We, Family Farmers of Tanzania, organized by SHIWAKUTA (as a Secretariat) under the Tanzania National Committee for Family Farmers (TANCOFF), met at Midland View-Inn Hotel in Dodoma on 29 July 2025 during the National Workshop for the Inauguration of the National Action Plan (NAP) of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF 2019–2028). Guided by our lived experiences, collective knowledge, and commitment to sustainable food systems, we hereby present the following national policy positions and calls to action: –

1. Family Farming as the Foundation of Tanzania’s Food System

We affirm that family farming is the backbone of Tanzania’s food security, rural livelihoods, and national development. We call upon the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania to formally recognize and integrate family farming as a central pillar within national agricultural, food system, and rural development policies, strategies, and public investment frameworks.

2. Institutionalization and Financing of the UNDFF National Action Plan

We commit to advancing the implementation of Tanzania’s National Action Plan (NAP) for the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019–2028) and call on the Government, development partners, and United Nations agencies to ensure its full institutionalization, adequate and sustained public financing, and alignment with national development agendas, including the upcoming Vision 2050.

3. Inclusive and Coordinated Governance for Family Farming

We position TANCOFF as a national multi-stakeholder coordination platform for family farming and call for strengthened inter-ministerial collaboration and structured engagement mechanisms that place family farmers and their representative organizations at the centre of policy dialogue, planning, implementation, and monitoring.

4. Recognition and Empowerment of Farmer-Led Organizations

We commit to strengthening democratic, inclusive, and accountable farmer-led organizations and call upon public institutions to formally recognize and engage these organizations as legitimate partners in policy formulation, programme design, and oversight, ensuring that grassroots voices shape decisions that affect rural livelihoods.

5. Gender Equality and Youth Leadership in Family Farming

We reaffirm our commitment to gender equality and youth inclusion in family farming systems and call on authorities to adopt targeted policies, budgets, and programmes that promote women’s leadership, secure equitable access to resources, address structural inequalities, and make family farming a dignified and attractive livelihood for young people.

6. Agroecology as a Pathway to Resilient and Sustainable Food Systems

We affirm agroecology as a strategic pathway for resilient, climate-adaptive, and locally rooted family farming systems. We call upon the Government to mainstream agroecological approaches in agricultural extension, research, market development, and climate adaptation strategies, while protecting biodiversity and indigenous knowledge.

7. Fair, Inclusive, and Territorial Markets for Family Farmers

We call for the establishment of fair and inclusive domestic and regional markets through supportive trade policies, reduced structural barriers, improved market infrastructure, and coherent regulations that enhance family farmers’ incomes, protect small-scale producers, and strengthen territorial and cross-border markets.