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1. 2014
Governing
Council
Investing in smallholder
family farmers…
for the future we want

2. 2
Investing in smallholder
family farmers…
for the future we want
Smallholder family farmers are people working in any area of agriculture who derive a
significant portion of their income from farming, involve members of the family in
managing the farm and rely predominantly on family labour. These farms vary in size,
ranging from 0.25 hectares to 10 hectares depending on region, crop and availability of
land. Family farms are a global phenomenon. In fact, family farming is the dominant model
of agriculture, and its prevalence across areas with diverse levels of development, farm size,
capital/land/labour ratios, crops and products, and ecology suggests that family farming
offers specific comparative advantages.1
Smallholder family farmers produce four fifths of the developing world’s food. These
women and men are key contributors to global food security, custodians of vital natural
resources and biodiversity, and central to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Despite
this reality, they remain a largely untapped resource, and are disproportionately represented
among the world’s poor people. The potential economic and social returns to investing in
them are enormous.
IFAD has always recognized this. Awareness of the wide-ranging potential returns of
investing in smallholder family farmers was one of the main rationales behind the
establishment of IFAD in 1977 as the only United Nations specialized agency and
international financial institution focusing exclusively on agricultural and rural
development. It is why IFAD has, over the course of decades, invested over US$15 billion
in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries through projects empowering more
than 410 million rural people to break out of poverty, thereby helping to create vibrant rural
communities. Continued – and in fact heightened – investment in smallholder family
farming is essential to reaching the future we want.
The global environment
As the post-2015 global development agenda takes shape, the world faces a historic
opportunity to put in place measures to shape the future we want. As with the Millennium
Declaration and Millennium Development Goals, the central premise is the need to
eradicate poverty in all its forms – but the framing of the debate has shifted. There is now
wide agreement that a shift to development models that are sustainable, inclusive and
equitable is indispensable to complete the task of eradicating poverty.2 This shift in thinking
about development has important implications for the types of investments and policies to
be prioritized. It also offers a potentially ground-breaking opportunity to address the
structural causes of poverty.
1 M. Lipton, The Family Farm in a Globalizing World: The Role of Crop Science in Alleviating Poverty, International Food
Policy Research Institute (Washington, D.C., 2005).
2 Good governance and peace also feature prominently in current debates. For more details see United Nations, A New
Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies Through Sustainable Development (New York, 2013).

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The debate goes on against a background of social, economic, political and ecological
changes that are reshaping the conditions, challenges and opportunities faced by the
estimated 842 million poor and hungry people in the world today.3 Key factors include
higher and more volatile food prices, a projected 60 per cent increase in demand for
agricultural products by 20504 and the growing tension between a more populated and
urbanized world and a more fragile planet and unpredictable climate.
One thing that has not changed, however, is that the majority of the world’s poor people
still live in rural towns and settlements. For most of them, family farming is a vital part of
their livelihoods. Hence, if poverty is to be reduced on a broad scale and global food
security is to be achieved, investments that help family and smallholder farmers improve
their livelihoods will be critical. Investments will be needed in key areas such as rural
infrastructure, research and extension systems, and risk mitigation mechanisms. Small
farmers also need favourable policies, supportive institutions, social services, and access
to resources, inputs, credit and markets.
IFAD is committed to investing in smallholder family farmers, which has multiple
development benefits, particularly for poverty reduction and the improvement of food
security and nutrition. The emerging global environment is providing even greater
opportunities to invest in smallholder family farmers, but it is important to ensure that
the right kinds of investments are made.
IFAD investments: realizing the potential of smallholder
family farmers
IFAD works with poor rural populations, in particular smallholder family farmers, in
developing countries to eliminate poverty, hunger and malnutrition, raise productivity and
incomes, and improve the quality of rural women’s and men’s lives. IFAD has recognized
that smallholder family farmers can and do contribute to economic growth. They make vital
contributions to social and economic development, provided suitable investments are made
to create the conditions to enable them to do this. Looking at the needs of smallholder
farmers holistically, there is a spectrum of interventions that are needed to tap this potential.
As a result, IFAD investments in smallholder family farmers encompass all the elements that
make up the livelihoods of this diverse group of women and men, including productivity,
infrastructure, women’s empowerment, access to financial services, climate change
adaptation, access to markets, land policy and public-private partnerships.
The following is a selection of country examples from IFAD’s portfolio showing the
multiple benefits of investing in smallholder family farmers:
• Enhancing productivity. In Rwanda, IFAD has facilitated partnerships between tea-producing
cooperatives and private investors, which have enabled smallholders to
increase their productivity and control over the marketing of their produce. Under the
partnerships, tea factories established by private-sector partners buy directly from the
cooperatives comprising more than 4,000 members, with the cooperatives
participating as equity shareholders in the factories. This model is being replicated in
another IFAD-supported project in the country, which is promoting investment in the
rehabilitation of existing tea plantations as well as establishing new ones. Supporting
cooperatives to rehabilitate existing tea plantations and build necessary infrastructure,
and developing other tea-growing areas for smallholder farmers are important
features of these projects, as is building the capacity of the cooperatives to engage
with the processors.
3 These people were chronically malnourished in the period 2011-2013. The state of food insecurity in the world. The multiple
dimensions of food security, IFAD, WFP and FAO (Rome, 2013).
4 Against 2005/2007 baseline production and consumption data from FAOSTAT. World agriculture towards 2030/2050: the
2012 revision, FAO (Rome, 2012).

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• Adapting to climate change. In 2012, IFAD launched the Adaptation for Smallholder
Agriculture Programme (ASAP) to channel climate and environmental finance to
smallholder farmers. The objective is to improve the capacity of at least 8 million
smallholder farmers to expand their options in a rapidly changing environment.
The programme will empower community-based organizations to make use of new
climate risk management skills, information and technologies. These can include
improved weather station networks, which can provide farmers with more reliable
seasonal forecasts and cropping calendars; geographic information systems, which can
improve understanding and monitoring of landscape use in a changing environment;
and economic valuation of climate change impacts, which can inform more robust
policy decisions.5
• Building rural infrastructure. In The Gambia, the Participatory Integrated Watershed-
Management Project is building bridges to reclaim land. Simple concrete bridges, built
above the level of seasonal floodwaters, have enabled farmers to access paddy fields
even in the rainy season, when previously fast-flowing muddy water and rickety
wooden bridges had restricted access to only the strongest swimmers. Thus far, the
project has helped reclaim over 34,000 hectares of land for cultivation.
• Women’s empowerment. The Reconstruction and Rural Modernization Programme in
El Salvador contributed to the empowerment of women by providing technical and
legal assistance to women’s groups to enable them to participate in negotiations on
land access agreements. Political pressure to avoid land evictions was also applied in
some cases. The programme also provided women and men with training in the
development of business plans, which allowed them to obtain credit.
• Inclusive finance. In Bangladesh, recognizing the need for innovation in financial
services, IFAD initiated a public-private partnership with the Palli Karma-Sahayek
Foundation, which in turn channelled funds to microfinance partner organizations
for on lending to smallholders. The organizations were trained in agricultural
financing; farmers were instructed in the use of modern agricultural technologies.
Over 200,000 smallholders accessed funds under the project, with a loan recovery
rate of 98 per cent. Annual household income was estimated to have increased by
63 per cent as a result of the project.
• Linking smallholders to markets. In India, through the Convergence of Agricultural
Interventions in Maharashtra’s Distressed Districts Project, IFAD acts as facilitator of
a contract arrangement between an agribusiness company (FieldFresh Foods Private
Limited) and groups of smallholders. The farmers are contracted to cultivate baby
corn, which is sold to the United Kingdom market. Farmers have benefited through
increased volumes sold, higher quality (now meeting international standards) and
better prices. Access to financial services and inputs are also provided.
• Public-private partnerships. In Indonesia, IFAD and Mars Incorporated are working
in partnership with smallholder family farmers in the Sulawesi region to improve their
cocoa yields. Working with the IFAD cofinanced Rural Empowerment and Agricultural
Development Programme in Central Sulawesi, this effort is part of Mars’ Sustainable
Cocoa Initiative, a global programme to make cocoa a sustainable crop capable of
providing viable livelihoods to millions of smallholders.6
5 For more information, see: http://www.ifad.org/climate/asap/.
6 For more information, see short video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mMPzu891ok&feature=youtu.be.

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Investing in smallholder family farmers spurs wider development
In modern history, there are few, if any, examples of economic development and widespread
poverty reduction that did not start by raising the productivity and income of smallholder
family farms. A vast body of research demonstrating the role of agricultural productivity
growth in economic development and structural transformation has shown family farming
to be a key driver. This was observed in a number of European countries in the late
eighteenth century and in Latin America (for example, Brazil, Mexico) and Asia (Japan,
Republic of Korea) over the past 40 years.7
The process begins with pro-poor economic growth
driven by the development of family farming. The
increasing incomes of poor rural people leads to increased
spending, which promotes growth in the rural non-farm
economy and expanding markets for local consumption of
goods, while spawning new businesses that provide inputs
and marketing services to agriculture.
Thus, investment in smallholder family farms sets in
motion a virtuous circle: rising incomes of family farmers
stimulate rapid growth in the non-farm economy,
increasing the market for farm products and raising
demand for higher-value farm outputs. This
transformation has proven the catalyst for poverty-reducing
growth in many of today’s emerging economies.
Box 1. Viet Nam: Transformation through
agricultural investment
Viet Nam investment in rural infrastructure such as
all-weather roads, irrigation systems, electrification
and sanitation, as well as increased public
spending on agriculture and land reforms that
have increased the access of smallholder family
farmers to land have transformed Viet Nam from
a food-deficit country in the 1990s to a major
food exporter today. Thus, investment in
smallholder agriculture has been a key driver
behind Viet Nam’s transformation from one of
the poorest countries in the world 25 years ago
to lower middle-income status.
Investing in smallholder family farmers boosts food
and nutrition security
Smallholder family farmers are fundamental to food and nutrition security. They produce
80 per cent of the food in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia and are the largest providers
of work for the local labour force in many countries and regions. In countries lacking
adequate reserves of foreign exchange to import food (a problem exacerbated by the food
price spikes of recent years), the contribution of family farming to domestic food supply is
even more crucial. Indeed, in the many developing countries that are net food importers,
increasing production on smallholder family farms can reduce vulnerability to exchange rate
and other trade-related shocks.
Family farming, supported by suitable investments, public policies and institutions, can
contribute both directly, through food production, and indirectly, through the income it
generates for smallholder farmers that enables them to purchase more – and more varied
and nutritious – food. Successful development in smallholder family farming will play a key
role in reducing inequalities between and within countries, which will be indispensable to
achieving development that is inclusive and sustainable.
Improved nutrition is not only a critical outcome of social and economic development,
but also a critical input for that development. Farm households are both producers and
consumers; nutrition-sensitive programmes can reduce poverty and malnutrition among
smallholder family farmers and allow them to optimize their contribution to agricultural
production and food systems as a whole. Smallholders are also guardians of biodiversity,
producing traditional and often underutilized varieties of crops, fish and livestock.
7 For more information, see Investing in smallholder agriculture for food security, a report by the High Level Panel of
Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security (Rome, 2013).

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Investing in smallholder family farming is key to environmental
and climatic priorities
Globally, 85 per cent of agricultural holdings are less than two hectares in size.8
Smallholders operate in some of the world’s most ecologically and climatically vulnerable
landscapes – hillsides, drylands and flood plains – both as users of scarce natural resources
and custodians of biodiversity and resources that are highly climate dependent. Therefore,
it should be evident that agriculture cannot produce sufficient quantities of food in an
environmentally sustainable way without investments in smallholder family farmers.
The activities of family farmers have important spillover costs and benefits on global public
goods (such as water supplies, forests and biodiversity). As such, investments and policies
that enable family farmers to maximize benefits and mitigate the spillover costs of their
activities must be a vital aspect of any sustainable development agenda.
In the context of a more urbanized world, rural areas will have to help meet growing
demands for energy, environmental services and green jobs. As a result, IFAD is developing
innovative loan products to finance renewable energy projects. For example, in Cameroon,
more than 50 microfinance loans that allow the clients to invest in solar solutions for
lighting and mobile phone charging have been approved. In The Gambia, similar schemes
are under way in the field of renewable energy. There is scope for investments in renewable
energy to create decent work opportunities that will benefit rural people, especially young
women and men.
Investing in smallholder family farming strengthens families
and communities
A thriving smallholder family agriculture helps build close-knit families and societies.
It provides employment for multiple family members – female and male, young and old.
Where investments in smallholder family farming are sensitive to the needs and
opportunities of different family members, they also have potentially important social
and equity benefits.
Investing in smallholder family farming is key to promoting gender equality and
women’s empowerment. Women make up approximately 43 per cent of the global
agricultural labour force, but inequalities in access to productive resources constrain their
yields by an estimated 20 to 30 per cent. If captured, this production could reduce global
hunger by 12 to 17 per cent. Further, household income controlled by women has a greater
impact on family welfare, improving nutrition and reducing poverty.
IFAD’s experience has repeatedly shown that investment in smallholder family farming is
a key instrument to empower women. For example, the Districts Livelihood Support
Programme in Uganda uses volunteer mentors to transform gender relations within the
household. Participating households have reported not only increased household income
and food security, but also improvements in women’s decision-making influence and more
harmonious household relations.
Smallholder family farming can also empower young people. Given that the majority of
poor young people are still living in rural areas, finding ways to enable young rural women
and men to obtain decent livelihoods must be a priority. Although young rural people will
have to be key players if global agriculture is to meet the myriad challenges it will face in
coming decades, at present the absence of decent work opportunities in rural areas is one of
the reasons young people are migrating at unprecedented levels. This deprives rural
communities of their most energetic and innovative members. But there is potential to
create productive opportunities for young rural people, which can provide a viable
alternative to migration and ease pressure on saturated labour markets.
8 According to data compiled from 81 countries by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of
the Committee on World Food Security.

7. 7
In Egypt, the IFAD-supported West Noubaria Rural
Development Project has provided unemployed young
people with small plots of farmland in newly reclaimed
desert lands outside the Nile delta. These new farmers
have received training and technical support, and
marketing associations have been set up to help them
compete with larger-scale farmers. Nearly 45,000 young
graduates have benefited from this project, which
has created more than 60,000 permanent and
80,000 seasonal jobs.
In Senegal, the IFAD-supported Project for the
Promotion of Rural Entrepreneurs has provided youth-sensitive
capacity-building for producer organizations in
selected poor regions. It has offered training for business
development service providers, with a focus on enabling
young entrepreneurs to access services. Thus far, 1,500 new
enterprises and 4,000 jobs have been created, 63 per cent
of which have been for young people.
Opportunities for investing in smallholder family farmers are
greater than ever before
Several factors make the potential returns of investing in smallholder family farmers
now greater than ever.
Widening commercial opportunities
Higher food prices increase returns and the potential viability of small-scale family farming.
And as food imports become more expensive, smallholders will be positioned to capture a
larger share of domestic markets. Increased demand for agricultural products has brought
new operators into supply chains, including domestic and multinational supermarket
operators, which constitute an opportunity for smallholder family farmers. On the risk side,
more integrated national and global markets and value chains, with stricter quality
standards, will likely expose smallholders to wider competition. Hence the support of
partnerships and capacity development are key for smallholders. For example, in Egypt the
Agrofood Group collaborates with farmers’ associations to provide smallholder family
farmers with training in the production and processing of potatoes to meet strict European
Union standard requirements. It also provides smallholders with certified high-quality
potato seeds to meet the standards of European supermarket chains, resulting in win-win
solutions for both the Agrofood Group’s business operations and smallholders.9
New rural-urban dynamics
The increasing integration of rural and urban areas and the growing diversity of rural
economies are also creating new business opportunities for rural people. Rural areas will
play an increasingly significant role in delivering a range of public and private goods and
services – for example, those relating to energy and environmental services – to a more
urbanized world. The development of larger towns and hubs and the continued migration
of rural people from smaller and more remote settlements to these areas are widening the
information flows between smallholder family farmers and other private actors, aided by
information and communication technologies. Many IFAD projects are contributing to
these increased information flows and helping to create new commercial opportunities.
9 For more information, see http://www.agrofood.com.eg/.
Box 2. Nigeria: Addressing the needs
of youth
In Nigeria, the Community-Based Natural
Resource Management Programme has a specific
focus on young people living in the Niger Delta,
addressing issues of community cohesion and
natural resource management by targeting
disadvantaged youth. The programme provides
financial and technical resources for community-based
natural resource management aiming to
enable young people, in particular, to turn fish
farming into a vibrant, profitable business. Over
20,000 jobs have been created, with greater
youth inclusion in communities and subsequently
reduced involvement in violent activities being
among the programme’s impacts.

8. In Zambia, the IFAD-supported Smallholder Enterprise and Marketing Programme used
mobile phone technology to create a market information service for smallholder family
farmers. The service provides accurate and up-to-date agriculture and market information
covering the entire value chain, allowing smallholders to make informed decisions about
what to grow, volumes required, storage and processing options, and marketing and
investment opportunities. More than 28,000 smallholder family farming households have
directly benefited from this programme. These types of investments reduce the transaction
costs and risks associated with investing in family farmers.
Changing institutional environment
New institutional arrangements also enable smallholder family farmers to capitalize on new
opportunities. Organizations of small producers, participatory approaches to research and
development, and more integrated value chains provide family farmers with access to
training, information, markets, tailored financial products, technology and policy processes.
Many private companies, recognizing an opportunity to secure their supply base, are
entering into partnerships with groups of smallholder farmers. The potential benefits of
these partnerships are significant for both parties, but the playing field is not level, and risks
to smallholder farmers will need to be assessed and mitigated. Farmers’ organizations are
also finding new opportunities to shape policy. For example, within the institutional
framework of the agreement with the Commission on Family Farming of the Southern Cone
Common Market (MERCOSUR), IFAD is promoting a platform for dialogue between
governments and smallholder farmers’ associations, which is facilitating increased public
investment in family farming.
Trends in public and private investment
Increasingly, investment in smallholder family farmers is coming from the private
commercial sector. Many IFAD-supported projects already involve partnerships with private
actors. In addition, there has been widespread commitment from governments to broaden
public investments in agriculture, which also support efforts to reduce poverty. Generally,
however, in recent years governments have reduced direct investment, shifting their focus to
facilitating private investment in the sector, including by smallholder family farmers
themselves. Remittances also play an important role in fostering investment in smallholder
family farms. IFAD’s multi-donor Financing Facility for Remittances demonstrates notable
examples deriving from 50 remittance-related projects in some 40 countries, which have
tested innovative mechanisms and products. For example, the Philippine’s Atikha Overseas
Workers and Communities Initiatives Inc., through an IFAD cofinanced grant, has helped
change the lives of thousands of Filipino migrant investors by means of its financial literacy
training programme.
Four key areas for investment
Suitable policies and functioning state institutions are indispensable for creating an
enabling investment environment for smallholder family farming. This includes:
• A predictable and stable macroeconomic environment
• Fiscal policies such as customs and taxes that do not reduce the potential returns of
investing in smallholder family farmers
• Policies on banking and foreign and domestic investment that are conducive to
investing in smallholder family farmers
• State policy on land tenure that complements local property right regimes in
facilitating secure access to land for smallholder family farmers, with a particular
focus on the needs of women
8

9. 9
• Policy and regulatory frameworks that safeguard the interests of smallholder
family farmers.
Smallholder households are heterogeneous, and the suitability of an investment strategy is
also influenced by a range of factors that vary between and within regions: the type of staple
crops and cropping patterns; availability of land, labour and capital; access to services; access
to markets; availability, quality and management patterns
of natural resources; vulnerability to climate change and
associated risks; demographics; and education levels.
With the right policies and institutions in place, future
investment in smallholder family farmers should be
concentrated in four broad areas: infrastructure, research
and extension, risk mitigation and partnership facilitation.
Improving rural infrastructure
Reliable infrastructure is essential for all elements of rural
development. It has an enormous impact on the cost of
supplying both farm and non-farm goods and services. It
is a key determinant of the business services available to
smallholder family farmers (for example, processing,
marketing, storage) and to their profitability.
The public sector usually plays a leading role in
infrastructure investment, but in recent years there has
been rising involvement of the private sector. One benefit
is that such projects are more likely to be run like
businesses rather than bureaucracies. Approaches to
investing in rural infrastructure that have shown
livelihood-enhancing and sustainable results include:
• Giving family farmers a voice in infrastructure
projects and involving them in planning, regulation
and, where possible, operations and financing
• Ensuring that investments respond to demand and
that adequate resources are available for
maintenance
Box 3. Uganda: Participatory approaches
to infrastructural development
The Community Agricultural Infrastructure
Improvement Programme in Uganda, supported
by IFAD in partnership with the African
Development Bank, promoted economic
empowerment of smallholder family farmers using
a participatory approach. It did so by investing
US$81.9 million in supporting infrastructure
development for district and community access
roads and markets and provision of
agroprocessing equipment. The programme,
completed in 2013, also financed community
mobilization activities to promote community
participation in the selection and implementation
of local infrastructure development projects,
particularly of rural access roads and market
centres. Organizational committees, such as road
management committees, played a critical role in
overseeing construction, resolving land conflicts
and certifying completed works. Market
management committees ensured maintenance
and operation of markets by providing efficient
handling of simple repairs, maintaining hygiene
and liaising between vendors and local
governments. An estimated 200,000 households
directly benefited from the programme.10
Establishing appropriate research and extension systems
Innovation in agriculture is crucial to meeting current and future challenges. Private-sector
investments in research and extension have expanded in recent decades, although the public
sector retains an important role, particularly in safeguarding the interests of smallholder
family farmers operating in the least favourable conditions. Investing in smallholder-sensitive
research and extension should focus on:
• Investing in building the capacities of institutions responsible for research and
extension
• Integrating research and extension agendas more closely and increasing information
flows from smallholder family farmers to local service providers (for instance,
providers of marketing, financial and technical services)
• Involving farmer organizations in designing and implementing extension services,
and participatory approaches such as farmer field schools
10 In July 2013, IFAD and the African Development Bank received the Development Impact Honors award from the United
States Department of the Treasury for their contribution to the programme.

10. 10
• Striking a balance between public and private sector roles and developing
partnerships that maximize the contribution of farmers’ knowledge to science,
technology and innovation.
Enabling smallholder family farmers to manage risk
Investment is needed to mitigate the most pressing risks
facing smallholder family farmers, which include the
effects of climate change, increasingly frequent weather-based
shocks and (in many areas) degradation and loss of
natural resources, all of which make production even more
difficult to control. Further, price volatility is expected to
continue into the future, making it difficult for farmers to
know which crops they will be able to sell profitably or
how much income they can reasonably expect to earn.
Smallholders urgently need a wide range of tools to
help them deal with the various risks and uncertainties, if
they are to make investments that can enhance their
livelihoods, such as adopting new technologies and
switching to high-value-added activities. Risk mitigation
measures include:
• Extending tailored social protection measures to
rural areas, targeting women for transfer payments
• Designing climate change adaptation mechanisms
• Developing a range of inclusive financial products,
including insurance schemes and remittance
products, tailored to address the risks that
smallholders face.
Box 4. Ethiopia: Investing in
extension services
Providing extension services to improve
agricultural production techniques is a key part of
the strategies of both IFAD and the Government
of Ethiopia. IFAD’s strategy is aligned with the
government’s Growth and Transformation Plan.
At a time when many governments in Africa were
curtailing support for the sector, Ethiopia instituted
a policy of industrialization led by agricultural
development. Over 60,000 development agents
have graduated from Agricultural Technical and
Vocational Education and Training Colleges in the
past six years with three-year diplomas. Prior to
2000, the country’s 15,000 development agents
had received about nine months of training.11
In recent years, high rates of economic growth
(averaging 9.3 per cent between 2001 and
2011)12 have been linked to increases in
agricultural productivity.
Recent experience has shown that social protection and risk mitigation are vital tools both
in promoting economic growth and in ensuring that this growth contributes to reducing
poverty and hunger. A variety of policies and instruments fall under the category of social
protection: workers’ insurance schemes and labour market policies, such as contributory
pensions and health insurance; coverage against crop loss, the death of a close family
member and loss of property, as well as index-based weather insurance; safety nets,
including social transfers (both conditional and non-conditional), subsidies and public
works; and sectoral policies related to health and education that provide free or affordable
access to quality services for smallholder family farmers, many of whom live in remote
and poor areas.
Creating an enabling environment for private-sector investment and partnerships
Smallholder family farmers themselves are part of the private sector, and are the largest
investors in their own enterprises despite the multiple constraints they face. To harness their
ability to make productivity-enhancing investments in their farm enterprises, a variety of
measures are needed that promote their access to markets, financial services, land tenure
security, and information and communication technologies.
11 K. Davis et al., In-depth assessment of the public agricultural extension system of Ethiopia and recommendations for
improvement, IFPRI Discussion Paper 01041, International Food Policy Research Institute, 2010.
12 http://devdata.worldbank.org/AAG/eth_aag.pdf.

11. 11
In recent years many partnerships between smallholders and other private actors have
shown significant benefits in creating an enabling environment for investment in family
farming enterprises. The result has been increased income and reduced risk for farmers
and a sustainable and efficient supply for commercial
partners. The requirements for mutually beneficial and
effective partnerships include:
• Policy engagement of family farmers at all levels, in
particular by supporting them to engage with
cooperatives and farmer’s organizations
• Effective facilitation to mitigate risks involved with
partners’ unequal power
• Appropriate regulations and safeguards to ensure
partnerships are equitable
• Awareness among consumers (in both developing
and developed countries) of the long-term
sustainability benefits of consuming goods produced
by smallholder family farmers
• Promotion of agricultural investment opportunities
among diaspora communities.
Box 5. Indonesia: Partnerships for
food security
The Partnership for Indonesia Sustainable
Agriculture (PISAgro), supported by the World
Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture
initiative, has engaged over 20 organizations
working to create sustainable growth and
opportunities for farmers in Indonesia. PISAgro is
working to improve sustainable production of
target commodities, strengthen smallholder
livelihoods and increase food security. The
Government, working in partnership with both the
private sector and civil society, has established
programmes to achieve food independence in key
crops while increasing productivity, environmental
sustainability and social welfare.
Next steps
There can be no food and nutrition security without smallholder family farming. A future
where smallholder family farming is at the centre of agricultural, economic, environmental
and social agendas will be key for promoting equitable and sustainable development.
Emerging global and national realities present even wider opportunities and potential
returns from investing in smallholder family farming than ever before. These realities
demand new investment modalities, new kinds of partnerships and enabling policies –
as well as a changing and expanding role for IFAD and other institutions. IFAD, in
collaboration with its Member States and partners, will need to develop new approaches
to respond to the challenges and opportunities for smallholder family farmers in order to
enable them to participate in and benefit from inclusive growth, to realize the future we
want. Governors are invited to share their visions on the future role of smallholder family
farmers in their countries and how IFAD can continue to support them to achieve this
vision, building on successful cases and lessons learned.

12. Contact information:
Rosemary Vargas-Lundius
Senior Research Coordinator
Strategy and Knowledge Management Department
Tel: +39 06 5459 2350
Fax: +39 06 5459 3350
E-mail: r.vargaslundius@ifad.org
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International Fund for Agricultural Development
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