De-mystifying family farming: Features, diversity and trends across the globe

Vliet, Jiska A. van; Schut, A.G.T.; Reidsma, P.; Descheemaeker, Katrien; Slingerland, M.A.; Ven, G.W.J. van de; Giller, Ken E.

doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2015.03.001

Cited by 108 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(141 reference statements)

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“…With little financial capital for mechanization or herbicides, human labour is an essential resource in smallholder systems (van Vliet et al 2015). Nonetheless, poor households often hire out their labour to earn money to buy food.…”

Section: Vulnerability Related To Crop Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In many African regions, small farm sizes prevent investments in improved technologies or practices to be economically viable (Harris and Orr 2014). With continued population growth and further shrinkage of farms (van Vliet et al 2015), an increasing proportion of the farm population will fall below the food self-sufficiency line. Such farmers are either unable to invest in adaptation and mitigation options, or not motivated to do so because they rely heavily on off-farm activities for their livelihood.…”

Section: Farm Size Risk and Livestock Multi-functionalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate change adaptation and mitigation in smallholder crop–livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa: a call for integrated impact assessments

et al. 2016

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African mixed crop-livestock systems are vulnerable to climate change and need to adapt in order to improve productivity and sustain people's livelihoods. These smallholder systems are characterized by high greenhouse gas emission rates, but could play a role in their mitigation. Although the impact of climate change is projected to be large, many uncertainties persist, in particular with respect to impacts on livestock and grazing components, whole-farm dynamics and heterogeneous farm populations. We summarize the current understanding on impacts and vulnerability and highlight key knowledge gaps for the separate system components and the mixed farming systems as a whole. Numerous adaptation and mitigation options exist for crop-livestock systems. We provide an overview by distinguishing risk management, diversification and sustainable intensification strategies, and by focusing on the contribution to the three pillars of climate-smart agriculture. Despite the potential solutions, smallholders face major constraints at various scales, including small farm sizes, the lack of response to the proposed measures and the multi-functionality of the livestock herd. Major institutional barriers include poor access to markets and relevant knowledge, land tenure insecurity and the common property status of most grazing resources. These limit the adoption potential and hence the potential impact on resilience and mitigation. In order to effectively inform decision-making, we therefore call for integrated, system-oriented impact assessments and a realistic consideration of the adoption constraints in smallholder systems. Building on agricultural system model development, integrated impact assessments and scenario analyses can inform the co-design and implementation of adaptation and mitigation strategies.F

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Section: Vulnerability Related To Crop Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Farm Size Risk and Livestock Multi-functionalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change adaptation and mitigation in smallholder crop–livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa: a call for integrated impact assessments

et al. 2016

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“…This is an important prerequisite for longterm investments and plans for farming-based livelihoods (Garibaldi et al 2017;Godfray et al 2010;Lowder et al 2014). Considering that most farms across the globe are family farms, the possible effects of changing agricultural land to other uses are therefore to be viewed as severe (Graeub et al 2016;van Vliet et al 2015b). …”

Section: Agricultural Land Change Food Security and Food Sovereigntymentioning

confidence: 99%

Preservation of Agricultural Land as an Issue of Societal Importance

Slätmo

2017

Rural Landscapes: Society, Environment, History

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Based on concerns about food security and food sovereignty, it is appropriate to scrutinise societal measures for protecting agricultural land from conversion to other uses. Changes from agricultural to urban land use are particularly problematic, as they are largely irreversible. By analysing relevant Swedish policy, the present study investigated how the protection of agricultural land is framed as an issue of societal importance. Protection of agricultural land is enshrined in Swedish law, but its use is still continually changing to housing and other constructions. In a structured policy analysis, two questions were examined: (1) what are the societal motives for protecting agricultural land in Sweden, and (2) how do these motives influence the governance of agricultural land? The meaning of 'national importance', 'suitable for cultivation' and 'significant national interests' in Swedish land-use law was also analysed. The results showed that formulations in the law reflect the ambivalent discourses on agricultural land preservation and that the Swedish authorities view other land uses as more important than agriculture.The Swedish governance system is currently built on trust that municipal institutions will make satisfactory decisions concerning land and water use. However, it has been shown that these decisions have not been satisfactory concerning the protection of agricultural land, and it is important to acknowledge that the sum of local decisions can be degrading for these life-supporting resources. The present analysis revealed a looming conflict between the preservation of soils for food production, on one hand, and local participation in decision making, on the other. This raises the question of whether it is more important to defend subsidiarity or to preserve certain resources which are important for food security, such as agricultural land.

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“…Most of these farms are multi-enterprise in nature, and are based on an integration of livestock and crops (van Vliet et al, 2015). On such farms, cattle are multi-functional, providing a wide variety of goods and services that generate income, ensure food security, and support rural livelihoods (Nyamushamba et al, 2017;Assan, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These functions include livestock-derived food (meat, milk), transport and agricultural draft power, hides and skins, manure for soil fertility amelioration, dung as a source of fuel, income from sale of live animals and/or their products, provision of savings and insurance services (especially where these services are non-existent, inaccessible or unreliable), diversification of rural livelihood options, and meeting the socio-cultural roles and obligations of their owners (Nyamushamba et al, 2017;Rege et al, 2011). Cattle also form a social safety net and an important component of the resilience (to crop pest, disease and drought occurrences) of land based livelihoods for millions of people living in marginal production areas (Murungweni et al, 2014;van Vliet et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The potential of reproductive technologies in breeding smallholder cattle populations in Zimbabwe

Gororo¹,

Makuza²,

Chatiza³

et al. 2017

Int. J. Livest. Prod.

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Cattle are critical to most smallholder agricultural livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa. A study was carried out to assess breed and trait preferences, breeding practices, application and potential adoption of novel reproductive technologies by smallholder cattle farmers in four districts of Zimbabwe. The study revealed that famers are subsistence oriented and follow a resource driven production system. Herd size averaged 7.5±6.42, with dominance of indigenous breeds and their crosses, open communal breeding and non-existence of reproductive technology application. The major challenges faced include reproductive and tick-borne diseases, dry season feed shortage, and poor access to affordable good quality bulls. Brahman, Mashona, Afrikaner and Tuli were the most preferred breeds for their hardiness, fertility, reproductive efficiency and draught performance attributes. Low reproductive efficiency was revealed by long bull retention periods (>5 years), long calving intervals (>18 months), low pregnancy rates (41% of cows) and high ages at first calving (34 months). Farmers indicated moderate knowledge of artificial insemination and keen interest in using this technology with semen frozen from locally bred, indigenous sires to improve their herds. There is therefore both need and potential for the application of assisted reproduction techniques for improved genetic gain, performance and reduced inbreeding in smallholder cattle herds.

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De-mystifying family farming: Features, diversity and trends across the globe

Cited by 108 publications

References 52 publications

Climate change adaptation and mitigation in smallholder crop–livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa: a call for integrated impact assessments

Climate change adaptation and mitigation in smallholder crop–livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa: a call for integrated impact assessments

Preservation of Agricultural Land as an Issue of Societal Importance

The potential of reproductive technologies in breeding smallholder cattle populations in Zimbabwe

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