India CSR Network
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Register
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • CSR
    • Art & Culture
    • CSR Leaders
    • Child Rights
    • Culture
    • Environment
    • Education
    • Gender Equality
    • Health
    • Skill Development
    • No Poverty
    • Safety
    • Covid-19
    • Safe Food For All
  • Sustainability
    • Sustainability Dialogues
    • Sustainability Knowledge Series
    • Plastics
    • Sustainable Development Goals
    • Circular Economy
    • BRSR
  • Corporate Governance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Articles
  • Interviews
  • Events
  • BOOKS
  • More
    • Technology
    • Lifestyle
    • Case Studies
    • Knowledge
    • Social Sector Leaders
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Philanthropy
    • Sports
    • Gaming
  • Prime
  • Home
  • CSR
    • Art & Culture
    • CSR Leaders
    • Child Rights
    • Culture
    • Environment
    • Education
    • Gender Equality
    • Health
    • Skill Development
    • No Poverty
    • Safety
    • Covid-19
    • Safe Food For All
  • Sustainability
    • Sustainability Dialogues
    • Sustainability Knowledge Series
    • Plastics
    • Sustainable Development Goals
    • Circular Economy
    • BRSR
  • Corporate Governance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Articles
  • Interviews
  • Events
  • BOOKS
  • More
    • Technology
    • Lifestyle
    • Case Studies
    • Knowledge
    • Social Sector Leaders
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Philanthropy
    • Sports
    • Gaming
  • Prime
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
India CSR Network
No Result
View All Result
Home More

Smallholder Farmers Key to Lifting Over One Billion People Out of Poverty

by India CSR Network
9 years ago
in More

Backing and Enabling Smallholders Can Unleash New and Sustainable Agricultural Revolution

INDIACSR News Network

World Environment Day 2013 LogoULAANBAATAR,  Mongolia: Supporting smallholder farmers to play a greater role in food production and natural resource stewardship is one of the quickest ways to lift over one billion people out of poverty and sustainably nourish a growing world population, a new United Nations report released today said.

Most of the 1.4 billion people living on under US$1.25 a day live in rural areas and depend largely on agriculture for their livelihoods, while an estimated 2.5 billion people are involved in full- or part-time smallholder agriculture.

These smallholders manage approximately 500 million small farms and provide over 80 per cent of the food consumed in large parts of the developing world, particularly Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, thus contributing to food security and poverty reduction.

A previous study showed that a one-per-cent increase in agricultural per-capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reduced the poverty gap five times more than a one-per-cent increase in GDP in other sectors, especially amongst the poorest people. Another study demonstrated that for every ten-per-cent increase in farm yields, there was a seven-per-cent reduction in poverty in Africa, and a reduction of over five-per-cent in Asia.

However, increasing fragmentation of land, reduced investment support and the marginalization of small farms in economic and development policy have hampered the development of this vital contribution and left many smallholders vulnerable.

Given the right enabling conditions and targeted support, these often-neglected farmers can transform the rural landscape and unleash a new and sustainable agricultural revolution, according to Smallholders, Food Security and the Environment—a report commissioned by the UN Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

“Two decades of underinvestment in agriculture, growing competition for land and water, rising fuel and fertilizer prices, and climate change have left smallholders less able to escape poverty,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director.

CSRBooks.com CSRBooks.com CSRBooks.com

“Following the Rio+20 Summit and as part of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, including developing a set of Sustainable Development Goals, there is a growing and powerful focus on sustainable food systems. This includes the UN Secretary-General’s Zero Hunger Challenge and UNEP and the Food and Agricultural Organization’s Think Eat Save: Reduce Your Foodprint campaign,” he added.

“Smallholder farmers can continue to be marginalized or be recognized as catalysts for a transformation of the way the world manages the supply of food and the environmental services that underpin agriculture in the first place” said Mr Steiner. “ Above all, this report makes it clear that investing in this sector offers the highest rate of return for those interested in overcoming poverty and realizing and building upon the Millennium Development Goals, including MDG-7 on environmental sustainability.”

The agricultural ‘green revolution’ that swept large parts of the developing world during the 1960s and 1970s dramatically increased agricultural productivity and reduced poverty, with smallholder farmers seeing many benefits. However, these achievements also helped undermine the very resource base that made the revolution possible.

While smallholder agriculture depends on the services provided by well-functioning ecosystems, agricultural practices can, and have had, impacts on these ecosystems as poverty drives smallholders to modify habitats and thus harm biodiversity, overuse water and nutrients and pollute water and soil.

The pressures placed on land and other resources are set to grow over the next 40 years as agriculture must feed a larger and more-urbanized world population.

Current practices are undermining the ecological foundation of the global food system through overuse and the effects of agricultural pollution, thereby enhancing degradation, reducing ecosystem capacity to generate sustainable yields and threatening to negatively impact food security and poverty reduction.

Sustainable agricultural intensification—scaling up farming practices that maintain the resources base upon which smallholders depend so that it continues to support food security and rural development—can be the answer to enhanced food security, environmental protection and poverty reduction. Smallholders have a key role to play in this process.

“Smallholder farmers hold a massive collective store of experience and local knowledge that can provide the practical solutions needed to put agriculture on a more sustainable and equitable footing,” said Elwyn Grainger Jones, Director of IFAD’s Environment and Climate Division. “To place these smallholders at the forefront of a transformation in world agriculture, they need appropriate support to overcome the many challenges they face.”

The report—which aims to improve understanding among policymakers and practitioners of the relationships between smallholders, food security and the environment—made a series of recommendations, including:

* The promotion of sustainable agriculture has focused on minimizing the impacts of agriculture on the environment and many smallholders feel this robs them of limited opportunities for growth. Farm- and community-level mechanisms that take these concerns into account while scaling up a sustainability landscape approach need to be developed.

* Removing policy barriers to sustainable agricultural growth requires market-based mechanisms that provide smallholders with incentives to invest in sustainability, such as: removing subsidies on unsustainable fertilizers; subsidizing practices that encourage soil and water conservation; and expanding fair or green certification schemes that allow smallholders to compete in new niche markets locally and internationally.

* In order to provide smallholders with the information they need, investing in approaches such as farmer field schools and the use of rural radios and other mobile telecommunication methods is essential.

* Additional research is needed on the drivers of change that influence smallholder practices–both negative (e.g. agriculture policies and subsidies) and positive (e.g. secure land rights, collective institutions and cultural values).

The report was released as part of the celebrations of World Environment Day (WED), whose global host this year is the government and people of Mongolia. WED’s theme is closely linked to food security, focusing on reducing the estimated one third of all food produced—an astonishing 1.3 billion tonnes, worth around US$1 trillion—that is wasted or lost each year.

Earlier this year, UNEP and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) launched a campaign called Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint, which is aimed at slashing this wastage.

Aside from the moral implications of such wastage in a world where almost 900 million people go hungry every day, unconsumed food wastes both the energy put into growing it and the fuel spent on transporting produce across vast distances.

Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint

The campaign harnesses the expertise of organizations such as WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), Feeding the 5,000 and other partners, including national governments, who have considerable experience targeting and changing wasteful practices. It aims to accelerate action and provide a global vision and information-sharing portal for the many and diverse initiatives currently underway around the world. Visit www.thinkeatsave.org

 World Environment Day

WED aims to be the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. WED activities take place year round but climax on June 5. WED celebrations began in 1972 and have grown to become the one of the main vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action. Through WED, the UN Environment Programme is able to personalize environmental issues and enable everyone to realize not only their responsibility, but also their power to become agents for change in support of sustainable and equitable development.

ShareTweetPin

India CSR Network

India CSR is the largest tech-led platform for information on CSR and sustainability in India offering diverse content across multisectoral issues. It covers Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainability, and related issues in India. Founded in 2009, the organisation aspires to become a globally admired media that offers valuable information to its readers through responsible reporting. To enjoy the premium content, we invite you to subscribe it.

Related Posts

Union Budget 2022: Tax Rebates in Budget for Realty Vital for Salaried Class
More

Union Budget 2022: Tax Rebates in Budget for Realty Vital for Salaried Class

January 19, 2022
India’s Veteran journalist Vinod Dua passes away
More

India’s Veteran journalist Vinod Dua passes away

December 5, 2021
Meet a NGO Leader who digs up dirt to set right system
More

Meet a NGO Leader who digs up dirt to set right system

August 10, 2021
More

Republic or Democratic?

January 22, 2021
Brand Identity of India CSR Network
CSR

Nomination invited for India CSR Professional of the Year Awards

August 4, 2021
More

Value of Books in Life

August 4, 2021
More

Google generates its 83% of revenues from the display of ads

August 4, 2021
More

Reliance Foundation Hospital rewarding medical staff with extra pay

August 4, 2021
CSR

Covid-19: ITC’s Paperboards and Specialty Paper Business lend its support to the needy in Telangana

August 4, 2021

Discussion about this post

Popular Stories

  • Lupin Terminates 300 Staff

    Lupin Terminates 300 Staff

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What is liberalization?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 7 Reasons Why Smartphone Can Make Your Life Easier

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • QNET CSR Arm Supports Electrification Project to light up the lives of 470 villagers in Meghalaya

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • MCA amends Schedule III of Companies Act on disclosure norms in financial statements and Details of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
India CSR Network

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Partnership
  • Contact
  • Terms of Use
  • Subscribe

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • CSR
    • Art & Culture
    • CSR Leaders
    • Child Rights
    • Culture
    • Environment
    • Education
    • Gender Equality
    • Health
    • Skill Development
    • No Poverty
    • Safety
    • Covid-19
    • Safe Food For All
  • Sustainability
    • Sustainability Dialogues
    • Sustainability Knowledge Series
    • Plastics
    • Sustainable Development Goals
    • Circular Economy
    • BRSR
  • Corporate Governance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Articles
  • Interviews
  • Events
  • BOOKS
  • More
    • Technology
    • Lifestyle
    • Case Studies
    • Knowledge
    • Social Sector Leaders
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Philanthropy
    • Sports
    • Gaming
  • Prime
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Cart

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Facebook
Sign In with Google
Sign In with Linked In
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Sign Up with Facebook
Sign Up with Google
Sign Up with Linked In
OR

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In