Smallholder farmers, agricultural sustainability and food security

This report by Zero Carbon Analytics examines the role of smallholder farmers in global food security, their productivity, and their adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. It highlights that small-scale farms, particularly those between two and five hectares, produce a significant portion of the world's food and often exhibit higher land productivity and biodiversity than larger farms. The document emphasizes the importance of integrating smallholders into modern agrifood supply chains and providing financial resources to scale climate-smart agricultural practices, especially in Africa.

• Smallholder farms are critical to global food production; those between two and five hectares produce 46% of the world's food on approximately one-third of agricultural land. Farms under five hectares in developing countries produce more than half of the global supply of nine staple crops, including rice, wheat, maize, and potato.
• Smallholder farms often demonstrate higher land productivity than larger farms due to a higher proportion of land dedicated to food crops rather than fuel or animal feed, high labour intensity through family employment, and more intensive use of seeds and fertilisers.
• There is a significant 'yield gap' in smallholder farming, representing the potential for yield improvement through modern technology and optimised inputs. This gap is most pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa (up to 76%) and lowest in East Asia (11%).
• Smallholder farmers are dominant producers of several high-value global commodities: they produce approximately 73% of all coffee, 90% of cocoa, and more than half of the world's tea.
• Smallholder farms generally maintain higher crop and non-crop biodiversity than larger farms. This is attributed to the use of varied crops and ecological management, such as limited insecticide use and the maintenance of diverse land cover types like wetlands and forests.
• Climate-smart and sustainable practices are already common in many smallholder systems. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the most widely adopted practices include the use of organic manure, agroforestry, crop rotation, and crop diversification.
• Access to finance is a primary barrier to the adoption of climate-smart agriculture in Africa. In Kenya, adoption is more likely among farmers who sell to markets, engage in off-farm agricultural activities, possess individual land tenure rights, or have a middle to high school education.

APA

Team, Z. (2023). Smallholder farmers, agricultural sustainability and food security. Zero Carbon Analytics. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/nature/smallholder-farmers-agricultural-sustainability-and-food-security/

Chicago

Team, ZCA. Smallholder farmers, agricultural sustainability and food security. Zero Carbon Analytics, 2023. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/nature/smallholder-farmers-agricultural-sustainability-and-food-security/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Team |first1=ZCA |title=Smallholder farmers, agricultural sustainability and food security |publisher=Zero Carbon Analytics |date=6 November 2023 |url=https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/nature/smallholder-farmers-agricultural-sustainability-and-food-security/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{team2023smallholder, author = {Team, ZCA}, title = {{Smallholder farmers, agricultural sustainability and food security}}, institution = {Zero Carbon Analytics}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/nature/smallholder-farmers-agricultural-sustainability-and-food-security/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }