The majority of the 600 million farms in the world are small. Farms of less than 1 hectare account for 70% of all farms but operate only 7 percent of all agricultural land. Smallholders play an essential role in ensuring food security and nutrition. Smallholders can also contribute to a vast range of different benefits such as creating employment in rural areas, reducing poverty and enhancing the sustainable management of natural resources. They are themselves often affected by food insecurity and malnutrition as around 80% of the world’s poor and food insecure live in rural areas and most of the rural poor are small-scale family food producers.
Source: Committee on World Food Security
Photo Credits: CGIAR
