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Smallholder farmers in India: food security and agricultural policy










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    Document
    Smallholders and sustainable wells
    A Retrospect: Participatory Groundwater Management in Andhra Pradesh (India)
    2013
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    With 16 percent of the world’s population, India has 2.45 percent of the world’s land resources and 4 percent of its water resources. It is obvious that supply will barely match future demand. Around 50 percent of irrigated agriculture and 85 percent of rural drinking water comes from groundwater. Sustainable management of groundwater plays a major role in the agriculture sector, contributing to the economic development of a mainly agrarian country. Half of farmer households in India are indebted and the average outstanding loan increases with the size of the landholding. Smallholders, who have no access to irrigation make up a major portion of the worlds’ poor. In relation to operational area, the poor are well represented in groundwater irrigation. Over 60 percent of India’s irrigated area is dependent on some form of groundwater source. The people nearest the groundwater can best manage this resource, not agencies that visit every now and then. Therefore, t he nature, occurrence and behaviour of aquifer systems need to be understood by those most affected by changes in the system. Local organizations, government, civil society and the private sector all have important, and often unique, roles to play in participatory groundwater management (PGM). This publication is an attempt to describe these roles as they developed during the life of a set of projects in Andhra Pradesh. PGM is highly relevant for India’s rural development, given cu rrent groundwater development practice and related institutional capacities and policy initiatives. Without some method for putting management into the hands of users, the long-term viability of many rural communities is at risk.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    Study on small-scale family farming in the Near East and North Africa region. Synthesis 2017
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    This report provides an overview of a study conducted in the NENA region in 2015-2016 in partnership with FAO, CIRAD, CIHEAM-IAMM and six national teams, each of which prepared a national report. In the six countries under review in the NENA region (Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan and Tunisia), agriculture is carried out primarily by small-scale family farmers, the majority of whom run the risk of falling into the poverty trap, largely due to the continuous fragmentation of inherited landholdings. As such, the development of small-scale family farming can no longer be based solely on intensifying agriculture, as the farmers are not able to produce sufficient marketable surplus due to the limited size of their landholdings. An approach based strictly on agricultural activity is also insufficient (as small-scale family farms have already diversified their livelihoods with off-farm activities). In fact, developing small-scale farming cannot be achieved by focusing strictly on t he dimension of production.
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    Book (stand-alone)
    Food insecurity, poverty and agriculture: A concept paper 2002
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    This paper argues for a twin-track approach to hunger and poverty reduction that combines measures to promote rural development through growth in agriculture and rural off-farm activities with measures to provide direct and immediate access to food for the most needy. The paper begins with an exposition of the concepts of food insecurity and poverty and shows that the majority of the hungry and poor in developing countries still live in rural areas. It then documents the substantial economic costs of hunger to show that direct action against hunger can itself contribute to poverty reduction. It goes on to argue that if the income from agricultural growth is spent locally and promotes growth in rural off-farm activities, this can have a strong impact on the incomes of the poor. Evidence is presented to substantiate this argument. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the twin-track approach for anti poverty strategies.

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