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May 15th, 2017

A rough estimate of the proportion of global emissions from agriculture due to smallholders

Published by CGIAR CCAFS,

This info note (PDF) by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) describes to what proportion smallholder farms contribute relative to all agricultural emissions, and to total global emissions from all sectors. Smallholders in developing countries produce, on a very rough estimate, 5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. This figure includes emissions due to both agriculture and land use change for agriculture. Emissions from smallholder farming in developing countries are roughly estimated as contributing to onethird of agricultural emissions and one-third of the emissions from deforestation due to agriculture globally. Reducing future emissions from smallholder agriculture needs to be considered as an option to meet targets for reducing climate change. Mitigation actions in smallholder agriculture could support farm livelihoods and more sustainable agriculture in the long run, but should only be introduced where they have the potential to advance rather than constrain rural development outcomes. Improving our collective knowledge is paramount and will improve priority setting. Since much remains unknown about low-emissions agriculture in practice, farmers and researchers need to experiment with portfolios of technical and institutional options. Working together to improve our understanding of the costs, feasibility and impacts of low-emissions agriculture among smallholders can turn priorities into practice.

Curated from ccafs.cgiar.org