SMALLHOLDER AGRICULTURE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "SMALLHOLDER AGRICULTURE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA"

Transcription

1 Università degli Studi di Pavia Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Aziendali Master Course in International Business and Economics SMALLHOLDER AGRICULTURE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

2 Targets of the analysis To define the concept of family farming, highlighting its importance in the global context. To highlight the main features characterizing smallholder farmers in SSA. To identify smallholder farmers development challenges. To investigate the policy answer provided to support rural development in SSA.

3 Agriculture and Global Challenges Challenges in the next future (2050): FOOD SECURITY (demographic growth, food demand growth). ECONOMIC/HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (Around 2 billion people are currently employed in agriculture). ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY (reduce agriculture s impact on the environment in terms of emissions, resources consumption and ecosystems corruption).

4 Population Growth The world s population is projected to grow from 7 billion (2012) to 9.6 billion (2050) Population (in billions)

5 Shifting Diets Global consumption of meat and milk products

6 Food Gap

7 Agricultural Economic Inclusion

8 Agriculture s Environmental Impact Agriculture s Share of Global Environmental Impact (2010) GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS EARTH S LANDMASS (EX-ANTARCTICA) WATER WITHDRAWAL % = 49 Gt CO 2 e 100% = 13.3 bn ha 100% = 3862 km 3 H 2 O

9 Balancing act

10 Who will produce the additional food needed to feed the world in 2050?

11 What is family farming? Family Farming (which includes all family-based agricultural activities) is a means of organizing agricultural, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production which is managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant on family labour, including both women s and men s. The family and the farm are linked, co-evolve and combine economic, environmental, social and cultural functions. (FAO, 2013)

12 Smallholder agriculture: some features Their decisions amount to a choice between household and farm considerations. They work with small land holdings and minimum labour and capital resources. They are usually considered as part of the informal economy and produce relatively small volumes of products. They may or may not be able to derive a regular and adequate supply of food and/or an acceptable income and standards of living.

13 Smallholder agriculture in the world At global level there are 570 million farms. Around 90% of them (513 million) are considered smallholder farms (family farms). The majority of them is distributed in those countries characterized by low and middle-low income (49%), while just only the 4% of them is located in those countries characterized by high income. FAO, 2013

14 Farm distribution Large farms Market driven Developed countries Subsistence driven Developing countries Smallholder farms

15 The development of smallholder agriculture Smallholder agriculture is the dominant form of the agricultural system in developing regions on which local communities depend for their food security. Smallholder agriculture will become more indispensable as a reliable food source and a driver of the rural economy as the world is facing resource scarcity. A win-win proposition for millions of farmers, improving food security, vitalising rural non-farm economies and reducing poverty. In terms of saving the planet, however, the future food challenge can only be met if sustainability lies at the heart of all development efforts.

16 Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa Smallholder farms represent 80% of all farms in SSA and contribute up to 90% of the agricultural production in some SSA countries. Agriculture employs 62% of the population and generates 27% of the GDP. More than 400 million people live in extreme poverty, more than 300 million of them live in rural areas where food security still eludes nearly 1 in 3 Africans.

17 Smallholder Agriculture in SSA: main features Average farm size is about 2.16 ha. The basic production unit is the family, important role of women. Low-resource subsistence agriculture based on traditional methods and habits. Food insecurity and poverty represent common conditions for the majority of smallholder farmers in the region.

18 Typical smallholder farm household profile in Maize Mixed farming systems A typical smallholder five-six person family farm would have a cropped area of ha (planted to maize, other cereals such as sorghum, millet, rice or wheat. Small areas of cassava and sweet potatoes, beans, groundnuts and other legumes, cotton and coffee, and a wide range of other crops) The family owns 2 or 3 cattle and use oxen to plough the land. Typical yields are low. Maize and other cereals would account for 80 % of total food production. Home-grown maize is the main source of subsistence. The household would be food self-sufficient in average to good years and in deficit during drought years. They receive occasional remittances which are used to pay for school, medical fees and clothes. Lack of cash is a major constraint on the purchase of improved inputs. AIFSC, 2012

19 Common constraints Low productivity: difficult access to inputs and basic resources to develop their activity: land access, knowledge and information access, physical inputs access, credit access, and women s discrimination. Difficult access to the market: physical access (transportation services and infrastructures) and integration in the market (marketing and processing chains). Environmental risks and unsustainability: uncontrolled use of natural resources, impossibility to apply traditional methods to restore land fertility, demographic pressure and land degradation.

20 What are the solutions? What will be the future of smallholder agriculture in Africa? Will the sector be able to respond to the global challenges and to provide enough food for the African population? Which kind of changes and transformations are required to face those challenges?

21 The current policy environment To provide investments that go beyond the reach of smallholder farmers, and for their nature are not supplied by private sector. To overcome the geographical and economic barriers that limit smallholder farmers access to critical factors to improve their activity. To eliminate bottlenecks, information asymmetries and collusive practices that limit participation of smallholder farmers to the market. To define rights, standards and regulations to promote sustainable practices and equal inclusion of all the actors along the agricultural production chain

22 Policy suggestions Land access Knowledge access Physical inputs access Credit access Women s conditions Physical access to the market Marketing and processing chain integration

23 Land access Problems: large land acquisitions, the lack of coordination among the different land tenure regimes. Policy suggestions: to address the farm dimension and large scale acquisition issues, land tenure regimes coordination.

24 Land tenure It s a rule invented by societies to regulate behaviours. It is a rule to define how property rights to land are to be allocated within societies. It determines who can use what resources, for how long and under which conditions. It defines the rights to access, to use, to control and to transfer the lands.

25 Knowledge access Problems: low research capacity, low rate of adult literacy, barriers to access to technologies and information. Policy suggestions: to change expenditure patterns, extension services support, investments in sustainable systems.

26 Extension service Application of scientific research and knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. It s an informal education process directed toward rural population; this process offer advise and information to help them solve their problems. Extension also aims to increase the efficiency of family farm, increase the production and generally increase the standards of living of the family.

27 Physical inputs access Problems: unaffordable and inaccessible for poor farmers, lack of awareness, absence of quality control. Policy suggestions: regulation rules, quality standards, formal and informal channels balance, technical support provision.

28 Credit access Problems: high transaction costs, geographical dispersion. Policy suggestions: creation of specialized rural credit institutions, microfinance.

29 Women s conditions Problems: gender norms, female subordination over access to, and control over, productive resources. Policy suggestions: to close agricultural gender gap, equal access to resources and opportunities promotion.

30 Physical access to the market Problems: physical distance from the market where farmers sell their products, post-harvest losses, difficult storage of perishable commodities. Policy suggestions: investment in infrastructures, warehouses, and food storage facilities and transport services regulation.

31 Marketing and processing chains integration Problems: high transaction costs in the marketing of commodities, collusive behaviours, barriers to enter in large-scale agro-processors value-chains Policy suggestions: collusive practices elimination, farmers organizations support, contract farming enforcement, sustainability standards promotion.

32 Contract farming Is defined as agricultural production carried out according to an agreement between buyer and farmer, which establishes conditions for the production and marketing of farm products. Typically the farmer agrees to provide agreed quantities of a specific agricultural product, this should meet the quality standards of the purchaser and be supplied at he time determined by the purchaser. In turn the buyer commits to purchase the product and in some cases, to support production through for example the supply of farm inputs land preparation, and the provision of technical advice.

33 Conclusions The future of smallholder agriculture in SSA is strictly linked to the capacity of governments, associations and farmers to respond to to the global and domestic challenges. Specifically, whether the transformation towards modern and global agriculture will be able to guarantee not only an economic development but also to support a human development process. The policy strategies addressed to overcome the smallholder farmers constraints based on the concepts of fair inclusion and of sustainable impact could represent an answer.

34 Conclusions FAIR INCLUSION: it concerns a strategy that aims to provide empowerment, economic and social development to small farmers, supporting their inclusive participation in the markets, and promoting transparency, sustainable business partnerships, fair prices and wages, social responsibility and sustainability in the markets. SUSTAINABLE IMPACT: it is an ecosystem approach to agriculture that avoids practices that can cause long term damage to environment, and make natural resources conservation compatible with production agriculture.