With World Food Day in 2014 focusing on ‘Family Farming: feeding the world, caring for the earth’, an article in the Jakarta Post looks at how we can achieve food security through sustainable smallholder agriculture.

Smallholding, says the article “does not necessarily chart a course to future food scarcity, low productivity or small economy. It can indeed be an appropriate and responsible local response to food security and sustainable management of resources.”

“Traditional farming systems tend to feature and uphold higher biodiversity and agro-biodiversity,” such as through making use of a diversity of cultivars and practicing agroforestry or ecological agriculture. Family farming plays an important role in protecting the environment and enriching its biodiversity; reinforcing sustainable agriculture and a healthy food system.

The article goes on to discuss how food is central to culture, tradition and identity, and how food systems shape and enrich the environment, landscapes and social structures.

The example of the traditional ladang farming system in Kalimantan, Indonesia is given as an example. This forest-agriculture system combines native and introduced species for food and other products, including rice, millet, sorghum cassava, taro, sweet potatoes, corn and vegetables combined with local fruit varieties. The success of this system depends on maintaining a balance between production and a healthy ecosystem.

Such systems, says the article, “need to be maintained so that they can serve as a basis for sustainable and resilient agriculture and food production”.

Read the full story: The right to food and a good environment