FAMILY FARMING: FEEDING THE WORLD, CARING FOR THE EARTH ORGANIZED by FAO and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE Washington D.C. 22nd October, 2014 S. Rajaram Director, RESOURCE SEEDS INTERNATIONAL TOLUCA, MÉXICO

ZERO HUNGER The United Nations (UN) designated 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming, recognizing that an estimated 500 million family farms, involving over 2 Billion people, play a key role in food production and consumption world wide. It is thus an opportune time to encourage a shift in tackling global hunger from a "food security" focus to an agenda that promotes "nutritional security" instead. M.S. Swaminathan Science Editorial 1 August 2014, Vol. 345 Issue 6196

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH AND BRIDGING THE GAP FOR SMALL FAMILY FARMS INTERAGENCY REPORT TO MEXICAN G 20 PRESIDENCY 12 JUNE 2012

Focus on farms with: –Less than 2 ha of land –Multiple crops and activities –Limited access to credit and other resources –Family-head herself the farmer Family Farms Courtesy: Shivaji Pandey, FAO

Policies to Support Family Farms 1. Good governance, peace and stability encourage investments 2. Access to land, other agricultural resources, and capacity building, especially for women farmers Courtesy: Shivaji Pandey, FAO

Policies to Support Family Farms Courtesy: Shivaji Pandey, FAO 3. and access to credit and markets 4. Access to improved technologies and knowledge, especially for women farmers

Policies to Support Family Farms 5. Support to Farmer Associations, Cooperatives, and companies 6. Contract farming with larger farmers Courtesy: Shivaji Pandey, FAO

HELPING SMALL FAMILY FARMERS Some Outstanding Technical Interventions

NEPAL HILL MAIZE RESEARCH Funded by USAID & SDC Helped farmers to graduate to a seed company in the hills Improved maize variety Manakamana 3 vs local variety 60% more yield Courtesy: Guillermo Ortiz Ferrara, CIMMYT

HYBRID MAIZE IN TOLUCA VALLEY: LAND OF ORIGIN OF MAIZE Yield of hybrid 7 Ton. per Ha. Yield of local criollo 2 Ton/Ha Adaptation constraints- cost of seed and inputs Cost of hybrid seed for 1 Ha $2000 pesos = 160 USD Net profit-- $ pesos for hybrid Source: Mario Albarrán. RSI, México.

Correcting Boron Deficiency Courtesy: Perry Gustafson, University of Missouri

Bangladesh- Correcting Boron Deficiency (USDA/FAS) 1 Kg of Boron per hectare at planting time Yield increase of 20% over the check variety 1 Kg of Boron cost 1000 taka Farmers had 9000 takas net profit Yield increase for all crops except rice Courtesy: Perry Gustafson, University of Missouri

PROMOTING GRASSPEA VARIETIES IN THE STATES OF BIHAR, WEST BENGAL, CHHATTISGARH AND U.P small/ marginal family farmers Adivasis (TRIBAL) farmers adopted these low toxin varieties Grasspeas varieties have 29% protein Courtesy: Ashutosh Sarker, ICARDA

Courtesy: Mahmoud Solh

Urea Deep Placement Urea use reduced by 78 to 150 kg/ha Paddy yields increased by 900 to 1,100 kg/ha Average net return $188/ ha higher than with broadcasting Courtesy: Shivaji Pandey, FAO

ADAPTING MICRONUTRIENTS RICH GRAINS TARGET VITAMIN A CASSAVA 25 %NIGERIA IRON BEAN45 %RAWANDA VITAMIN A MAIZE25 %ZAMBIA IRON PEARL MILLET 60 %INDIA ZINC RICE41 %BANGLADESH ZINC WHEAT43 %INDIA Sorce: Harvest Plus, CGIAR

DR. SANJAYA RAJARAM