Small is Beautiful ? Frederic Ghys Margherita Gomarasca Sil Lanckriet

1. Small isBeautiful? FredericGhys Margherita Gomarasca Sil Lanckriet

2. Executive Summary Introduction on small farms The Green Revolution Agro-ecology Policy implications

3. 1. Introduction - Small farms in the world - Who are small farmers? - Advantages and disadvantages of small farming

4. Small Farms in the World • small farmers: one of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in the developing world • 3 billion rural people in developing world • More than 2/3 reside on small farms • In the world: nearly 500 million small farms • Today 1.2 billion people suffer hunger • 50% of them are small farmers

5. Small Farms in the World (2) • Trend in developing countries: increasing fragmentation of land & decreasing average farm size

6. Who are small farmers? • Lack of a sole definition: limited resources; farm size; low technology; dependence on family labour; subsistence oriented • Most common approach: less than 2 hectares of owned or rented land • Small farms control small share of total agricultural land (inequitable land distribution) BUT • They produce the majority of the food that is consumed locally

7. Source: ETC group, 2009

8. Advantages of small farming Local embeddedness Efficient landuse Local knowledge No need for supervision of hired labourers Investements in the local economy No need to buy expensive food on the market BUT: no scale effects, semiproletariat

9. Advantages of big farming Scale advantages Skilled labour Market and technologic knowledge Finance and capital Links with supermarkets Lower risk if commodity prices fall BUT: no optimal allocation of labour

10. 2. The Green Revolution • What? • Green Revolution in Asia • Green Revolution in Africa?

11. Green Revolution Public subsidies of: Irrigation Mechanisation Pesticides and herbicides Hybrid seeds + GMO’s Fertilizers

12. Advantages of GR in Asia Increased production (good for rural poor) Falling prices (good for urban poor) Nature Reviews Genetics 2, 815-822 (October 2001)

13. Disadvantages of GR in Asia Dependence to input (eg. seed producers) Dependence to market (eg. world prices) Losing land if not able to pay loan (India) Destruction of traditional society Inequality (eg. when uneven land distribution) Health problems (eg. Roundup Paraguay) Access to water Ecological problems (water table, erosion)

14. GR in Africa: AGRA Seeds Program (hybrids) Soil Health Program (water, nutrients and fertilizers) Market Access (storage, warehouses) Policy and Partnerships Program Innovative Finance (low intrest loans) To benifit smallholder farms and women

15. SWOT of GR in Africa

16. 3. Agro-ecology • Why and what? • Five Advantages of agro-ecology • Example: Malawi • Three positive consequences

17. Agro-ecology • Agriculture must not compromise its ability to satisfy future needs. • The loss ofbiodiversity, • unsustainable use of water, and • pollution of soils and water • Climatechange: • more frequent and extreme weather events: droughts, floods, less predictable rainfall • severe impact ability ofcertain regions and communities to feed themselves

18. Transition to Agroecology • Agroecology: • low-carbon,resource-preserving • benefits the poorest farmers • The core principles of agroecology include • recycling nutrients and energy external inputs; • integrating crops and livestock; • diversification: species and genetic resources; • ecosystem focus: interactions individual species.

19. Agro-ecology and the right to food Annual report submitted the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter to the Human Rights Council United Nations 20 December 2010

20. Advantages of Agro-ecology A. Availability: increase productivity at field level B. Accessibility: reduction ruralpoverty C. Adequacy: contribution to improving nutrition D. Sustainability: contribution to adapting to climate change E. Farmer participation: dissemination of best practices

21. Agro-ecology raises productivity at field level:Jules Pretty et al., 2006 • 286 recent sustainable agriculture projects • 3 % of the cultivated area in developing countries  Increased productivity on 12.6 millions farms, • global average of 79 per cent • 116 % increase for all African projects and • 128 % for projects in East Africa

22. B. Accessibility: agroecology reduces rural poverty • Reduction farmers’ reliance on external inputs and state subsidies and improve independence local retailers, moneylenders • create employment on farms: optimal allocation of labour • stimulate rural non farm economy (demand driven growth linkages): small farmers more likely to spend income locally • push down prices of staple foods: advantage for net food buyers • On-farm fertility generation: • Livestock manure, green manures, fertilizer factory in the fields:

23. B. Accessibility: agroecology reduces rural poverty

24. B. Accessibility: agroecology reduces rural poverty • Reduction farmers’ reliance on external inputs and state subsidies and improve independence local retailers, moneylenders • create employment on farms: optimalallocation of labour • stimulate rural non farm economy (demand driven growth linkages): small farmers more likely to spend income locally • push down prices of staple foods: advantage for net food buyers • On-farm fertility generation: • Livestock manure, green manures, fertilizer factory in the fields:

25. C. Adequacy: agroecology contributes to improving nutrition • In the past, Green Revolution  diversified cropping systems to simplified cereal-based systems  micronutrient malnutrition in many developing countries. • Case: Boost cereal crops: Wheat and maize are mainly sources of carbohydrates: they contain relatively little protein, • need for more diverse agroecosystems  a more diversified nutrient output of the farming systems. • agroecological principles: indigenous fruits contribute on average about 42 per cent of the natural food-basket S-Africa • source of vitamins and other micronutrients, • sustenance during lean seasons.

26. D. Sustainability: agroecology contributes to adapting to climate change • Climate Change: more severe droughts and floods can be expected in the future • physical properties of soils on organic farms improved the drought resistance of crops • E.g. improved soil filtration (agroforestry) • Global warming: invasion of new pests, weeds and diseases: • cultivar mixtures -> genetic diversity in the fields in order to improve crop resistance to diseases • Rice: Yunnan Province in China: planted mixtures with resistant varieties, • yields improved by 89 % • blast disease was 94 % less severe •  Exit monoculture, exit fungicidal sprays

27. D. Sustainability: agroecology contributes to adapting to climate change • Climate change: Erosion: • Study on 180 communities of smallholders Nicaragua, simple agroecological methods • Agroecological plots vs. convential farms • lost 18 % less arable land to landslides • 69 per cent less gully erosion • average 40 per cent more topsoil • higher field moisture

28. D. Sustainability: agroecology contributes to adapting to climate change • Mitigating climate change: • Increasing carbon sinks in soil organic matter, and above)ground biomass • Reducing direct and indirect energy use delinking from the reliance on fossil energy (oil and gas) • Large-scale studies from Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh recorded: • 35 to 92 per cent reduction in insecticide use in rice, • 34 to 66 per cent reduction in pesticide use • combined with 4 to 14 per cent better yields recorded in cotton production

29. E. Farmer participation: an asset for the dissemination of best practices • Farmer field schools: empowering • helping farmers to organize themselves better • stimulating continued learning. • The demonstration of fields managed by model farmers, which attracts visits by other farmers during field days • Partnerships with national research systems • technical advisers and coordinators: workshops

30. Malawi: Subsidy to sustainability food crisis due to drought in 2004-2005  fertilizer subsidy programme for maize production in 2005-2006  Succes 2008: Malawi exports more than one million metric tonnes of maize  medium-term situation: fertilizersubsidies may have to be scaled back or withdrawn.

31. Malawi: Subsidy to sustainability Solution: agroforestry systems: nitrogen-fixing trees Faidherbia albida, a nitrogen-fixing acacia species: unfertilized maize yields in the vicinity of Faidherbia trees averaged 4.1 t/ha, compared to 1.3 t/ha nearby, Now: extension of the programme to 40 per cent of Malawi’s districts, benefiting 1.3 million of the poorest people. Increased yields from 1 t/ha to 2–3 t/ha, But: with a quarter-dose of mineral fertilizer, maize yields may surpass 4 t/ha.

32. Why it’s necessary to support smallholders? Whith an agroecology perspective, small farmers can ensure: FOOD SECURITY ENVIRONMENT PRESERVATION POVERTY REDUCTION

33. a. FOOD SECURITY • THREATS FOR FOOD SECURITY: • Rising food prices • Arable land subtracted to agriculture (agrofuels; cereals for animal feed) • Export crops • Farmers reliance on external inputs • SMALL FARMERS CONTRIBUTIONS: • Higher yields • Integrated farming systems: high variety of food (macro & micro nutrients) International agribusiness enterprises (dominant players in agricultural sector): profit-oriented and export vocation Small farmers: food production vocation

34. b. ENVIRONMENTPRESERVATION • SMALL FARMERS CONTRIBUTIONS: • Sustainable agriculture, integrated crops, ... • Concervative practices (soil, water) • Low-carbon agriculture • Resource-preserving • THREATS: • Soil erosion and contamination • Water pollution • Loss of biodiversity • Deforestation • Climate change

35. c. POVERTY REDUCTION • Strong association between smallholder development and poverty reduction (in Africa strongly than elsewhere): • raise farm incomes • create employment on farms: optimalallocation of labour • stimulate rural non farm economy (demand driven growth linkages): small farmers more likely to spend income locally • push down prices of staple foods: advantage for net food buyers

36. 4. Policy implications • Market failures • Policy interventions • Obstacles • Opportunities

37. INSTITUTIONAL and MARKET FAILURES • Lack of assets (also as collateral) • Information asymetries • Coordination challenges (economies of scale) • Vulnerability to climate and market risk • .... • Consequences: discriminatory and inefficient outcomes • Need for policy intervention to correct mkt failures: • Win-win solution for efficiency and equity • Adjusted to local context and stage of development

38. Policy interventions • Supporting access to land, water and seeds • Prioritising public goods (instead of private goods): • rural infrastructures: roads, electricity, information and communication technologies • extension services • storage facilities • access to credit and insurance against risks

39. Policy interventions (2) • Achieving gender empowerment: • targeted policies • access to assets, inputs, credit • Investing in knowledge: • education • reoriented agricultural extension and research • horizontal dissemination of knowledge • Strengthening social organisations: • support to farmer's organizations and cooperatives

40. Policy interventions (3) • Organizing markets: • improved access to local markets • adding value to raw products: packaging, processing, marketing (ex. cooperatives) • implement food soveraignity (protect farmers from volatile prices and the dumping) • public procurement systems • support farm-to city direct marketing and farmers’ markets

41. Some obstacles to policy implementation: • Smallholders’ collective action problems: • Poverty: short time horizons, risk averse • Limited access to communication • Spatial dispersion and large numbers of farmers • Greatest lobbying power of urban population and rural élites • Political will of governments

42. Opportunities to policy implementation: Strenghtening of farmers’ associations Participatory methods in policy making Decentralisation (but problematic funding) Partnership public-private-NGOs

43. Thank you

44. References ALTIERI, M. (2009) Agroecology, Small Farms, and Food Sovereignty. Monthly Review, July-August 2009. BIRNER, R.; RESNICK, D. (2010) The Political Economy of Policies for Smallholder Agriculture. World Development, Vol. 38, No. 10 (1442–1452) DE SCHUTTER, O. (2009) Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food: Agribusiness and the right to food (A/HRC/13/33) DE SCHUTTER, O. (2009) Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food. Seed policies and the right to food: enhancing agrobiodiversity and encouraging innovation (A/64/170) DE SCHUTTER, O. (2010) Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food: Access to land (A/65/281) DE SCHUTTER, O. (2010) Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food: Agroecology (A/HRC/16/49) ETC GROUP (2009) Who will feed us? Questions for the food and climate crises. (http://www.etcgroup.org/en/node/4921)

45. HAZEL, P.; POULTON, C. (2010) The future of small farms: trajectories and policy priorities. World Development, Vol. 38, No. 10 (1349-1361) HAZELL, P.; POULTON, C.; WIGGINS, S. (2010) The Future of Small Farms: Trajectories and Policy Priorities. World Development, Vol. 38, No. 10 (1349–1361) HAZELL, P.; POULTON, C.; WIGGINS, S.; DORWARD, A. (2007) The Future of Small Farms for Poverty reduction and Growth. IFPRI, Washinghton DC. IFPRI (2005) Thefuture of small farms: Proceedings of a research workshop. Washington, DC. LA VIA CAMPESINA (2009) Sustainable peasant and family farm agriculture can feed the world. (http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=8&Itemid=30) WIGGINS, S.; KIRSTEN, J.; LLAMBI, L. (2010) The Future of Small Farms. World Development, Vol. 38, No. 10 (1341–1348) WORLD BANK (2007). World development report 2008. Agriculture for development. Washington DC www.mo.be