Importance of Smallholder Farms as a Relevant Strategy to Increase Food Security

Abstract

This chapter enumerates the importance of small farms for food security, pulling together available studies and quantitative evidence on the current status of small farms in terms of their number, share of total farms, share in farmed area, employment share, age, gender, poverty and food insecurity status, importance in marketed surpluses of food staples, income diversification, etc. To the extent possible, trends in these variables are also enumerated, focusing on key questions such as: are small farms getting smaller (not just the average size of all farms); are they are becoming less important in total food supplies, especially marketed surpluses (needed to feed the cities); how successfully do they use high-value agriculture and nonfarm income diversification to offset smaller farm sizes. To the extent possible, differences in patterns between regions and types of countries are identified. Finally, some scenarios for the future are developed.