The strategy aimed at strengthening family farming must be market-oriented, said Ruben Flores, representative of the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Flores recommended that State interventions —aimed at developing the economic sector— should not be of a welfare nature, but on the contrary, with the prospect of growth based on the current and potential demand for
agricultural products.
"The key strategy is that family farming must be oriented towards domestic and international markets; there are opportunities in both cases," he told
Andina news agency.
According to the FAO representative,
family farming "requires scale, volume, and must meet standard parameters" to move forward; consequently, it requires major associative efforts.
"It is not the same selling a sack of native potatoes as selling 20,000 tons of them," he said, after participating at the panel discussion 'Public-private articulated strategies to overcome poverty' during the 21st National Convention for Peruvian Agriculture.
Therefore, the official emphasized that associativity must be linked to two things: buying power and selling power.
"Buying power because they can provide services at lower production costs and guarantee an increased margin, and selling power because they can negotiate better prices," Flores stated.
"Then, the art of public policy must be oriented towards strengthening the market-oriented associativity, but above all, towards facilitating —through associativity— the different services that peasant family farming requires," he added.
(END) MDV/RMB/MVB
Published: 11/20/2019