INOFO Represented at the Latin America Farmers’ Forums
Two International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Farmers' Forums were held in Latin America in January, one for the Central American and Caribbean subregion and one for the South American subregion.
The Farmers' Forum for Central America and the Caribbean was held in Panama on 23-24 January. Representatives of smallholder farmers, fisher-people and indigenous peoples' organisations joined IFAD staff to discuss:
- how to make their alliance more effective
- what public policies are needed
- and how IFAD projects could better involve farmers' and indigenous peoples' organisations.
The International Network of Organic Farmers Organisations (INOFO) was represented by Julitza Nieves from the Alliance for Agriculture, Puerto Rico.
The IFAD Subregional Farmers' Forum for South America was held in Montevideo on 26-27 January. The event was attended by 40 representatives of farmers', fisherpeople's and indigenous peoples' organisations from the subcontinent. They discussed IFAD projects and how they could be improved to meet the needs of rural communities and contribute to their development.
INOFO was represented by its representatives in the subregion. The delegation was made up of; Alfredo Añasco from the Agroecological Markets of the Valley del Cauca (Colombia), Leticia Osorio from Orgânicos Sul de Minas, Thales Bevilacqua from Rede Ecovida and Karina David from the Forum of Participatory Guarantee Systems (Brazil). These representatives were accompanied by officials from IFAD and representatives from FAO and MERCOSUR.
During the discussions, agroecology emerged unanimously as a solution to the problems faced by the groups represented. Gender equality, with the active participation and leadership of women, was also a central point of discussion. Although many women representatives of organisations were invited and present, the majority of speakers were men.
The participation of INOFO was fundamental and their active role essential in the plenary sessions which were structured by themes and countries. The representatives hope that INOFO can continue to represent farmers' voices in more forums like this.
