Creation and Development of Family Farms

A thematic exhibition "Creation and Development of Family Farming" dedicated to the Decade of Family Farming, is held from January 17 to February 13 in the International Organizations Documents reading room (room 207g).

The decade from 2019 to 2028 is officially proclaimed the United Nations Decade of Family Farming at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly on December 20, 2017 (resolution A/RES/72/239).

Noting the success of the International Year of Family Farming in 2014, during which many countries made significant progress in formulating public policies in support of farming, the General Assembly noted that the Decade of Family Farming will contribute to further widespread discussion and solution of the problems facing small farms.

The Assembly also highlighted the key role of governments in supporting family farms so that they can realize their potential. This support should include technical assistance and the development of strategies aimed at increasing the productivity of family farms, providing access to the necessary technology, land and water resources, loans and markets, as well as improving the investment climate.
Having chosen such a topic for the Decade, the Assembly recognized that family farms contribute to sustainable development and are the main actors in solving the dual problem that the world is facing now − strengthening food security and preserving natural resources.

Family farming is a way of organizing agricultural, forestry, fish, grazing production, carried out and managed by the family and based primarily on the work of family members, both women and men.

In developed and developing countries, the number of family farms reaches more than 500 million - this is the main form of agriculture in the food production sector. About 80% of agricultural enterprises in the European Union are family farms, which dispose 68% of agricultural land. In many developing countries, family farms are accounted for up to 80% of production among all forms of farms.

In Belarus, farming has not yet become the basis of agrarian production, and serves only as an addition to large-scale commercial production.

The farms of the Republic of Belarus make a feasible contribution to the creation and sale of agricultural products of the country. Thanks to them, some social problems are solved in providing the rural population with jobs, timely payment of wages, and restoration of unused land.

The State Program for the Development of Agrarian Business in the Republic of Belarus for 2016–2020 provides for measures aimed at the further development of farms.

As of January 1, 2018, 3,168 peasant farms were registered in the republic. 206,7 thousand hectares of land are assigned for farms, one farm has about 78 hectares of land on average. The main direction of production activity of farms is plant growing, which accounts for about 90% of all their products.

The exhibition presents more than 60 documents in Russian and English: books, periodicals, brochures, booklets.

The exposition includes the following thematic sections:

• Organization and economic bases of farms.
• The role of private farms and private farms in the development of agriculture
• Development of farms: foreign experience
• Livestock
• Crop farms
• Farmers of Belarus: state and development trends

The exhibition will be interesting to farmers, specialists in the field of agriculture, environmental economics, environmental protection, scientists, students, graduate students and anyone interested in the problems of the development of farms.

Useful links:

The opening hours of the exhibition corresponds to the library’s opening hours.
Entrance to the exhibition is available by the library ticket or ticket of the library's social and cultural center.

For more info: (+375 17) 293 27 34.
Е-mail: pr@nlb.b

The article is created by the Official Documents Department.