The Brussels Development Briefing n. 57 on “Investing in smallholder agriculture for food security and nutrition” organised by CTA, the European Commission/EuropeAid and the ACP Secretariat was held on Wednesday 11th September 2019, 9h00-13h00 at the ACP Secretariat, Avenue Georges Henri 451, 1200 Brussels, Room C. The Briefing discussed smallholder agriculture and its key role in delivering food security/nutrition, and sustainable food systems, as recognised in SDG 2.

1. Smallholder agriculture: strengths and
challenges, evolution and recent trends
Brussels, 11 September 2019
Jan Douwe van der Ploeg

2. United States: Number of farms by sales class
Source : [USDA, 2007]

3. US Commission on Small
Farms:
“....the necessity to recognize the small farm as
the cornerstone of our agricultural and rural
economy”
http://www.nifa.usda.gov/familysmallfarms.cfm

5. Marketed
surplus
Self-provisioning of
food
Labour
Farm
(crops, livestock, food
processing, hunting,
fishing, direct marketing)
Household
Embedded in extended
family, rural community,
reciprocity)
incomeLabour
Other
sources of
income:
Decapitalization
of agricultural
assets; public
transfers; rental
incomes; etc.
income
Re-use in
next cycle
Sold production partly
used as income
Sold production partly used
for (re-)investments
Non-agricultural activities:
Self-employment outside agriculture, off-farm wages, migration,
delivery of machine services, etc.
Savings to be
used for
investments
Labour
investments
Formal
and
informal
loans

8. Smallholders can contribute to:
•Food security
•Overall economic development
•Employment and income
•Productivity
•Sustainability
•Landscape, biodiversity, climate
•Emancipation
•Cultural heritage

9. Modernization script
(responding to specific
historical circumstances)
1) Move labour to industry
2) Provide cheap food for urban centres
3) Introduce new technologies (+credit)
4) Contribute to exports

10. Modernization script
(responding to specific
historical circumstances)
1) Move labour to industry
2) Provide cheap food for urban centres
3) Introduce new technologies (+credit)
4) Contribute to exports
Type of farm:
*large scale
*specialized
*technologically driven intensity
*ongoing expansion

11. Modernization script
(responding to specific
historical circumstances)
1) Move labour to industry
2) Provide cheap food for urban centres
3) Introduce new technologies (+credit)
4) Contribute to exports
Different context,
(asking for a new script)

12. Modernization script
(responding to specific
historical circumstances)
1) Move labour to industry
2) Provide cheap food for urban centres
3) Introduce new technologies (+credit)
4) Contribute to exports
Different context,
(asking for a new script)
1) Create employment in countryside
2) Generate adequate incomes in agr.
3) Develop skill-oriented techniques
4) Contribute to food sovereignty

13. Modernization script
(responding to specific
historical circumstances)
1) Move labour to industry
2) Provide cheap food for urban centres
3) Introduce new technologies (+credit)
4) Contribute to exports
Different context,
(asking for a new script)
1) Create employment in countryside
2) Generate adequate incomes in agr.
3) Develop skill-oriented techniques
4) Contribute to food sovereignty
Changing context, changing targets, new farm type needed
Dynamic, sustainable and resilient
SH farms based an agroecological
principles and processes

14. Are small farmers doomed to disappear?
New empirical insights.
intensity
scale
small
medium
large

15. Are small farmers doomed to disappear?
New empirical insights.
intensity
scale
small
medium
large Resources move
‘upwards’
Small holders
move out

16. Size class 10-
50 nge
51,303 farms
Size class 50-
100 nge
17,918 farms
Size class
100-200 nge
2,205 farms
Netherlands, 1980-1990 period
SMALL MEDIUM LARGE
Farms with grazing animals: different size categories
Are small farmers doomed to disappear?
New empirical insights.

17. Size class 10-
50 nge
51,303 farms
Size class 50-
100 nge
17,918 farms
Size class
100-200 nge
2,205 farms
Outflow 15,147
farms
Outflow 996
farms
Outflow 210
farms
1980-1990 period
SMALL MEDIUM LARGE
New empirical insights

18. Size class 10-
50 nge
51,303 farms
Size class 50-
100 nge
17,918 farms
Size class
100-200 nge
2,205 farms
Inflow 7,966 newly
created farms
Inflow 1,165 newly
created farms
Inflow 210 newly
created farms
Outflow 15,147
farms
Outflow 996
farms
Outflow 210
farms
1980-1990 period
SMALL MEDIUM LARGE

19. Size class 10-
50 nge
51,303 farms
Size class 50-
100 nge
17,918 farms
Size class
100-200 nge
2,205 farms
Inflow 7,966 newly
created farms
Inflow 1,165 newly
created farms
Inflow 210 newly
created farms
Outflow 15,147
farms
Outflow 996
farms
Outflow 210
farms
Growth > 25%
9129 farms
Growth > 25%
2824 farms
Growth > 25%
273 farms
1980-1990 period
SMALL MEDIUM LARGE

20. Size class 10-
50 nge
51,303 farms
Size class 50-
100 nge
17,918 farms
Size class
100-200 nge
2,205 farms
Inflow 7,966 newly
created farms
Inflow 1,165 newly
created farms
Inflow 210 newly
created farms
Outflow 15,147
farms
Outflow 996
farms
Outflow 210
farms
Growth > 25%
9129 farms
Growth > 25%
2824 farms
Growth > 25%
273 farms
Decrease >25%
10,574 farms
Decrease >25%
2,008 farms
Decrease >25%
365 farms
1980-1990 period
SMALL MEDIUM LARGE

21. Size class 10-
50 nge
51,303 farms
Size class 50-
100 nge
17,918 farms
Size class
100-200 nge
2,205 farms
Etc.
Inflow 7,966 newly
created farms
Inflow 1,165 newly
created farms
Inflow 210 newly
created farms
Outflow 15,147
farms
Outflow 996
farms
Outflow 210
farms
Growth > 25%
9129 farms
Growth > 25%
2824 farms
Growth > 25%
273 farms
Decrease >25%
10,574 farms
Decrease >25%
2,008 farms
Decrease >25%
365 farms
Through-
flow
5,823
Through-
flow
869
1980-1990 period
SMALL MEDIUM LARGE

22. intensity
scale
small
medium
large Resources move
‘upwards’
Small holders
move out
Rethink standard wisdom

23. SH not only disappearing, they are developing as
well
New empirical insights.
intensity
scale
small
medium
large Other smallholders
develop their farms
Some small
holders move
out

24. intensity
scale
small
medium
large
Complex cyclical processes
Redistribution
of resources

25. intensity
scale
small
medium
large
Complex processes driven forward by SH
Construction of
new, resilient SH

26. Size category
(departing from the
1980 situation) in
nge
Net contribution to
total growth
(measured in nge)
< 50 nge 175,416
50-100 nge 258,913
100-200 nge 37,979
200-400 nge 3,237
>400nge 119

27. What is to be done?
• Recognize that modernization is not (anymore) the right pathway
• Change distribution of benefits and costs entailed in rural policies
• Improve accessibility to markets, construct territorial markets and
allow for (temporary) market protection
• Support female farmers and young people
• Improve local seeds, local reforestation, local irrigation schemes and
support agroecology
• Get in dialogue with SH organizations

28. What is to be done?
• Recognize that modernization is not (anymore) the right pathway
• Change distribution of benefits and costs entailed in rural policies
• Improve accessibility to markets, construct territorial markets and
allow for (temporary) market protection
• Support female farmers and young people
• Improve local seeds, local reforestation, local irrigation schemes and
support agroecology
• Get in dialogue with SH organizations

29. What is to be done?
• Recognize that modernization is not (anymore) the right pathway
• Change distribution of benefits and costs entailed in rural policies
• Improve accessibility to markets, construct territorial markets and
allow for (temporary) market protection
• Support female farmers and young people
• Improve local seeds, local reforestation, local irrigation schemes and
support agroecology
• Get in dialogue with SH organizations

30. What is to be done?
• Recognize that modernization is not (anymore) the right pathway
• Change distribution of benefits and costs entailed in rural policies
• Improve accessibility to markets, construct territorial markets and
allow for (temporary) market protection
• Support female farmers and young people
• Improve local seeds, local reforestation, local irrigation schemes and
support agroecology
• Get in dialogue with SH organizations

31. What is to be done?
• Recognize that modernization is not (anymore) the right pathway
• Change distribution of benefits and costs entailed in rural policies
• Improve accessibility to markets, construct territorial markets and
allow for (temporary) market protection
• Support female farmers and young people
• Improve local seeds, local reforestation, local irrigation schemes and
support agroecology
• Get in dialogue with SH organizations

32. What is to be done?
• Recognize that modernization is not (anymore) the right pathway
• Change distribution of benefits and costs entailed in rural policies
• Improve accessibility to markets, construct territorial markets and
allow for (temporary) market protection
• Support female farmers and young people
• Improve local seeds, local reforestation, local irrigation schemes and
support agroecology
• Get in dialogue with SH organizations

33. What is to be done?
• Recognize that modernization is not (anymore) the right pathway
• Change distribution of benefits and costs entailed in rural policies
• Improve accessibility to markets, construct territorial markets and
allow for (temporary) market protection
• Support female farmers and young people
• Improve local seeds, local reforestation, local irrigation schemes and
support agroecology
• Get in dialogue with SH organizations