farming and the Regional Technical Platform on Green Agriculture.

Better land governance for resilient agrifood systems

Family farmers are central to agrifood systems, food security, rural livelihoods and sustainable natural resource management. In many parts of Europe and Central Asia, especially Eastern Europe and Central Asia, agriculture remains dominated by small family farms.

Yet many family farmers, particularly women and young people, face insecure tenure rights and limited access to land. Climate change, extreme weather, land fragmentation, abandonment and demographic change are adding pressure on rural areas.

Event participants will discuss how policy and land management instruments can help address these challenges. Land consolidation can help countries use agricultural land more productively and sustainably, facilitate access to land for young farmers, enhance farm competitiveness, improve rural infrastructure and support climate adaptation.

FAO promotes, when relevant, a multipurpose approach to land consolidation and land banking in which land policy instruments are integrated with investments in better water management (including irrigation rehabilitation, nature restoration and climate resilience), nature restoration or environmental protection, depending on the needs in the project area. During the workshop, countries from around the world will share their experiences and best practices in this regard.

Connecting experience across countries and regions

The decision to hold the two initiatives – the LANDNET workshop and the interregional forum – jointly creates a platform for exchanging the LANDNET network’s accumulated technical experience with policy approaches and practices from Latin America and the Caribbean and other regions.

The recommendations emerging from the Budapest discussions are expected to inform the Global Solutions Forum on Family Farming, to be held in November in Rome, and contribute to continued interregional cooperation on policies that support family farmers and sustainable rural transformation.

© FAO /Zsolt Kiss Szabó

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LANDNET is an FAO-supported community of practice and technical network of land tenure professionals. It brings together more than 500 experts from over 40 countries, representing governments, academia, civil society and the private sector.

The Interregional Dialogue for Family Farming applies a solutions-oriented approach to strategic issues affecting family farmers. It facilitates the exchange of experience and good practices among regions while strengthening institutional capacities and supporting the priorities of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019–2028. The event is co-funded by the Government of Brazil and the European Union LIFE IP Natureman project in Denmark.