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Profiling the Smallholder Farmer

Having good sources for understanding the focus of ECHO and its many friends and partners is important.  How many smallholder farmers are there in total and by country or region?   What is their impact on the worldwide food supply?   What is that impact on a regional or country basis?  Where should the international community focus more resources to save lives and help individuals, families, and communities thrive?

  1. Unfortunately, there is no single, reliable source that provides a comprehensive list of smallholder farmers by country. However, here are some estimates and data from various sources to give you an idea of the number of smallholder farmers in different regions and countries.

    Global Estimates:

  2. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, there are approximately 570 million smallholder farmers worldwide.
  3. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) estimates that there are around 500 million smallholder farmers globally.

    • Please note that these estimates vary widely depending on the source and definition of a smallholder farmer. Additionally, the numbers may have changed since the last available data was published.

      Country-specific Estimates:

      Here are some estimates of smallholder farmers by country:

    • Brazil: 3-4 million
    • China: 120-150 million
    • India: 80-100 million
    • Indonesia: 20-30 million
    • Nigeria: 20-30 million
    • Ethiopia: 15-20 million
    • Kenya: 10-15 million
    • Mexico: 5-10 million
    • Colombia: 3-5 million
    • Poland: 1-2 million
    • Romania: 1-2 million
    • Hungary: 1-2 million

    • Regional Estimates:

    • Asia: There are around 220 million smallholder farmers in Asia, which is the largest region in terms of number of smallholder farmers. China, India, and Indonesia have the largest number of smallholder farmers.
    • Africa: There are around 150 million smallholder farmers in Africa, with Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya having the largest number of smallholder farmers.
    • Latin America: There are around 50 million smallholder farmers in Latin America, with Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia having the largest number of smallholder farmers.
    • Europe: There are around 10 million smallholder farmers in Europe, with Poland, Romania, and Hungary having the largest number of smallholder farmers.

  1. Smallholders and small-scale agriculture: Mapping and visualization of knowledge domains and research trends

    Bartol, T. (2022). Smallholders and small-scale agriculture: Mapping and visualization of knowledge domains and research trends.Cogent Social Sciences,9(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2022.2161778 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative...

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    Vincent Ricciardi, Navin Ramankutty, Zia Mehrabi, Larissa Jarvis, Brenton Chookolingo, How much of the world's food do smallholders produce?, Global Food Security, Volume 17, 2018, Pages 64-72, ISSN 2211-9124, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2018.05.002. The widely reported claim thatsmallholders...

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  15. The economic lives of smallholder farmers

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  18. Climate-smart agricultural practices for enhanced farm productivity, income, resilience, and greenhouse gas mitigation: a comprehensive review

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