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DocumentWorking paperWhat do we really know about the number and distribution of farms and family farms worldwide?
Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2014
2014Also available in:
No results found.The agricultural economics literature provides various estimates of the number of farms and small farms in the world. This paper is an effort to provide a more complete and up to date as well as carefully documented estimate of the total number of farms in the world, as well as by region and level of income. It uses data from numerous rounds of the World Census of Agriculture, the only dataset available which allows the user to gain a complete picture of the total number of farms globally and at the country level. The paper provides estimates of the number of family farms, the number of farms by size as well as the distibution of farmland by farm size. These estimates find that: there are at least 570 million farms worldwide, of which more than 500 million can be considered family farms. Most of the world’s farms are very small, with more than 475 million farms being less than 2 hectares in size. Although the vast majority of the world’s farms are smaller than 2 hectares, they operat e only a small share of the world’s farmland. Farmland distribution would seem quite unequal at the global level, but it is less so in low- and lower-middle-income countries as well as in some regional groups. These estimates have serious limitations and the collection of more up-to-date agricultural census data, including data on farmland distribution is essential to our having a more representative picture of the number of farms, the number of family farms and farm size as well as farmland dis tribution worldwide. -
Book (series)Technical studyA global update on the number of farms, farm size and farmland distribution
Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2025
2025Also available in:
No results found.Over the last decade, increasing efforts have been made to estimate the number of farms and the global distribution of farmland, providing context for the ongoing discourse on the future of farms, farm sizes, food security and poverty. The dynamic nature of agrifood systems transformations, demographic transitions and accompanying changes in farm sizes underline the importance of understanding global distribution of farms and farmland, particularly in the context of the ongoing United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019–2028). The most comprehensive estimates of the number of farms globally are nevertheless limited, as they rely on older data and suboptimal methodologies. This paper uses the most recent data combined with an improved methodology to provide an up-to-date overview of the global distribution of farms and farmland. -
Book (series)Working paperMeasuring agricultural land inequality
Conceptual and methodological issues
2025Also available in:
No results found.Measures of agricultural land inequality have primarily relied on the distribution of farm size, using information from agricultural census data. In this paper, we use an expanded approach, recognizing the complexity and the multiple dimensions that involve the concept of land inequality. Beyond land area, we propose a set of indicators to account for aspects of land rights and land quality, as well as to integrate the landless population, to measure more comprehensively land inequality, in a cross-country comparable manner while leveraging data from both living conditions household surveys and agricultural censuses. We then apply these indicators to household survey data from sub-Saharan Africa, enriched with a set of geospatial data features that determine agricultural land quality. Our results show that not accounting for land quality and secure tenure rights can lead to a significant underestimation of land inequality. We also discuss the scalability of this approach in other countries and regions considering both current data limitations and opportunities. Our assessment of existing data across the globe reveals that accounting for land rights represents the biggest challenge since most of the data sources capture limited information on land tenure diversity and individual rights. Finally, we map countries worldwide where data is available for scaling up our approach.
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Book (stand-alone)Technical book零饥饿计划：巴西的经验 20132 0 0 1 年10月，巴西总统候选人路易斯 ? 伊纳西奥 ? 卢拉 ? 达席尔瓦提出“零饥饿计划 ― 一项巴西粮食安全政策提案”，这份计划体现了对粮食安全和消除饥饿的讨论与建议的成熟化，将成为全社会参与其中、有计划有目的的国家目标与行动。2003年卢拉当选为巴西总统，零饥饿计划随即成为指导经济和社会政策的国家主要战略，是冲破巴西经济社会政策二元论藩篱的标志。政府开始采取一些列措施，将结构性政策整合为应急性政策，以对抗饥饿，消除贫困。新型差别化家庭农业政策已经实施，国家粮食安全与营养政策基本立法也开始起草。本书是NEAD特别系列的一部分，其包含一系列主要文章，有助于人们从不同角度了解巴西零饥饿计划八年的实施历程。本汇编阐述了一系列主题，如社会各阶层的动员，家庭农业的作用，最新研究进展和所面临的挑战等。
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Book (stand-alone)General interest book仝毖谄谏 70 年 (1945 年-2015 年) 2015本书讲述了粮农组织七十年的历史、其主要人物及奋斗历程。我们对粮农组织档案进行了挖掘，整理出未曾发表过的黑白图像，从而展现出描绘本组织初年的那些令人回味的画面组合。本书还记录了粮农组织取得的十大成就，例如根除牛瘟，确保全球生物多样性所必需的协议《植物遗传资源条约》，对保护海洋生态系统至关重要的《负责任渔业行为守则》等。粮农组织在未来几年面临的重大挑战也得到了阐述并归纳为两大主题：消除饥饿和营养不良，以及我们要采取什么行动来应对气候变化。本出版物通过把读者带到粮农组织区域办事处章节以了解各办事处的区域举措。粮农组织作为一个中立论坛每年举办许多会议，我们谨向您敞开粮农组织驻罗马总部的大门，让您作一次虚拟观光，徜徉于本组织织不同国家厅的各个角落。本书浅显易懂、设计简明且具有吸引力，适合于任何读者。
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Book (stand-alone)Manual / guide