The Role of Smallholder Farms in Food and Nutrition Security

This open access book discusses the current role of smallholders in connection with food security and poverty reduction in developing countries. It addresses the opportunities they enjoy, and the constraints they face, by analysing the availability, access to and utilization of production factors. Due to the relevance of smallholder farms, enhancing their production capacities and economic and social resilience could produce positive impacts on food security and nutrition at a number of levels. In addition to the role of small farmers as food suppliers, the book considers their role as consumers and their level of nutrition security. It investigates the link between agriculture and nutrition in order to better understand how agriculture affects human health and dietary patterns. Given the importance of smallholdings, strategies to increase their productivity are essential to improving food and nutrition security, as well as food diversity. Acknowledgements 5 Contents 6 Editors and Contributors 8 Introduction 11 References 18 Why Smallholders Remain Key for Food and Nutrition Security? 21 The Role of Smallholder Farms in a Changing World 22 1 Introduction 22 2 The Important but Shifting Role of Smallholders 24 3 Typology of Development Pathways for Smallholders 26 4 A Spectrum of Challenges Hinders the Profitability of Smallholder Farms 28 4.1 Limited Farm Size 28 4.2 Access to Financial Services 29 4.3 Climate Change 29 4.4 Price Spikes and Volatility 29 4.5 Access to Modern Markets 30 5 Smallholder Farms Need to Move Up or Move Out 30 5.1 Promote Land Rights and Efficient Land Markets 31 5.2 Enhance Risk Management, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies 31 5.3 Support Efficient and Inclusive Food Value Chains 32 5.4 Close Gender Gaps and Develop Young Farmers 32 5.5 Scale up Productive Cross-Sector Social Safety Nets 33 6 Conclusion 33 References 34 Importance of Smallholder Farms as a Relevant Strategy to Increase Food Security 38 1 Introduction 38 2 Trends in the Number and Size of Small Farms 39 3 Trends in Small Farm Livelihood Strategies 43 4 Why the Slow Exodus of Small Farms? 43 5 Prognosis 44 6 Some Implications for Food Security and Nutrition 48 7 Conclusions 49 References 50 Rural Development Strategies and Africa’s Small Farms 53 1 Introduction 53 2 Green Revolutions as a Path Out of Rural Poverty 54 3 Scale, Technology Adoption and Global Food Supplies: Past Lessons and Future Prospects 56 4 Smallholder Resources in SSA as a Solution to Future Food Needs 59 5 Alternative Rural Development Strategies Based on Larger Farms 61 6 Revolution or Evolution? 64 7 Lessons from Farmers’ Fields 67 7.1 Maize 68 7.2 Rice 72 8 Concluding Discussion 74 References 75 How to Support and Provide Opportunities to Smallholders? 86 Inorganic Fertiliser Use Among Smallholder Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Input Subsidy Policies 87 1 Smallholder Access to Inorganic Fertiliser 87 1.1 Background: Common Perception of Low Inorganic Fertiliser Use in SSA 88 1.2 Challenge of Low Maize to Fertiliser Response Rates 90 1.3 Reasons for Low Maize to Fertiliser Response Rates 91 2 Implications for Input Subsidy Policy 92 2.1 Need to Clarify ISP Goals and Objectives 93 2.2 Improving Beneficiary Targeting 94 2.3 ISPs Versus Other Social Protection Programmes 97 3 Recommendations for Improving ISPs 98 3.1 Governments Should Clearly Communicate that the Main Goal of ISPs Is to Increase Maize Yields and Maize Production 99 3.2 Self-targeting Option No 1: Further Increase the Required Farmer Contribution to ISP Fertiliser 99 3.3 Self-targeting Option No 2: Pilot a Conditional Subsidy 100 3.4 Pilot Flexible Input Voucher (FIV) Programme 100 4 Conclusions 100 References 101 Global Change and Investments in Smallholder Irrigation for Food and Nutrition Security in Sub-Saharan Africa 105 1 Introduction 105 2 Global Change and Transformation of Smallholder Agriculture in Africa 107 2.1 Global Change and Rural–Urban Linkages 108 2.2 The Imperative of Smallholders and Food Security 109 3 Methodology and Conceptual Framework 110 4 Results 111 4.1 Rural Irrigation Schemes Using Surface and Groundwater 112 4.2 Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Using Wastewater and Groundwater 118 4.3 Big Data 121 4.4 Telecoupling and Irrigation Development 122 5 Discussion: Transforming Investments to Feed the Future 124 5.1 Investing in Small-Scale Irrigation and Complementary Infrastructure 124 5.2 Groundwater Development Policy 125 5.3 Investing in Solar Energy for Groundwater Pumping for Irrigation 126 5.4 Investment in Peri-urban and Urban Agriculture 127 5.5 No-Regret Investments for Managing Social Change 127 6 Conclusions and Outlook 128 Appendix: Indicators of Regional Change and Transformation in SSA 129 References 129 Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Inputs and Finance in Africa 138 1 Introduction 138 2 Challenges to Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Production Inputs 141 2.1 Limitations in Access to Secure Agricultural Land 141 2.2 Policies and Institutional Factors Hindering Farmers’ Access to Improved Seed 143 2.3 Constraints to Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Fertiliser in Africa 146 2.4 Access to Agricultural Finance for Smallholder Farmers 147 3 Strategies to Improve Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Inputs and Finance 149 3.1 Improving Security of Land Access 149 3.2 Facilitating Access to Improved Seeds 149 3.3 Promoting Fertiliser Access for Farmers 150 3.4 Facilitating Agricultural Finance for Smallholder Farmers 150 4 Concluding Remarks 153 References 154 Policies for Improved Food Security: The Roles of Land Tenure Policies and Land Markets 158 1 Introduction 158 2 Population Growth, Farm Size Distribution and Food Security 159 3 Expansion of Medium-Sized Farms 161 4 Increasing Landlessness and Migration 163 5 Land Market Development 165 6 Land Tenure Reforms, Tenure Security and Food Security 167 7 Conclusions 170 References 171 Revisiting the Contribution of Agriculture to Nutrition Security 175 Transforming Smallholder Agriculture to Achieve the SDGs 176 1 Introduction 176 2 Achieving the SDGs and the Centrality of Small Farms 178 2.1 Poverty Goals 180 2.2 Nutrition Goals 181 2.3 Social Goals 182 2.4 Environmental Goals 184 3 Economics of Small Farms and Stages of Structural Transformation 185 3.1 Low-Productivity Agricultural Systems 189 3.2 Modernising Agricultural Systems 191 3.3 Commercialised Agricultural Systems 193 4 Transaction Costs and the Commercialisation Process—Interventions and Policy Options in Different Production Systems 195 4.1 Farm-Specific Costs and Interventions in Different Production Systems 197 4.2 Household-Specific Costs and Interventions in Different Production Systems 198 4.3 Location-Specific Transaction Costs in Different Production Systems 200 4.4 Crop-Specific Transaction Costs in Different Production Systems 201 5 Conclusion 203 References 205 Impact of Casual and Permanent Off-Farm Activities on Food Security: The Case of India 213 1 Introduction 213 2 Food Security and Off-Farm Work in India 214 3 Data 216 4 Descriptive Statistics 217 5 Methodology 222 5.1 Estimation of Mean Impact 222 5.2 Estimation of Heterogeneous Impact 222 6 Result and Discussion 223 7 Conclusion 230 References 230 The Superior Role of Agricultural Growth in Reducing Child Stunting: An Instrumental Variables Approach 233 1 Introduction 233 2 Model and Identification Strategy 235 2.1 Empirical Model 236 2.2 Estimation 237 2.3 Identification 238 3 Data 239 4 Results 240 4.1 Effect of Child Stunting on Sectoral Growth 240 4.2 Effect of Sectoral Growth on Child Stunting 242 4.3 Robustness Analyses 244 5 Conclusions 244 Appendix 245 References 246 Conclusions 249 References 252 Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction (Kamel Louhichi, Laura Riesgo, Sergio Gomez y Paloma)....Pages 1-10 Front Matter ....Pages 11-11 The Role of Smallholder Farms in a Changing World (Shenggen Fan, Christopher Rue)....Pages 13-28 Importance of Smallholder Farms as a Relevant Strategy to Increase Food Security (Peter Hazell)....Pages 29-43 Rural Development Strategies and Africa’s Small Farms (Donald F. Larson, Rie Muraoka, Keijiro Otsuka)....Pages 45-77 Front Matter ....Pages 79-79 Inorganic Fertiliser Use Among Smallholder Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Input Subsidy Policies (Jacob Ricker-Gilbert)....Pages 81-98 Global Change and Investments in Smallholder Irrigation for Food and Nutrition Security in Sub-Saharan Africa (Munir A. Hanjra, Timothy O. Williams)....Pages 99-131 Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Inputs and Finance in Africa (Augustine Langyintuo)....Pages 133-152 Policies for Improved Food Security: The Roles of Land Tenure Policies and Land Markets (Stein T. Holden)....Pages 153-169 Front Matter ....Pages 171-171 Transforming Smallholder Agriculture to Achieve the SDGs (Mathew Abraham, Prabhu Pingali)....Pages 173-209 Impact of Casual and Permanent Off-Farm Activities on Food Security: The Case of India (Alwin Dsouza, Ashok K. Mishra, Tadashi Sonoda)....Pages 211-230 The Superior Role of Agricultural Growth in Reducing Child Stunting: An Instrumental Variables Approach (Sébastien Mary, Kelsey Shaw)....Pages 231-246 Conclusions (Laura Riesgo, Kamel Louhichi, Sergio Gomez y Paloma)....Pages 247-251