Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
FAO, Rome , Ankara, 2025
Global issues
of hunger and food production have raised concerns about food security, healthy
and balanced nutrition, as well as a return to more sustainable ways of living.
Agricultural land is an essential natural asset and resource for food
production, food security, and the future of humanity and all living things.
Countries that protect and preserve their land for the next few centuries will ensure
a more secure food supply situation. A key factor in ensuring food security, protecting
soil and water resources, and conserving biological diversity for the future is
an increased focus on the importance of family farming.
Family farming can be defined as all agriculture-related production activities carried out predominantly by members of a family, often over generations. Family farming encompasses all family-based agricultural activities and is linked to many areas of rural development. Family farming includes agriculture, forestry, fisheries, greenhouse and aquaculture production activities, managed and carried out by a family.
The concept of family farming was defined in The State of Food and Agriculture (FAO, 2014a), a global report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) during the International Year of Family Farming in 2014:
Family
farming (including all family-based agricultural activities) is a means of
organization covering agriculture, forestry, fisheries, livestock and
aquaculture production, managed and operated by a family, and is predominantly
based on family labour and, of course, involves the joint labour of both women
and men. The family and the farm are interlinked, develop together and combine
economic, environmental, social and cultural functions.
Family
farming employs more than 2 billion people, more than 25 percent of
the world’s population, and produces more than 70 percent of the world’s
food. FAO estimates that there are more than 500 million family farms
worldwide (Eren and Gülçubuk, 2023). Family
farming contributes particularly to food security, biodiversity conservation
and the rural economy. If supported by policies and programmes that deliver
tangible outputs, family farming can ensure sufficient agricultural production to
feed the world’s population, thereby reducing global hunger.
Family farming is essential for food security and nutrition and for building sustainable, healthy food systems. However, family farmers currently face numerous economic, financial, social and environmental risks, and are among the groups most affected by poverty. More than 70 percent of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.
Small-scale family farms (i.e. with less than 100 decares of land) account for over 80 percent of agricultural holdings in Türkiye, with the average agricultural holding covering 62 decares. As of 2024, family farmers account for at least 80 percent of the approximately 2.3 million registered farmers. Due to this traditional structure, Türkiye offers significant potential for family farming. Agriculture and rural areas face a number of problems, however: high input costs, an aging farmer population, the tendency of young people to leave agriculture, the emptying of rural settlements, difficulty in accessing markets, lack of organization, low productivity and rural-urban migration are all significant issues posing a threat to sustainable agricultural production and food security.
The aging agricultural population is one of the most important problems encountered in sustainable production and food security, and has resulted in targeted policies and ongoing discourse at the global level. Family farming has been identified as a key factor in effectively addressing this issue.
On the proposal of FAO, the 66th General Assembly of the United Nations officially recognized 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming. As a result of this decision and ongoing intensive efforts on the part of FAO, family farming has attracted continued attention at the global level, becoming a key component in issues related to agriculture, the environment, natural resources and social policies. Since 2014, countries have established national family farming policies and programmes for family farming and worked to implement them. A variety of activities related to family farming have also been organized to heighten awareness of the importance of this subject.
Activities organized in Türkiye to promote family Farming included the 2014 International Year of Family Farming Workshop, held in Ankara on 12–13 June 2014 by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock in cooperation with FAO and the Ankara University Development Studies Application and Research Centre (AKÇAM). The workshop was attended by a large group of participants from FAO, universities, NGOs, producer organizations, farmers and senior representatives of all stakeholder ministries. In the same year, the Türkiye Sustainable Family Farming Report was published based on information, findings and recommendations obtained from events organized in different provinces across the country.
Under the leadership of FAO and AKÇAM, a National Family Farming Symposium was organized in 2014 in cooperation with the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock and relevant stakeholders. The symposium was the most well-attended event ever organized on the topic of family farming. A resulting reference work published after the symposium remains the most comprehensive resource on the subject in Türkiye.
The outcomes of global events organized in 2014 confirmed the importance of family farming for sustainable agricultural production, rural revitalization, food security and healthy nutrition. Accordingly, the United Nations General Assembly, at its 72nd Session, declared the decade 2019–2028 as the Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF). FAO and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) jointly manage the global secretariat of this initiative on behalf of the United Nations (UN).
The main vision of the UNDFF is “a world with diversified, healthy and sustainable agrifood systems, resilient rural and urban communities with dignity and equality, and a high quality of life free from hunger and poverty.” To help accomplish this goal, various studies and activities have been initiated within the scope of UNDFF in many countries worldwide, including in Türkiye.
The creation of the UNDFF renewed interest in family farming at the national and international levels and led to the preparation of a Global Action Plan to guide countries’ efforts in this area. The Global Action Plan consists of seven key action areas that aim to sustain the positive policy environment which emerged after 2014 and to enable countries to take more concrete steps on certain priority issues. Foremost among these is a call for each country to prepare its own National Action Plan. The present national report offers a general assessment of the situation and aims to provide a basis for the preparation of these plans.
This reporting study is primarily based on a literature review. A preliminary report was prepared to determine the current family farming situation in Türkiye. Subsequently, local workshops were organized in four provinces (Antalya, Erzurum, Nevşehir and Samsun) and a National Workshop was held in Ankara in April–July 2023. In addition to data obtained locally from the technical meetings in the provinces, online surveys were conducted for family farmers under the coordination of the Provincial Directorates of Agriculture and Forestry in the selected provinces. The survey findings were integrated with the outputs from the local workshops to produce this study.