Family Farming

What is family farming?

It is developed in rural environments, with the following characteristics:

• The farmer and his family carry out the production.
• The farmer owns some or all of the means of production.
• The farmer’s family lives in the countryside or in the nearest locality.
• Farming is the family’s main source of income.

Are only agricultural activities covered by this law?

No. Family farming also includes activities related to:

• Livestock.
• Tree planting.
• Fishing.
• The breeding of aquatic, animal or plant species.

Family Farming Law

What are the objectives of this law?

Among others:

• That producers and farm workers develop.
• Serve the regions with the greatest productive backwardness.
• Promote agricultural production to achieve the nation’s food sovereignty and security.
• Enhance the value of family farming.
• Recognize the life and production practices of indigenous communities.
• Encourage families and young people to live in the countryside.
• Take advantage of the characteristics of each region to generate products.
• Ensure that healthy, fairly-priced food is available to consumers.
• Strengthen the organization of family producers in associations and cooperatives.
• Ensure access to natural resources.
• Sell the products in wider markets.

Family Farming Registration

What do I have to do to get the benefits of the law?

You have to register with the RENAF (National Registry of Family Farming).
What is RENAF used for?

• It gives family farmers an ID that allows them to access policies that are developed for their benefit.
• It allows family farmers to be grouped into different categories, according to their conditions and needs. That way, different policies can be designed according to different needs.
• It is a reliable and up-to-date source of information on family farming.
• It provides tools to design specific strategies and studies.

Land Bank

What is the Land Bank?

One of the objectives of the law is to ensure access to land. That is why the land bank was created to have land suitable and available for family farming.

How is the land bank formed?

• Lands owned by the Nation that the State decides to include in the bank.
• Land that the provinces and municipalities transfer to the Nation to be included in the bank.
• All rural lands that enter the patrimony of the national State through judicial, administrative, taxation, etc. mechanisms.
• Land donated or bequeathed to the State for the State to include in the bank.

Are there any benefits to people who donate land to the land bank?

Yes, they have tax and fiscal benefits.

Can I access the land that is in the land bank?

Yes. The lands that make up the bank must be handed over to family farmers registered with RENAF who request them. They can also be given to residents who demonstrate their desire to settle down and work in family farming.

If I am awarded land from the land bank, do I own the land?

Land can be given in different ways: sale, lease or donation. Therefore, in some cases you will be able to be an owner, in others a tenant, etc.

How is land allocated?

• Ecological regions.
• Types of exploitation.
• Infrastructure of the region, area or place.
• Productive capacity of the land.
• Economic condition of the applicant and ability to have work teams.
• Number of family members.
• Lack of access to land or insecurity about the possibility of continuing to own the land they live on and work on.

Land regularization

I’ve been working and living with my family on land for a long time, but I don’t have the title, can this law help me?

Yes. The law establishes that the State must know, analyze and facilitate the solution of this type of situation.

Support for family farming

What support does this law have for family farming?

• Programmes to increase production and marketing.
• Technological development.
• Education, education and training.
• Improvement of transport, road network, housing, electrification, communication, water and irrigation, etc.
• Social services: education, health, sports, social development.

Promotion of family farming

What does the law do to promote family farming?

• Tax benefits: Tax discounts.
• Social Security: Create a special regime so that you can retire.
• Product quality certifications to facilitate exports. Also for marketing throughout the country.
• Comprehensive insurance for family farming: to cover losses caused by natural disasters, workplace accidents, theft, etc.
• Loans: With lower interest rates and possible guarantees for family farmers. Long-term loans to purchase machinery, vehicles, etc.