Farmers Roundtable
Stakeholders Roundtables Venue: Room 17 Casa De La Cultura- Arthur Getz Facilitator/Consultant Urban PlanEat United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Chris Jochnick CEO Landesa United States of America
- David Suttie Policy Analyst International Fund For Agricultural Development (IFAD) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Marling Haydee Rodriguez Cerros Presidenta Del Consejo De Administración Unión De Cooperativas De Mujeres Productoras “Las Brumas” Nicaragua
- Michael Hurwitz Director Green Markets NYC United States of America
- Shivani Chaudhry Executive Director Housing And Land Rights Network (HLRN) India
Food Systems and the Urban-Rural Nexus in the Age of Urbanization
Serving as the backbone of the world’s food supply, farmers are on the frontlines of the rural concentration of extreme poverty and face the threat of displacement at the hands of urban sprawl. Agricultural producers find themselves doubly burdened as global urbanization continues to spread: a growing world population demands greater quantities of food production yet land grabbing and residential expansion into rural and peri-urban areas subtracts from the amount of arable land available for agriculture.
The New Urban Agenda promotes integrated territorial development and planning which strengthens and maximizes the linkages between urban and rural areas. An improved rural-urban continuum has great potential to generate widespread sustainable development, by bolstering rural livelihoods, managing urban growth, and facilitating a mutually-beneficial transfer of goods, services, and knowledge.
This Roundtable will promote a multi-stakeholder approach to urban-rural development by bringing together farmers, planners, professionals, and local authorities to discuss and forge a new framework for responsive territorial planning. As an empowered constituency, the women and men dedicated to agriculture bring their lived experience and practical development solutions to the table, making them essential actors in the planning, implementing and monitoring of any urban framework. Consideration must further be given to the creation of decent work in rural areas as well as the challenges faced by smallholder farmers in accessing global markets and even in their special needs when travelling to sell products in urban and peri-urban markets.
Objectives of the Roundtable
- Reconcile the priorities of women and men engaged in agricultural production and commercialization in the face of rapid urbanization and urban sprawl
- Highlight the role of farmers and rural people in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda
Guiding Questions
- How do we unpack the language of “rural-urban linkages” and integrate small farmers into the process of implementation of the New Urban Agenda?
- Is transportation enough to connect the rural and urban areas? What are other ways that the New Urban Agenda can promote exchanges?
- How is food waste treated in the different regions of the world? How can the New Urban Agenda mobilize resources to combat food waste?
- How can the New Urban Agenda be used to bolster rural livelihoods, including encouraging greater agro-processing and agricultural added value? How can rural women be empowered in this process?
- Farmers markets operate as a hub for small farmers, bringing them in direct contact with consumers in urban areas. Does this model have a real impact on the lives of small farmers? Does it put them at an advantage over agribusinesses?
Roundtable Follow Up
- How do you propose to monitor the outcomes of this session in order to report back on progress at the 9th Session of the World Urban Forum (2018, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)?