Farming for the future

Abstract

Today family farming is the predominant form of agriculture in the world. Communication lies at the core of the process of change that involves family farming. Smallholder family farmers and rural communities require access to information and communication to make their voices heard and change their lives for the better. This implies including communication for development (ComDev) as part of agricultural and rural development policies in order to promote dialogue and participation, harnessing t he potential of new ICTs (such as mobile phones, the internet and computer-based applications) in combination with local media (such as community radio). This document has been prepared to inspire reflection on the role of communication in advancing family farming. It provides examples of ComDev approaches applied to farming and rural development with special attention to the experiences generated by farmers’ organizations.