Dear Colleagues,
Thank you all for joining, especially those who have sent in messages to this FAO e-mail conference on "Exploring the contribution of small farms to achieving food security and improved nutrition".
The conference runs for a short amount of time. It began on 10 October and the last day for receiving messages is 23 October. The questions that are being covered in this short e-mail conference are quite specific. They are presented in Section 3 of the conference background document (reproduced below). The 15 questions are grouped in four classes.
The first group (described in Section 3.1) includes 3 questions, numbered 3.1.1 to 3.1.3, related to defining small farms, such as the minimum or maximum size thresholds that might be used; other criteria that might be used to define them, apart from land area; and the criteria that might be used by policy-makers rather than researchers.
The second group (described in Section 3.2) includes 3 questions, numbered 3.2.1 to 3.2.3 about studying the contribution of small farms to food security and nutrition using the food systems approach.
The third group (described in Section 3.3) includes 7 questions, numbered 3.3.1 to 3.3.7, about small farms and their role in food security and nutrition, looking at issues such as how small farms contribute now, and may do so in the future, to food security and the 4 dimensions of food security; the level (household, local, national etc.) at which food security should be studied; the impact of small farmers participating in the rural non-farm economy; the role that small farms can play in meeting the triple burden of malnutrition; and whether small farms are diversifying to meet the demand for more balanced, diversified diets.
The fourth group (described in Section 3.4) includes 2 questions, about how small farms can contribute to food security and nutrition in a sustainable way.
In these first 4 days of the conference, some of the messages posted have centred on issues that are very important (e.g. the causes of food insecurity and malnutrition among small farmers; energy needs of small farmers; ways to improve production/efficiency of small farms; food waste) but which are not the focus of this specific e-mail conference. Threads of these discussions are now cut.
Participants sending messages to the conference from now on are urged to ensure they focus on one or more of the questions below.
Best regards
John
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3. Main questions for discussion
The e-mail conference allows participants from around the world to share and discuss their experiences, lessons learned and perspectives on the contribution of small farms to food security and nutrition. The specific kinds of questions to be discussed by participants in the conference are described below. When addressing specific questions, it would be good if participants could discuss specific examples from their own work, experience or region as well as any lessons learned.
3.1 Questions related to defining small farms
As noted elsewhere (e.g. Davidova et al., 2013; HLPE, 2013; CFS, 2015), there is no universally accepted definition for a small farm (or a smallholder), although the most common criterion used for this purpose is farmland area. Availability of data for additional relevant criteria (e.g. farm income) may be a challenge. Furthermore, if wishing to compare results across regions, land is the most easily comparable criterion (HLPE, 2013).
3.1.1 The SALSA research project aims to study the current and potential contribution of small farms (and related small food businesses) to food security and nutrition. A key question will be the definition of the land size threshold to classify farms as small.
- What is the most appropriate threshold to use for such research purposes?
- Should the threshold be adapted to regional and national realities? (As pointed out in HLPE (2013), a farm of 50 hectares would be considered small in some countries, such as Brazil, but big in others, such as India or China).
- In order to capture as many small farms as possible which potentially contribute to food security and nutrition, it might be considered useful to set a low threshold in the research project. If so, what should it be? As for the upper threshold, should the lower threshold be adapted to regional and national realities? In addition, should the project aim to include the contribution of urban gardens and home gardens to food security and nutrition?
If possible, provide specific examples where you or others have applied certain land size thresholds in practice for research on small farms and share any lessons learned from the use of thresholds. In answering these questions, you may also wish to consider the kind of farming involved. For example, FAO (2013) shows that the criteria used by different countries for including holdings in their national census can include, inter alia, the area of cultivated crops, the number of cattle, sheep or other animal species and the size of fish ponds.
3.1.2 Ideally, when carrying out research on small farms in specific regions, additional criteria to land area would be used to determine whether they should be classified as small or not, such as the number of people working part- or full-time on the farm; the number of commodities produced and degree of specialisation; and farm income or sales. For example, farms with a lot of land and capital can be managed extensively and yield limited turnover, while small plots of land can produce high-value commodities, be intensively managed and give high economic returns.
- What are the most important additional criteria that should be used in such a research project? If possible, provide specific examples where you or others have used additional criteria in practice in research on small farms and share any lessons learned from using them.
3.1.3 The criteria used for classifying farms as small may differ for research or policy purposes. When policy-makers wish to make policies focusing on small farms (or smallholders), what criteria should they use to classify farms as small? Again, if possible, provide specific examples where you or others have applied such criteria in practice and share any lessons learned from use of the criteria.
3.2 Questions related to small farms within a food system
As described in Section 2.4, SALSA will analyse the contribution of small farms to food security and nutrition in 30 specific European and African regions using the food systems approach.
3.2.1 Compared to other approaches, what are the advantages and disadvantages of applying this food systems approach to study the contribution of small farms to food security and nutrition?
3.2.2 What is the best way to define the boundaries and characteristics of a regional food system?
3.2.3 In quantitative terms, what methods would you use to assess the contribution of small farms in a particular region to meeting the demand for food within the same region?
3.3 Questions related to small farms and their role in food security and nutrition
3.3.1 How important is the contribution of small farms to food security and nutrition? Why?
3.3.2 As outlined in Section 2.1, there are four dimensions of food security, namely the availability of food; access to food; utilisation of food; and food stability. How exactly do small farms contribute to each of the dimensions of food security? If possible, provide specific examples from your own work, experience or region.
3.3.3 Food security can be studied at different levels/scales, such as the individual, household, local, national and global level. The level at which it is studied will influence the analytical instruments that are used (e.g. analysis of national statistical data or organization of local-level interviews) and the potential relevance of the results. Which is the most appropriate level to use when we wish to study the contribution of small farms to food security and nutrition?
3.3.4 Many small farmers participate in the rural non-farm economy to generate additional income. Does this increase the contribution of small farms to food security and nutrition?
3.3.5 As described in Section 2.2, policy-makers worldwide are seeking to tackle the 'triple burden' of malnutrition - undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and overweight/obesity. Do small farms have a particular role to play in meeting the challenges of any specific one or all of these three 'burdens'? If so, how?
3.3.6 The importance of healthy, balanced, diversified diets is increasingly recognised (e.g. FAO and WHO, 2014). In view of this, some small farmers may undertake crop diversification or diversify out of crops into aquaculture and livestock. Developments may vary across different parts of the world. What are your observations? Also, do you think that in small farms the share of staples in the output is higher than in large farms?
3.3.7 As mentioned briefly in Section 1.1, the future presents a number of major challenges for humankind, including population growth, natural resource depletion and climate change. Given these major challenges, do you expect that small farms will make a greater contribution to food security and nutrition in the future than the present? If so, why?
3.4 Questions related to small farms and achieving food security and improved nutrition in a sustainable way
3.4.1 Driven by the SDGs, sustainability development is now central in the international development agenda. Sustainable development involves three dimensions - environmental, social and economic - and it is in manifold ways connected with food security and nutrition. How can small farms specifically contribute to achieving food security and improved nutrition in a sustainable way?
3.4.2 Of the three sustainability dimensions, to which one do small farms contribute most to sustainable food security and nutrition?
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