Investing in Smallholder Agriculture for Food Security

Smallholders constitute the majority of farm families in the world and their contributions to household, national and global food security are monumental. 2014 has been declared by the UN as the International Year of Family Farming. Smallholding offers great opportunities for sustainable intensification. This report advocates to extend to smallholders a new deal comprising the following five components: 1/ conservation and enhancement of soil health, 2/sustainable management of all water sources and launching a “more crop and income per drop of water” movement; 3/extending appropriate technologies and inputs, 4/providing the needed credit and insurance and 5/ensuring assured and remunerative marketing opportunities. All these programmes should be engendered, in order to ensure that the support systems that women farmers need.

June 2013 - HLPE