IFAD Conference on new directions for smallholder agriculture

 24-25 January 2011. IFAD organised an International Conference on “New Directions for Smallholder Agriculture” in Rome, Italy to discuss the future of some 500 million smallholders. In much of Africa and South Asia, small farms still account for the largest share of agricultural output.

The conference was an opportunity to examine various options facing the smallholders; what support can be extended to them and by whom; how far can they really become the engine for sustainable development of developing countries.  It was also an opportunity to learn from each other, compare and contrast successes and see what institutional, political and economic support is needed to ensure a better future for the smallholders, within and outside agriculture.

Papers presented at the conference focused on regional diversities and the technical, financial and institutional environments which will determine their future. Will the smallholders survive in the future in the way we envisage today?  What should be the new directions if they are to change to accommodate changing global environment?

Some interesting background papers:

• Financing smallholder farmers and rural entrepreneurs in the Near East and North Africa by Thierry Mahieux, Omer Zafar, and Mylène Kherallah

• Sub-Saharan Africa: The state of smallholders in agriculture by Geoffrey Livingston, Steven Schonberger and Sara Delaney
• The Ethiopian experience on micro insurance by Nahu-Senaye Araya, CEO, Nyala Insurances

Related:

New realities, new challenges:
new opportunities for tomorrow's generation

The Rural Poverty Report 2011 provides a coherent and comprehensive look at rural poverty, its global consequences and the prospects for eradicating it.

Released on 6 December 2010, the report contains updated estimates by IFAD regarding how many rural poor people there are in the developing world, poverty rates in rural areas, and the percentage of poor people residing in rural areas.

Download the report

Overview (1.3MB)
Arabic | English | French | Spanish | Italian

Electronic version (3.9MB)
English

Print version (5.0MB)
English