22 November 2013, New York, USA - Launch of the International Year of Family Farming 2014, attended by UN officials, ambassadors to the UN, government ministers and civil society leaders who will serve as Special ambassadors for the year, including: Ibrahim Coulibaly, from Mali, President of the National Coordination of Peasant Organizations of Mali; Mirna Cunningham, from Nicaragua, former Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues; and Gerd Sonnleitner, from Germany, President of the European Farmers Association.
The International Year aims to raise the profile of family and smallholder farming by focusing world attention on its significant role in alleviating hunger and poverty, providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, managing natural resources, protecting the environment, and achieving sustainable development, in particular in rural areas.