Family farmers play "critical role" in food security


The vast majority of the world's 570 million farms that are managed by families can play a critical role in achieving food security, according to a UN report out on Thursday.

The State of Food and Agriculture 2014 released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says family farms produce about 80 per cent of the planet's food.
It says they are vital in feeding the more than 800 million hungry people around the world.

José Graziano da Silva is FAO Director-General in Rome.

"Nine out of ten farmers around the world are family farmers and these include a big range of different farmers and also traditional and indigenous agriculture includes also fisher folks, forest regulators among others. So they are quite different and diverse."

Mr da Silva said that innovative ways are needed to transform family farms into commercial farming.

SOURCE: Daniel Dickinson, United Nations.