Connecting Smallholders to Markets

The majority of the 570 million farms in the world are small. Smallholders supply 80% of overall food produced in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America through farmers, artisan fisher folk, pastoralists, landless and indigenous people. In addition, 70% of the 1.4 billion extremely poor people live in rural areas and 75% of these rural poor are also smallholders.

In June 2015, a High-Level Forum on Connecting Smallholders to Markets was held which took a look at the policy implications, challenges and lessons learned from concrete examples of how smallholders have found opportunities build sustainable linkages to markets.

At CFS 43 in 2016 CFS endorsed a set of recommendations on Connecting Smallholders to Markets which ensure smallholders can continue to contribute to global food production as well as their own food security and nutrition. These recommendations are intended to support governments’ efforts to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with particular attention to food security and nutrition and the promotion of sustainable agriculture. They also focus on the reduction of inequalities by addressing the challenges behind unequal access to markets, land and other natural resources.