Dear all,

Below are the last inputs received on topic #2 "Small farms contribution to resilience of the food system"
As we mentioned before, some of these input might be quite short, but we still want to distribute them to the group.
--Peter


Q2.1/7 - Question "2.1.  What are the ways that small farms contribute to the resilience of the food system in your region? Please provide examples."

From: Vladlena Martsynkevych <[log in to unmask]> (Ukraine)
As an environmental group, we work on the agri-problems as we understand there is a need for more balances approach to the use of the natural resources that can be done only by the small farmers and their cooperation.

Currently in the Ukraine, the "corporate holdings", called "agroholdings", are having preferences: They own the same amount of lands as 30 thousand of officially registered Ukrainian farmers. And of course the operations of corporates are only aimed to get "the most with the least money" – chemicals, pesticides monocultures, GMOs, hard technologies – all these lead to deterioration of the lands, erosions amd loss of biological diversity.

Existing food production system like these, means "fast profits" for some companies (because of favourable nature conditions and cheap labour), and hampered rural development overall – degradation of the natural and human capital there.

According to official statistics, lots of food is being produced by the rural households, who are not even officially counted as 'farmers', are totally out of the legal system and social insurance. For example, more than  95 % of potatos, 85% of other vegetables, 80 % of fruits and berries, 75 % of milk, 40 % eggs and meat – is being produced by these ‘farmers’ for the sales on the local markets and to the traders. This consists of 60 gross agriproducts from Ukraine.

High levels of poverty among the 13 mln of rural population (1/3 of Ukrainian population), bad infrastructure and social care, youth migration to the cities, and mostly the change of MENTALITY – that to be a farmer is prestigious and paid-off (!) – all these are tendencies to be stopped in Ukraine.  Preservation and re-introduction  of the small farmers is crucial in the rural areas of Ukraine. For this social campaigns and programs with youth, improvement of infrastructure are really needed.

From: Mahesh Chander <[log in to unmask]> (India)
Close to the end of this exciting discussion, I wish to share our experience of working with the Nationwide Mega project by name FARMER FIRST.<http://www.icar.org.in/files/farmer-first-project=proposal-28.11.2011Revised.pdf>
Under this project, small scale farmers are being targeted for their need assessment, suitable interventions, exposure visits and distribution of inputs like seeds of improved varieties, vermimanure, soil testing, sheep and goats, feed supplements etc.
Today we distributed improved seeds of Summer Moong (Green gram) to 50 small scale farmers after sharing with them the  total package of practices concerning showing of short duration green gram variety (Pusa Vishal)  in the Fallow land in between wheat harvesting (April) and rice transplanting (July) . Farmers if follow this recommendation, they can have one additional crop in the same land which otherwise remains unutilized.
If such practices are promoted, farmers can benefit more. More crop per drop and per unit land is the slogan being put to practice under the ambitious mega project Farmer First in India<http://icar.org.in/files/ApproachuidelinesforFarmerFIRST-04022016.pdf>, being implemented by the Agricultural Extension division of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

From: Yoanna Ivanova <[log in to unmask]> (Bulgaria)
Despite the rapid growth rates of agriculture in Bulgaria and the EU funds invested in the last 10 years, in many regions of the country small farmers are the main producers and suppliers of agricultural products.
In less developed and less accessible areas, small farms only provide food production. In some small villages there is still a natural exchange between farmers.

From:  Boyko Doychinov <[log in to unmask]> (Bulgaria)
At the regional level (Northeastern Bulgaria), the small farmers' contribution to the food chain is very important due to the developed tourism. In the summer months, the population increases more than two times, giving small producers the opportunity to sell their produce at a better price.

From: Sami Elhag <[log in to unmask]> (Sudan)
From our experience in Sudan's Food Security Program there are two important ways that small farmers can contribute to resilience namely:
- introduction of new inputs and technologies (to increase production from the existing diversified crops  per unit area), and
- empowering them to financial institution and market , to absorb any unexpected variation .

Other challenges are :
- Engaging with private sector ( limited machinery delivery capacity to rural area ).
- Strengthening collective procurement (seed multiplication farms to be scaled up ; collective bargaining to the MoA on reducing input package cost to be organized)
-  Engagement of women farmers (needs assessment workshops to be organized; household integrated approach under consideration)
-  Financial product and service design (limited access to ATMs/banking branch; voluntary insurance opt-in under consideration; expensive insurance design in terms of time and cost)
- Access to weather information (lack of access to reliable weather information)

From: Anetta Szilagyi- FAO (Italy)
Annetta is a rural development consultant, FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia.

(source: Regional Initiative 1 project on Empowering Smallholders and Family farms TCP/RER/3601_ Synthesis Report draft)
The answer is focusing exclusively on the state of play of the 7 focus countries of the Regional Initiative 1 during 2014-17; Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Tajikistan and not on the whole region.

The agricultural and the food processing sector in general and the commercial oriented smallholders and family farms in particularly face problems getting access to the markets, domestically as well as internationally. One thing is that the farmers lack market information and lack of knowledge about where to find it, and what to do with the information. Another and more important thing is that the small scale of production and low level of specialization hinder the smallholders from establishing durable or lasting links within the value chains. This is due to the difficulties for smallholders and small family farms to produce the stable quantity and the quality, which is demanded by the processors and the operators in the market. Therefore, long-lasting cooperation between smallholders and their clients are very few.
Thus, two important aspects of associativity are lacking: a) long term relations and contracts between sellers and buyers improving vertical coordination and b) cooperation and collective action improving horizontal coordination.

These aspects are interrelated as the only way for smallholders to get long term relations/contracts with buyers is through participation in farmer groups, cooperatives or economic interest groups/joint-stock companies. Collective action, if well managed, contributes to achieving economies of scale that makes it more attractive for buyers to deal with smallholders thanks to the possibility to consolidate larger volumes and reduce transaction costs, to better manage post-harvest handling and reduce post-harvest losses and to facilitate the diffusion of good practices and innovations and increase productivity. In turn, the bargaining power of organized farmers in the contracting process can be strengthened.

But this vertical and horizontal integration through cooperatives, farmer groups or associations is not common, and farmers therefore do not benefit from the improved market position that these organizations can provide. One important problem here is lack of mutual trust between the operators in the value chains. Mistrust of farmers to each other is a constraint for cooperation. It prevents formation of service cooperatives and other forms of organization of the production process. Cooperation rarely goes beyond local clan networks and need to be surpassed. Institutional settings of the value chains are complicated and cannot be easily established during a short period. Investments in value chain re-construction in new markets and products are highly risky. As a consequence, support mechanisms for the stimulation of development of value chains and for establishment of cooperatives and other types of cooperation are important to dissolve the difficulties for smallholders to get access to markets.

The households are small scale with less than 1 ha of land and production is not commercially viable. Registration of ownership of land is not in place (or may lack compliance with the situation on the ground) and the household is as such not registered in the official farm register. If any livestock, they are not registered in the official livestock register. The households have no formal access to the market through value chains or with processors, but trade their production surplus locally in the barter economy.

Smallholders and family farms can achieve higher levels of income, production and productivity through sustainable utilization of resources and intensification of production, better organization, adequate public services and better integration into the agri-food value chains. Getting family farming right in this respect is a key component in enhancing food security, ensuring equitable and decent livelihoods for all rural women and men, achieving sustainable rural development and diversification in rural areas and reducing rural poverty.

It is a general observation that the smallholders and the small family farms have only weak, if any, access to the established value chains in the 7 countries. This is primarily due to the informal character of their production based on small and fragmented land. The quantities and the quality of the produce is often not sufficient for the value chain operators to be accepted.
Cooperation among the commercial oriented smallholders and family farms is one way of getting better access to the value chains. This is also supported in some of the countries through support to development and operation of cooperatives, for example in Albania and FYR Macedonia.

Agricultural Cooperatives Development Agency (ACDA) in Georgia provides investment subsidies for cooperatives (honey producers) through grants of up to 70% of the investment costs for a maximum of 100 beehives and related equipment. Furthermore, women-only cooperatives and cooperatives representing vulnerable groups receive 80% in grant to the investments. The subsidies contribute to an increased honey production and an important formalization of the sector, which is considered to be a precondition for the smallholders to get access to the value chains downstream.

________________


Q2.2/6 - 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."

From:  Boyko Doychinov <[log in to unmask]> (Bulgaria)
For some specific products - fresh fruit and vegetables, wine, honey and organic food -  small farms are much more flexible to market and consumer demand and are more active especially during the summer season.

From: Anetta Szilagyi- FAO (Italy)
The question is unprecise. In which sense the small farms should be more resilient? Economically they are not more resilient then large farms at this moment in the 7 Regional Initiative focus countries.
The answer is focusing exclusively on the state of play of the 7 focus countries of the Regional Initiative 1 during 2014-17; Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Tajikistan and not on the whole region.

(source: Regional Initiative 1 project on Empowering Smallholders and Family farms TCP/RER/3601_ Synthesis Report draft)

The main problem in agriculture and in the rural areas of the 7 focus countries is the low income generated from agricultural activities. For the majority of smallholders and family farms the income generated from agriculture is not sufficient to meet the basic needs of a family. The low income is mainly due to the informal character of production: The households are small scale with less than 1 ha of land and production is not commercially viable. Registration of ownership of land is not in place (or may lack compliance with the situation on the ground) and the household is as such not registered in the official farm register. If any livestock, they are not registered in the official livestock register.

The households have no formal access to the market through value chains or with processors, but trade their production surplus locally in the barter economy. Agricultural education is typically low or even absent, and the production takes place without any knowledge or concern about any national minimum standards for production (food safety, animal health, hygiene, animal welfare, traceability, environment and working conditions). The informality also implies that the households not are taking part in the formal economy, so bookkeeping and accounting, payment of taxes and VAT is not taking place.
The low income and the informality of production not only prevents the families from meeting their basic needs, but it also prevents the local (and regional/national) authorities from collecting the taxes needed to invest in an appropriate social, educational, health-related and technical infrastructure. As a consequence, people migrate from rural areas due to lack of adequate services, lack of income and lack of future.

Migration causes ageing and womenization of the remaining population since mostly but not exclusively young men are leaving the rural communities. This again leads to stagnation or even to decline in the rural communities. This again will increase the pressure, lower the income and keep the households in poverty and subsistence. This vicious circle of poverty due to subsistence and informal production must be broken.

Small-scale, fragmented and informal farming restrict investments in mechanization leading to a low level of use of technology and farm machinery. Also the knowledgebase is restricted as well as implementation of national standards for production. The consequence is low productivity and low quality of the produce, which causes low prices and thus low income from farming.

Stagnation of the rural communities is the result of this chain of factors constraining the smallholders from developing their production and improving their lives. Expressed in this way, the situation for many smallholders and family farmers in the seven focus countries may be improved with the help of policies and interventions specifically targeting the individual links in the vicious circle, not one by one, but with the help of an integrated approach, where several instruments are employed at the same time.


______________


Q2.3/5 - 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."

From: Yoanna Ivanova <[log in to unmask]> (Bulgaria)
In recent years, the production of organic food has been rapidly developing in Bulgaria, allowing small farmers to enter new areas of production. This also allows access to new channels such as specialized agricultural markets, specialized stores in major cities, restaurants and hotels offering organic products.

From:  Boyko Doychinov <[log in to unmask]> (Bulgaria)
Some specific products such as Bulgarian yoghurt, white brined cheese, rose jam, specific sausages that are "Protected Geografical Indication" are practically produced by family and small farms.
The high quality of these products gives small farmers access to both large retail chains and short supply chains and direct access to end users.

From: Sami Elhag <[log in to unmask]> (Sudan)
Diverse crops such as sorghum, milt and sesame for men-lead farms, women are focusing on groundnuts and other vegetables or okra. There are virtually no exact channel for distribution, though.

From: Anetta Szilagyi- FAO (Italy)
(source: Regional Initiative 1 project on Empowering Smallholders and Family farms TCP/RER/3601_ Synthesis Report draft)
Data are not available for all countries, but some tendencies are clear. The majority of farms are very small. Between 36% (Moldova) and 77% (Georgia) operates less than 1 hectare of utilized land. For the 5 countries with segregated data, 56% of the farms are in this category. In average 40% of the farms are between 1 and 5 hectares, while 4% are bigger than 5 hectares. Land use measured in terms of total utilized agricultural area (UAA) in each country (2014/2017) compared with the number of farms confirms the small scale farming structure of the countries. In average the farm size measured in UAA is 2.1 hectare. Albania hits the average, while Georgia has 1.4 ha per farm and Tajikistan 3.7 ha per farm. Furthermore, the small farms are typically operating land distributed on 3-4 land parcels. In average these parcels are between 0.5 ha and 0.7 ha.

(source: Regional Consultation Workshop note)
Taking into account the small land size it is very difficult to diversify the product ranges for smallholders, especially that they are mostly following the traditions and in any cases it is difficult for them to reach the market. The farmers stick to traditional production methods and crops, which are of low quality and not marketable (e.g. low quality wheat produced on small plots, which is not efficient). Concerning the pattern, usually the farmers keep producing what they produced traditionally, but in some areas they are producing non-traditional plants. It was observed that farmers are usually going to cultivate traditional plants, even though it is not profitable. They should adopt more to market demands. In Georgia a number of pilot activities are implemented in several regions to support the government in decision making, to improve the confidence of the rural population, and rehabilitate the traditional VCs through pilot activities.

We have been requested if REU has case studies or projects in support of responding to those questions, which fall more in in your expert area. I assume short answers – about a paragraph -will be sufficient.
Thank you very much in advance!

From my view point, the largest case study we could bring from the region is the transition from collective to individual land tenure starting from 1990  in most of the Central and Eastern European countries and CIS, which in fact has increased the resilience of the food systems and realized recovery of the agricultural growth (Lerman and Sedik), FAO 2009. Moreover, countries like Poland and  to a certain level former Yugoslavia have been able to revitalize quickly their agricultural sectors due to the fact that they have kept their small farm structure during the socialism.


########################################################################

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