Dear all,

Here is the aggregated new input we received on topic #2 concentrating on "Small farms’ contribution to resilience of the food system", reflecting all input received for the three questions in this topic. — 
PLEASE keep sending your feedback with only ONE question’s input per email and clearly mark - in your email subject - which question your input relates to (which makes it much easier for us, to process them) — Peter


Q2.1/2. - Input on “Question 2.1: What are the ways that small farms contribute to the resilience of the food system in your region? Please provide examples."

1. From: Shantonu Abe <[log in to unmask]> (Germany/India)

My name is Shantonu Abe Chatterjee, and I am a PhD candidate at the University of Cologne, in the Economic Geography Dept.
I study small farmers in West Bengal (India) who are interested in improving the sustainability (environmental,social and economic) of their farms. I also interviewed NGO workers at Development Research Communications and Services Centre to get some of the insights I share here. 

Onto the question at hand: 

1. Safe-guarding crop diversity: The group keeps a seed-bank of more than 200 varieties of rice, which can be ‘lent out’ in exchange for the return of an equal amount of seeds from the harvest. The work of documenting, maintaining, and preserving these seeds is carried out by the group.There are also efforts to document crops that can be grown along with rice, like legumes and tubers, as well as “useful weeds”(maybe an oxymoron). These crops are specific to the location and the farming system(rice fields), and may not be applicable in all places, but these crops can be grown with minimum effort and represent a potential side business.

2. Creating nested markets: The farmers sell to a particular market outside conventional marketing pathways, helping increase the number of options available for consumers and producers.

3. Focus on producing for human consumption and own consumption: The farmers grow food mainly for human consumption. They grow many different kinds of vegetables and tubers in the fields, and have fruit trees, in order to supplement income and nutrition.Household members, particularly women, maintain a small nutrition garden adjacent to their home where they grow several types of fruits and vegetables, rear some cattle or small animals ,and fish in small ponds. The produce is not marketed and is often for home consumption. 

4. Conserve water: In a monsoon region, most of the rainfall is concentrated in a certain period of the year.There  is a need for infrastructure that stores this water and also allows groundwater to replenish. This infrastructure is provided by additional ponds/tanks dug by the village community on a shared basis, or through funding from NREGA(A government scheme in India funding community projects).The design of the rice field may be modified as well in order to store more water and to allow cultivation of freshwater fish. 

5. Create and maintain ecological infrastructure: Farmers in the group realise the importance of predatory birds like owls in keeping down the pest populations, and grow trees that are also good for perching. Living fences are also used in order to provide fodder for grazing cattle. Little or no use of pesticide also prevents the contamination of local water sources, and avoidance of out-of-season crops reduces groundwater withdrawals.

6. On-farm resource cycling: One of the characteristics of a well-functioning small farm is a reduced reliance on external inputs. Needs are met by using/enhancing by-products. This means that products like straw, chaff, and animal dung are put to use instead of being disposed of. 

2. From: Scott E. Justice <[log in to unmask]> (Nepal)

Average farm size/holdings in South Asia is under one ha, yet in a country like Bangladesh whose small farmers are nearly fully mechanization through the use of small and medium size tractors and equipments, has gone from a agricultural development basket case country in 60s 70s and 80s to a net exporter of grain by the 2000s.  

Much is due to mechanized shallow ground water extraction, but also where tillage and threshing operations are nearly fully mechanized that has led to not only continued productivity gains but just as importantly also intensification and diversification.    


______________________________________________________________________

Q2.2/2 -  Input on “Question 2.2 Have small farms been more resilient compared to large farms in your region? What were the main factors that determined their resilience? Please provide examples."

1. From: El Hadji Ousmane Ka <[log in to unmask]> (Senegal)
(Moderator: an example on how small farms were able to augment their resilience - onion farmers in this case)

The co-operation between the farmers (was crucial for them) to achieve the self-sufficiency in onion (production), (allowed them) to obtain subsidies by the state on the inputs. (The co-operation and subsidies also allowed them to construct) warehouses (which helped) the farmers to (store) their products in case of difficulties (to market their produce at one particular time).

(Moderator: so the way small onion farmers, in this case, cooperated to get government subsidies on their inputs, and to build warehouses to store their produce, increased their resilience)


2. From: Loupa Pius <[log in to unmask]> (Uganda)
I am Loupa Pius, again from Karamoja region in Northern Uganda

Small farms are resilient. The small farms have continued to supply the urban centers with organic foods in most cases. Due to production of a variety of food stuffs/crops small farms are the sustainability of the system, more than the large farms. The land tenure systems and access to financial resources is the major heart breaker to the small farms, therefore limits their progress.

In a pastoral context, pastoral resiliency is interdependent on the indigenous knowledge which triggers mobility for access of pasture and water. The milk, meat production and herd splitting is paramount to allow an easy escape of the harsh climatic conditions such as droughts and disease: (This consists mostly) by separating the female from male animals, to avoid reproduction or breeding, in such harsh conditions.


3. From: Said Zarouali <[log in to unmask]> (Morocco)
(Moderator: I summarized Said’s input received in French. Said, j’espère que j’ai bien representé l’essentiel to ton contribution) 

In Morocco, since a long time, there have been ways to store food produce (cereals or vegetables), in common storage areas, built and managed by a system of cooperatives or more informal cooperation by small farmers. It also allowed small farmers to collectively market this local produce.

In the framework of “Maroc Vert” (“Green Morocco”), the government strongly encouraged the cooperation between small producers, with the purpose of:
- having only one single focal point (Ed: for storage, marketing, sales..)
- facilitate the access to financing (grants), and market access

(Moderator: This input seems to compliment Ousmane’s earlier input, where “cooperation between small farmers” largely augmented their resilience)

4. From: Bernadette Lahai <[log in to unmask]> (Sierra Leone)
I am Hon. Dr. Bernadette Lahai. I hold a Ph.D in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development. I worked for 13 yrs in one of Sierra Leone's agricultural research institute mandated to work on root and tuber, legumes and maize. I was the gender specialist looking at the gender dimensions of the technologies developed for farmers used both on station and on farm. I left research for parliament in 2002 and rose to the rank of the Minority Leader and also Vice President of the Pan African Parliament and President of the Parliamentary Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition. While in research I worked on role of women's small plot or farm in household food security and sustainable.  

In Sierra Leone it is the practice for both women in polygamous and monogamous households to, in addition to the family farm, operate a small plot or farm to augment the family food and income needs. 
Most of the produce are for food, with a little sold to get cash to help pay school feeds, medical bills, buy clothing for children etc. 

This source of income is very important to women and their independence and decision making. In some cases when the food from the family farm is exhausted, it is the food from the women's small plots that sustains the family. Women's small plots are used as coping mechanism during food shortages. 

Of course there are constraints for competing demands for their labour, seeds, cash  between the family farm and small plots. Coming from a rural area and in a polygamous family with five stepmothers, I worked along with my mother and siblings on both the family farm and small plot. 

Food from the family farm is eaten only in the evenings. Breakfast and lunch came mostly from our mother's small plots in which were cultivated between 10-15 crops; rice, cassava, sweet potato, yam, maize, sorghum, millet, vegetables, beans, egusi melon, cucumber etc.   Family member visitors of our mother's were also first fed from food from the small plots. As a member of parliament for 15 and half years representing my rural community, I have observed decrease in women's small plots as most children are going to school outside of the villages and their labour less available, and farming population are aging, less heathy, with more young able bodied men and women  leaving for urban areas. 

Small farms can adapt faster to changing food consumption, demands and habits than large farms, especially where large farms are practicing monoculture.  We must further investigate women's small plots with regards their residence and food production systems.


______________________________________________________________________

Q2.3/1 -  Input on “Question 2.3  What examples can you share where having more diverse product ranges and diverse channels have contributed to the resilience of small farms."

1. From: Dilip Kumar <[log in to unmask]> (India)
Dilip Kumar: Adviser, Bihar Animal Scinces University (BASU), Patna, Bihar, India

Have small/family farms (been) are more resilient compared to large farms in your region? Certainly yes. One of the biggest constraints being faced by farming sector is the unavailibilty of labour and the increasing cost of labour due to out-migration of agricultural labour to cities in other sectors, where plenty of jobs are available round the year and where wages are much higher than they get in agriculture. 
Small farms operators and farming families use their own family labour. Such inputs are not available with big farmers. In addition they are also involved in family scale dairy and rearing of small animals like goat, chicken and aquaculture in homestead ponds. 
Wherever available they also get involved in fishing in public owned fisheries resources. 

(Moderator: Apart from the fact that available labour for small farms is linked to “family ties”, it also brings up the topic of “diversification” - where Dilip’s example shows that small farms more easily diversify their produce, combining livestock, aquaculture, crops,… I remember also that in the case of Bihar and Punjab in India, where many small farmers, beyond their traditional crops, started to engage in larger vegetable gardens and e.g. agroforestry -  combining agriculture with forestry - possibly as fodder for livestock or high-priced wood produce. Any other examples on this topic anyone?


To unsubscribe from the SMALL-FARMS-L list, click the following link:
https://listserv.fao.org/scripts/wa-fao.exe?SUBED1=SMALL-FARMS-L&A=1