smallholder farmers

This book by CTA examines ‘innovations systems’ – a concept suggested as underpinning industrial development – as a strategy for agricultural development. Innovation systems approaches conceptualise change as a long-term, socially-embedded process, and recognise the important role policy plays in shaping the parameters within which decisions are made. The lessons learned can be useful in guiding the design, implementation and evaluation of future policies, programmes and research on agricultural innovation systems. »

This analytical guide by CSM shows in what way policy recommendations illuminate the relationships of smallholders to markerts. The guide examines how small-scale food producers’ organisations and allied civil society can use the recommendations in their national and international advocacy and how they can work together with their governments to apply them in the context of national and regional policies and programmes. The authors argue that the policy recommendations illuminate the relationships of smallholders to markets in two main ways. »

This paper by CCAFS brings together and highlights research and gaps in the literature about climate effects on smallholder coffee agroecosystems. The authors seek to inspire future scholarship, inform policy and help direct development interventions. Although this paper primarily focuses on Central American coffee production, many of the examples and lessons are broadly applicable to smallholder coffee producers worldwide. The authors hope this researchbrief will benefit multiple stakeholders including coffee cooperatives, development practitioners, industry agents, researchers and policy-makers. »

This toolkit by IFAD provides guidance on developing sustainable partnerships with farmers’ organizations (FOs) within IFAD projects that consider FOs as relevant partners and not simply as beneficiaries of IFAD-funded activities. Given the complexity and diversity of both country contexts and FOs, the toolkit is not intended to be rigidly prescriptive. Rather, it provides an overview of the different approaches IFAD uses when building partnerships with FOs for the purposes of designing its strategies and programmes and implementing IFAD-supported projects. »

This report by IFAD shows how drylands support important ecosystems and a great variety of biodiversity, as well as their vital role in the livelihoods and cultural identity of many smallholders. It reveals the crucial role the world’s drylands play in buffering the negative impacts of climate change, land degradation and drought. »

This article, published in the Global Food Security journal, examines the impacts of the United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP’s) Purchase for Progress (P4P) program on smallholder farmers in Tanzania. P4P is a multi-year, multi-country pilot that sought to improve smallholder farmer wellbeing through a combination of food purchases from farmer organizations and supply-side interventions. »