“Why are smallholder farmers so poor,” asks Hugh Locke, Cofounder and president of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance, in an article in The Guardian.

One-third of the world’s 7.3 billion people are smallholder family farmers who produce nearly 70% of all food consumed worldwide on 60 per cent of the planet’s arable land. Smallholders make up the majority of the poorest and hungriest people on earth.

Locke attributes this situation to a massive increase in industrial farming to overcome food scarcities that were predicted in the 1960s combined with deals done in foreign aid that prevented developing countries from supporting domestic smallholder agriculture and encouraged their citizens to buy cheap imported grain from industrialized farms in the countries giving the foreign aid.

“Smallholders have become invisible,” says Locke, while industrial farming has received the benefits of agricultural research, subsidies, trade agreements, tax credits and regulatory systems.

But with current predictions suggesting there will not be enough food to feed the estimated additional 2 billion people in 2050, attention is now turning to smallholder farmers as the only option to increase yields.

Smallholders are “the new global food frontier” and set to become engaged in addressing food security, climate stability, biodiversity conservation and rural employment.

Locke believes major food and beverage companies are now in a position to change the course of agricultural production. For those involved with these companies, he has the following suggestions on how they can “assume conscious leadership of a worldwide campaign in support of smallholder farmers”:

• Implement exit strategy aid, i.e. don’t start anything with smallholder farmers unless you are certain the benefits will continue after you leave
• Focus on improved organic methods
• Invest in women farmers
• Promote agroforestry and tree planting
  “With a bit of training, smallholder farmers are very adept at agroforestry,” writes Locke. “When combined with improved agricultural techniques, the result is more food and more trees, not to mention less pressure to cut down forests”
• Balance export and local production
• Redirect foreign aid, for example into grants that help groups of smallholders transform themselves into small businesses
• Reduce certification costs.

Read the full story: Smallholder farmers are the new global food frontier