Deep Roots

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Crop rotations to increase soil fertility and microcatch-

ment water harvesting have improved livestock production,

including the milking and health of the small ruminants

such as sheep and goats. Small ruminants are a major

source of income for the women members of the family,

and any improvements in production benefits the family at

large. In Iraq, zero tillage on 40 farmer fields demonstrated

an almost 50 per cent increase in barley yields in some

cases. The technology is finding its way to family farmers

with wide-scale adoption because it saves on energy, labour

and time. Economic analysis in the case of Iraq shows that

adopting zero tillage improves profitability by US$355 per

hectare, a big economic gain for the family in the current

context of Iraq.

The social sustainability of small family farming can be

achieved through generating more lucrative on-farm activi-

ties and additional off-farm employment opportunities for

family farming members. Adding value to smallholder live-

stock production, especially, is a big boost to the family

because livestock is often under the responsibility and

care of women members of the family. In the dry areas in

Afghanistan, a project funded by the International Fund for

Agricultural Development and implemented by the Afghan

Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock along with

ICARDA developed a package of technologies to improve

goat and forage production systems for women farmers, the

poorest and most vulnerable group in the country. More

than 1,000 women have been trained on goat management,

hygienic milk production and improved feeding methods

with a good market potential for a range of products such as

cheese, yoghurt and cashmere. Working also with women

members of family farms in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan,

ICARDA is improving livestock productivity and quality

to develop value-added yarn products such as felt rugs and

carpets for export to the United States and to Europe.

In addition to raising household income and productiv-

ity at the level of the family farm, there is also wide scope

to improve other aspects that contribute to the quality of

life for family farming members in the drylands. Many of

the world’s family farms can benefit from improving infra-

structure in the rural areas where they are located (roads,

bridges, electricity, water and sanitation) and by providing

institutional services such as childcare facilities, primary

and secondary education, health services, and youth and

women’s programmes. There is huge scope for social safety

net programmes and initiatives to empower women to take

decisions about agriculture and to improve their control over

resources, as well as by building policies and institutions

that support social and gender equity.

Small family farmers have always struggled with access-

ing markets, with middlemen often distorting prices and

impacting returns to farmers. Consequently, a significant

amount of work is needed to link family farmers to local

and international markets directly. There are many examples

of successful farmers’ associations and cooperatives which

have connected farmers directly to markets and created

immediate benefits to farming families. There is also scope

for communication technologies, such as cell phones, to

empower farmers with up-to-date information on market

prices to be able to negotiate with buyers from a position

of strength. Finally, family farms also need access to credit

and insurance to be able to run their farms as small busi-

nesses. Institutions, processes and policies are needed, with

the engagement of both the public and private sectors, to

facilitate the access of both women and men members of the

family farm to credit and insurance.

Supported by new types of partnerships, enabling policies,

institutions, political commitment and investments in innova-

tive research and development, family farms in the drylands

can be economically, socially and environmentally sustaina-

ble. They can also be the key to rural transformation. Tapping

the potential of the family farms will require keeping them

the central focus of research and development efforts and will

require new innovative modalities for action to support equal-

ity, fairness and inclusion of the millions of small family farms

located in the dryland regions. Policy, research and develop-

ment dialogues must – above all – guarantee the inclusion

of the youth and women.

It is useful to recall the example of Viet Nam, where strong

pro-smallholder development activities, many of which were

focused on family farms, transformed the rural landscape

from a poor underdeveloped and food insecure country to

a country that is now exporting food and classified as lower

middle-income. The drylands can learn from the experiences

of Viet Nam and other countries.

Many smallholder farmers in the region are trapped in

a perpetual cycle of poverty, poor crop yields, scarcity of

natural resources, and a lack of supportive policies and

institutions. Existing science and technology tools and

resources offer the capability to increase the agricultural

production of small family farms, but sustainable manage-

ment of natural resources must be the cornerstone of the

family’s agricultural practices in the fragile drylands. As

demonstrated by the examples above, investment in science

and technology to support agricultural development for

family farms is critical.

Most of the food produced in the drylands comes from small family farms

Image: ICARDA

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