The designations employed and the presentation of in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

M-65
ISBN 92-5-102866-4

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© FAO 1992

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Dr Apostolos Condos and Heinrich Becker, for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper; to Mrs Susan Brown Richaudeau and Mrs 1. Boussard for linguistic improvement; and to Ms Valérie Wallet for her patience and care in typing. All remaining errors are the author's responsibility.

Contents

Preface

Executive summary

Part one : Smallholders and their characteristics

Introduction
Chapter 1 : What is a smallholder?

The difficulties of a statistical definition
Common features of smallholders

Chapter 2 : The role of smallholders in economic development

They are a huge reservoir of labour
They constitute almost the sole source of domestic food production
They are often export crop producers and a source of foreign exchange
They constitute a potential market for non-food goods
Their disappearance should be among the targets of economic development

Part two : Structural adjustment and smallholders

Chapter 3 : Structural adjustment programmes and policies

Historical context
What are structural adjustment policies supposed to do?
The role of the public sector in agriculture

Chapter 4 : Public intervention in agriculture under structural adjustment programmes

Two cases for intervention in marketable facilities
The necessity of intervention in non-marketable facilities
New perspectives of institutional innovations

Chapter 5 : Macro-economic policies and agriculture

Inflation control
Currency devaluations
Credit tightening
Difficulties with other short-term effects of structural adjustment programmes

Chapter 6 : Conclusions and directions for research

Summary
Approaches available for assessing the impact of structural adjustment on smallholders
Outline of possible case studies

Bibliography