Smallholder farmers need recognition – FAO

In a new report, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for more nuanced policy-making process to boost smallholder farm output.

“Requiring better knowledge of individual farm households and the constraints they face is needed, to be able to target investments and policy support,” it said.

It said smallholder farmers were usually the ones investing their own money with little access to credit or insurance should something arise, such as unfavourable weather conditions.

“Just as smallholders are a heterogeneous group, the markets in which they participate are also diverse in terms of their size, geographic location, connectivity to other markets, power relations between market players, and institutional setting,” the report states.

It said this combination of complex factors means that the approach to smallholder farmer’s participation in markets have to be suitably nuanced.

“Small-scale agriculture is the main source of food in the developing world, producing up to 80 percent of the food consumed in many developing countries, notably in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia,” the report said.

“Smallholders and small family farms are therefore central to an inclusive development process and their contribution is crucial to food security,” it said.

The report said in sub-Saharan Africa, the yield gap between the farmer’s yields and potential yields was estimated at 76 per cent, meaning farmers produce less than one quarter of what they could.

The report said high food prices were seen by many policy-makers as an opportunity for smallholders to produce more and earn more income but experience shows that, often, smallholders have failed to respond as expected.

It said the public sector, together with international development partners, should have a strong role as moderator among different public, private and civil society actors, promoting what was in the best interests of the smallholder agricultural sector while encouraging development of markets.

It said given the limitations of the public sector in many developing countries and reductions in foreign development aid, foreign direct investment was also seen as a potential source of funding.

“This sort of investment can take many forms not just controversial land acquisitions and should ensure sustainable and equitable use of land while strengthening food security for indigenous populations,” the FAO report emphasized.

Source: GNA