CABI Blog

CABI CEO Dr Trevor Nicholls and Director General of CIMMYT Dr Martin Kropff share their expertise on family farming

This year opens the Decade of Family Farming, which aims to improve the life of family farmers around the world. In an earnest discussion, two leaders in the global agriculture community reflect on the challenges facing family farmers, the promises of high- and low-tech solutions, and their hopes for the future. A conversation between Dr Trevor Nicholls, CEO of CABI and Dr Martin Kropff, Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), was published by Rural 21 – The International Journal for Rural Development on how family farmers can face the future. The men also propose six key investments needed to help family farmers thrive in the next decade as part of special report by the Economist magazine’s Food Sustainability Index.

The two discuss the unique challenges facing family farms, how to keep young people interested in farming, the transformations that need to happen, climate change and hopes for the future.

You can read the full interview from the Rural 21 website.

Among the six key investments highlighted in the Economist article are the need to invest in women and youth, attract more young farmers into tech-smart farming, make climate-resilient crops more accessible, share practical plant health advice with family farmers, help family farmers diversify and grow more from less land and translate national and global goals into practical farming support.

More details on the six key investments are available on the Economist Food Sustainability Index website.

Additional information

In December 2017, Resolution A/RES/72/239 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2019-2028 the United Nations Decade of Family Farming. The UN Resolution calls upon the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to lead the implementation of the Decade in collaboration with other relevant organizations of the United Nations system and invites governments and other relevant stakeholders, including international and regional organizations, civil society, the private sector and academia, to actively support the implementation of the Decade.

Find out more from the Family Farming Knowledge Platform of the FAO Decade of Family Farming website.