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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  FAO says small farms key to removing hunger
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FAO says small farms key to removing hunger

Small farms produce a higher share of the world's food relative to the share of land they use, the report noted

Nine out of 10 of the 570 million farm holdings in the world are managed by families, the FAO report says.Premium
Nine out of 10 of the 570 million farm holdings in the world are managed by families, the FAO report says.

New Delhi: Family farms producing 80% of the world’s food are vital to solve the world’s hunger problem afflicting more than 800 million people, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations said in its annual State of Food and Agriculture report released on Thursday.

Nine out of 10 of the 570 million farm holdings in the world are managed by families, the report said, adding that 84% of the farms are smaller than 2 hectares (ha). Although farms above 50ha occupy two-thirds of global farm land, in low-income countries farms smaller than 5ha occupy up to 70% of farm land.

Small farms produce a higher share of the world’s food relative to the share of land they use, as they tend to have higher yields than larger farms within the same countries and agro-ecological settings, the report noted.

Worldwide, family farming is faced with a triple challenge—yield growth to meet the world’s need for food security and better nutrition; environmental sustainability to protect the planet and to secure their own productive capacity; and productivity growth and livelihood diversification to lift themselves out of poverty and hunger, the report said.

These challenges mean that public investment in agricultural research, extension and advisory services must be increased to close yield and labour productivity gaps, the report said.

In India, most farm households fall in the middle—they are better off than subsistence farmers, but not yet profitable, said Ramesh Chand, director of the National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research.

“The challenge for them is to increase production, and extension services have a role to play in this. The government has introduced initiatives like the Kisan Call Centre and more private companies have come to provide extension services. However, the data we are using is a decade old and much has changed since 2002-03 when the last situation assessment survey of farmers were carried out," he added.

Since much of the world’s food production involves unpaid labour by family members and many smallholder farm households derive the bulk of their income from off-farm activities, policies should aim to increase access to inputs such as seeds and fertilizers as well as to markets and credit, it added.

“Effective and inclusive producer organizations can support innovation by members, helping them gain access to markets, and facilitating linkages with others in the innovation system, besides ensuring that family farms have a voice in policy making," the report emphasized.

The report showed that of the 570 million family-owned farms in the world, 75% are located in Asia, with China and India accounting for a 35% and 24% share, respectively. India has nearly 137 million farm holdings and 82% of these are less than 2ha in size.

Of the global public expenditure on agricultural research and development (R&D), China’s share is 19%, while it is 7% for India, 5% for Brazil and 13% for US. “There is little information on private agricultural R&D in developing countries, but evidence from India and China suggests that it has grown, and now accounts for 19% of total agricultural R&D spending in India and 16% in China (excluding food processing)," the report added.

Noting that smaller farms are less likely to engage with agricultural extension agents than larger ones, the report observed that in India only 40% of farmers obtained some information on modern technology. However, the most common sources of information were other progressive farmers and input dealers and only 6% of farmers reported receiving information from government extension workers—12% of large farms, and 5 % of small ones.

Direct face-to-face extension services are increasingly being complemented and sometimes replaced by modern communications technology such as mobile phones, the Internet and more conventional mass media—radio, video and television, the report observed. “A study of the benefits of providing SMS-based market and weather information to farmers in India found no significant effect on prices received by farmers, crop value-added, crop losses resulting from rainstorms, or the likelihood of changing crop varieties and cultivation practices," it added.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sayantan Bera
Sayantan is a National Writer with the Long Story team at Mint, covering food and nutrition, agriculture, and rural economy. His reportage is based on granular ground reports, tying it with broader macroeconomic realities, with a sharp focus on people and livelihoods. Beyond rural issues, Sayantan has written deep dives on topics spanning healthcare, gender, education, and science.
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Published: 17 Oct 2014, 12:17 AM IST
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