Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Small Landholder
Farming and Global
Food Security
Rattan Lal
CONTENTS
1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Characteristics of Smallholder Farms .............................................................. 2
1.3 Seedbed Preparation ......................................................................................... 4
1.4 Drought Stress .................................................................................................. 6
1.5 Soil Fertility Management ................................................................................ 6
1.6 Erosion Control ................................................................................................. 7
1.7 Indigenous Knowledge ..................................................................................... 8
1.8 Adaptation to Climate Change ......................................................................... 9
1.9 Management of Soil Organic Matter ................................................................ 9
1.10 Food Security .................................................................................................. 10
1.11 Information and Communication Technology ................................................ 11
1.12 Payments for Environmental Services ............................................................ 11
1.13 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 12
References ................................................................................................................ 13
1.1 INTRODUCTION
About 500 million small landholder farms (<2 ha) in the world are critical to achiev-
ing global food security and alleviating poverty. Traditionally, these farms are
managed by family labor, use manual or animal-driven farm tools, practice mixed
farming combining crops and animals, use few external inputs, and are subsistence
farms. However, small landholders are now being linked with market, grow modern
varieties, use fertilizers and pesticides, and produce high yields. Improved technolo-
gies include conservation agriculture, cover cropping, water harvesting and recy-
cling using micro-irrigation, and soil-specific farming based on the principles of
precision agriculture. The principal challenges to sustainable intensification of small
landholder farmers are restoring soil organic matter content, improving soil fertil-
ity, controlling soil erosion, conserving water in the root zone, and abating climate
change. Rather than subsidies, payments for ecosystem services are a viable option
to promote the adoption of recommended management practices.
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