Forest and Farm Facility launches Phase II

On 20 July IIED and partners will launch Phase II of the Forest and Farm Facility, the second stage of a highly successful international partnership that is providing support to forest and farm producer organisations across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

News, 20 July 2018
Workshop participants undertake a participatory resource mapping exercise for community enterprises (Photo: Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources - ANSAB)

Workshop participants undertake a participatory resource mapping exercise for community enterprises (Photo: Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources - ANSAB)

More than 1.5 billion smallholders around the world depend on forest landscapes for their food and livelihoods. The Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) is a programme hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that supports forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs), helping them to organise, connect to each other and develop new markets and opportunities. 

Since its launch in 2012, FFF has provided direct support to more than 930 FFPOs in 10 partner countries and has reached 30 regional and global organisations. In all, FFF is estimated to have delivered positive impacts on some 30 million producers across the world.

FFF Phase II will be launched in Rome on 20 July 2018. The four programme partners – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), IUCN  and AgriCord – will announce plans to significantly increase the scale and range of FFF impacts, identify new partner countries, and will suggest a wider FFF network and set out key project milestones.

The launch event is being held at the biennial meeting of the Committee on Forestry (COFO), the FAO's highest statutory forestry body. The launch of Climate resilient landscapes and improved livelihoods – Phase II of the Forest and Farm Facility will also see the release of a video illustrating impacts in partner countries and in the regions. 

FFF will also publish a summary report setting out some of the achievements of Phase I and 10 country factsheets.

During a side event at COFO, FFF has also launched a research report published by IUCN, ‘The world’s largest private sector? Recognizing the cumulative economic value of small-scale forest and farm producers’, which suggests that the value of smallholder production exceeds that of the world’s largest companies, making smallholder production collectively the world’s largest private sector. 

Phase II aims

Over the next five years (2018-2022) FFF Phase II will scale up support for FFPOs and build links to complementary development programmes.

FFF will offer a range of services to FFPOs including advocacy, market information, training in market analysis and development, and business incubation. The project will also work to improve FFPO governance, increase membership and make it more inclusive, and ensure better representation. FFF will also focus on ensuring organisations’ environmental sustainability and on building effective management skills. The work will place particular emphasis on gender equality, indigenous people's rights and youth engagement. 

IIED will lead efforts to generate new knowledge about good practices and lessons learned through joint publications and blogs.

FFF II activities will be concentrated in seven partner countries: Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Vietnam, Nepal, Bolivia and Ecuador. The project will also deliver technical support and knowledge exchange in a wider network of countries, including Tanzania, Liberia, Gambia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Guatemala and Nicaragua. 

Phase I impacts

The first phase of FFF was launched in 2012 with a remit to strengthen producer organisations for smallholders, women, communities and indigenous peoples in order to improve business, livelihoods and policy engagement.

Phase I resource partner included the governments of Germany, Sweden, Finland, the US Department of State, AgriCord through its Farmers Fighting Poverty Programme, and funds from the EU-FLEGT programme and FAO through the FAO Multi Partner Programme Support Mechanism (FMM) (supported by Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland).

Results to date have far exceeded expectations. FFF has achieved documented success in poverty reduction, policy influence, increased tenure security, improved prices for producers and business development in ways that reflect greater participation by women and an emphasis on youth involvement.

FFF’s work with governmental institutions, regional, national and global partners has leveraged over US$130 million to support FFPO activities.

The impact of FFF's work stretches around the globe:

  • In Viet Nam, timber growers’ groups are obtaining prices that are up to 15% higher,
  • In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, with the active participation of FFPOs, the government has allocated over $90 million to strengthening producers of cacao, coffee and non-wood forest products from the Amazon, and
  • In the Gambia, 77 community forestry groups secured land tenure.

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