Off the Shelf: Innovation in family farming for sustainable

agriculture

Terri Raney, EditorThe State of Food and Agriculture

Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN

ICABR18 June 2013

Ravello

The State of Food and AgricultureEditor-in-Chief

2002-2013

Planning for The SOFA 2014

Innovation in family farming for sustainable agriculture

Why a SOFA on agricultural innovation?

• World population is growing. Incomes are rising. Demand for food is growing.

• Poverty and hunger is still pervasive. • The natural resource base is more and more

constrained and at risk of degradation and climate change.

Food consumption to 2050(Kcal/person/day)

Source: FAO, 2011

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

1969/71 1979/81 1990/92 2005-07 2030 2050

Industrial countries Sub-Saharan Africa

Near East-North Africa Latin America & Caribbean

South Asia East Asia

Real food prices increasing?

Hunger is widespread and persistent

… with stark regional disparities

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2012).

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

1990/92 2010/12

Mill

ion

unde

rnou

rishe

d

Increase of 64 million in Sub-Saharan Africa

Decrease of more than 100 million each in East and Southeast Asia

… and increasingly

complex malnutrition

problems

Small family farms are crucial to the challenge

Systems at risk of degradation and climate change

Sources of production growth

Source: FAO, 2011

Developing countri

es

sub-Saharan Afri

ca

Near East

& N. A

frica

Latin Americ

a

South Asia

East Asia

World

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100Land Cropping intensity Yield

Yields much higher on irrigated land … very scarce in SSA

World

Developing countri

es

South Asia

Near East

& N. A

frica

East Asia

Latin Americ

a

sub-Saharan Afri

ca

Developed countri

es0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

2005/07 yield on irrigated land, tons per hectare (left-axis)2005/07 yield on rain-fed land, tons per hectare (left-axis)Irrigated land as percent of total harvested land (right-axis)

Source: FAO.

Strong competition for water in some regions

Near East & N. Africa

South Asia East Asia sub-Saharan Africa

Latin America Developed countries

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Irrigation water withdrawal, cubic km (left-axis)Pressure on water resources due to irrigation, percent (right-axis)

Source: FAO.

Fertilizer use is very low in SSA

Ensuring sustainable productivity growth in family farming requires:

• Generating and sharing technologies and practices in and for family farms

• Reforming policies and institutions to remove constraints and promote the use of practices and technologies for sustainable productivity.

• Facilitating access of family farms to market incentives as a driver and a source of innovation.

• Promoting innovation capacity among family farms.

The technical challenge of sustainable productivity growth

• Productivity growth stagnation and gaps.• Increasing stress on the natural resource base.• Climate change threatens traditional practices.• Ag. R&D and extension services to meet old

and new challenges.

The socio-economic challenges of ensuring access to technologies

and practices

• More inclusive to meet needs of small farms.• Markets and value chains as a driver of

innovation. • Overcoming constraints to adopt practices

with positive private returns:– High short term opportunity costs– Financial constraints– Risk aversion

Promoting innovation capacity among family farms

• Individual innovation capacity (education, training, gender gaps)

• Collective innovation capacity (ability of farmers and others to organize effectively to access markets, information, technologies etc.)

• Broader enabling environment (policies, institutions, governance etc.)

How you can help

• Research on various aspects of the challenge• Examples of policy, institutions, incentives for

innovation• Case studies of successful adoption of

sustainable practives

For more information …

The State of Food and Agriculture

2013Food systems for better nutrition

FAO‘s major annual flagship publication.

Available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese

www.fao.org/publications/sofa

#sofa2013

Resources

• The State of Food and Agriculture 2013: Food systems for better nutrition (June 2013)

• World agriculture towards 2030/50 (2012)• The State of the World’s Land and Water

Resources (2011)• Background papers for the “Food Security

Futures” conference (FAO and IFPRI)

www.fao.org/publications

Land expansion potential, concentrated in certain regions

sub-Saharan Africa

Latin America Near East & N. Africa

South Asia East Asia Developed countries

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

Cropland currently in use, million hectares Potential rain-fed cropland, million hectares

Source: GAEZ-v3.0 in Fischer et al 2011.

High fertilizer use in East Asia; South Asia and Latin America will follow suit

sub-Saharan Africa

Near East & N. Africa

Latin America South Asia East Asia Developed countries

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

2005/07 fertilizer consumption, kg per hectare (left-axis) 2050 fertilizer consumption, kg per hectare (left-axis)Growth, percent per annum (right-axis)

Source: FAO.

Natural Resources for Food Production: Water• The FAO projections indicate that the global demand for

water withdrawals from agriculture will increase by 11% from a 2006 baseline to 2050

• By 2050, more than half the world’s population will live in countries with severe water constraints

Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, 2007

Systems at risk

• densely populated highlands in poor areas;• small holder rainfed farming in semi-arid

tropics;• densely populated and intensely cultivated

areas in the Mediterranean basin• intensive rainfed cropping in temperate

climate;• irrigated rice-based systems;• crops depending on irrigation by

groundwater;• rangelands on fragile soils; • deltas and coastal areas;• periurban agriculture.