Thank You For Participating in the 2024 #IGrowYourFood Action Day!
To celebrate six years of #IGrowYourFood, we partnered with the Intercontinental Network of Organic Farmers Organisations (INOFO) to host a live stream discussion on 10 September 2024 at 12:00 CEST titled “Challenges and Strengthes in Family Farming – Organic as an Opportunity”.
Shamika Mone moderated the discussion alongside two organic farmers Pratap Marode and Tales Mendonca, Mercy Manyange, a young entrepreneur who buys and processes indigenous vegetables, and Guilherme Brady, Head of Family Farming, Parliamentary Networks and Communication for Development Unit of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). They discussed, shared their experiences, and also responded to questions and comments from the audience.
Shamika Mone is a researcher turned organic farmer and entrepreneur originally from Maharashtra. She does organic farming on 4 Acres leased farm land where she grows traditional rice varieties and vegetables. Additionally, she holds the position of President of INOFO.
Guilherme Brady is the Head of the Unit for Family Farming Engagement and Parliamentary Networks within FAO Partnerships and the UN Collaboration Division. He is the officer responsible for the Joint Secretariat FAO – IFAD for the United Nations Decade of Family Farming.
Mercy Manyange is a youth entrepreneur who runs a vegetable dehydration enterprise called Nyakazi Organics. She buys indigenous vegetables from the farmers' process and packs them for sale.
Pratap Marode is an organic family farmer, and a member of the National Steering Committee (NSC) member of Organic Farming Association of India (OFAI).
Thales Mendonça is a farmer working with agroforestry and mushrooms. He is also a technical consultant specialist in organic production and commercialisation, as well as various topics related to organic agriculture. Additionally, he holds the position of Global Relationship Manager at INOFO.
Watch the discussion here!
Family farmers are the pillars of our food systems. They make up the huge majority of the farmers and are the main producers of our food. It is crucial to support our family farmers through their challenges and empower them to be the solutions to several dimensions of the problems in the food systems we are currently facing.
FAO
Celebrating six years of #IGrowYourFood
This year on 10 September, marked six years of #IGrowYourFood, the first global action day celebrating the people who sustainably grow our food. Since 2019, we have provided a platform for hundreds of farmers to share their experiences and challenges, and exchange with their counterparts from all over the world.
During this time, organic and agroecological farmers and advocates have taken to social media to share the challenges farmers face, how we can support them, and why they choose organic. This year was no different!
Drawing inspiration from our principles of organic agriculture, global action day was the perfect opportunity for everyone to unite and listen to the voices of the phenomenal farmers growing our food.
On the action day, 10 September, we hosted a live stream that featured organic farmers from all over the world. They talked about the challenges that organic family farmers in different regions of the world face and shared their expertise on how they overcome them.
Discover farmers’ stories: We also curated video messages from organic and agroecological farmers worldwide that you can share all year round.
Want to share your story? We have got your back. We have launched a video showing:
- What tools you could use to prepare for the action day
- How you could participate in the action day
- Why it is important to amplify farmers' voices
- Go to your favourite social media channels, search #IGrowYourFood, then like and share as many videos and articles as you can!
- Use the #IGrowYourFood playlists from 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 , 2023 and 2024 to find videos that resonate with you and post them from your channels.
- Make sure you use the #IGrowYourFood hashtag when sharing your message so we can find and re-share your post!
- Choose organic produce which ultimately supports the farmers who work to put organic on our tables
Let us continue to celebrate all farmers who produce our food in harmony with nature!
Let’s unite to highlight the importance of organic farming and show our support for those who nourish our planet with care and responsibility. Together, we can amplify the conversation around organic farming and inspire more people to #LuvOrganic.
