The role of smallholder agriculture and family farming in Asia and Latin America and options for South-South cooperation
About 87 per cent of the world’s small farms are in the Asia and the Pacific region. In Latin America, small-scale (or family) farms produce most of the staple foods. The contribution of such farms to national food security is crucial (at least 70 per cent in Brazil, for example). But the economies are rapidly changing, affecting the livelihoods of smallholders and the people they are trying to feed.
Rapid economic and income growth, urbanization and globalization are leading to a significant shift in diets. The 2007/2008 rise in food prices was accompanied by a rapid expansion of land concentration and agro-industrial production in several countries in the region. This had direct consequences for land availability for small-scale farmers and the long-term sustainability of land use for agriculture. It has also led to increased migration to urban slums, and the expansion of agriculture into forest reserves. While some smallholders were able to benefit from new market opportunities, institutional innovations and higher food prices, many remain deprived of access to markets and find it difficult to adapt to new challenges.
There is growing recognition that any initiative that aims to successfully tackle the food security crisis must make long-term support to smallholder agriculture a central element. This means working together to enhance agricultural production and productivity, and enabling smallholders to benefit from new opportunities while adapting to climate change and price volatility, through differentiated public policies. Given that small-scale agriculture can play a key role in feeding the world in a sustainable way, there is a need for investments in improved technologies, applied research targeting this agricultural subsector, technical services, and specific capacity-building to improve the quality and productivity of small-scale agriculture while preserving the environment.
The joint event organized by the Asia and the Pacific Division and the Latin America and the Caribbean Division of IFAD will provide a platform for discussing experiences with smallholder agriculture and family farming; the nature and structure of public policies and programmes, and how IFAD can better promote and support them; opportunities and challenges for scaling up what works; and options for cooperation between the two regions, and also with Africa.
