off the shelf: innovation in family farming for sustainable agriculture terri raney, editor the...
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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
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
… 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
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.
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.