Summary
Interest in agriculture for growth and poverty reduction reawakened in the early 2000s made all the keener by the sudden rise in cereals prices on world markets in 2007–08. But is it still possible to drive agricultural growth through small farms, as happened in the green revolution? Whether small farms have a future was debated at a workshop held in Wye, United Kingdom, in June 2005. It concluded that small farm development is not just desirable for poverty reduction, but also feasible, even in changing circumstances and particularly those of more concentrated supply chains with more demanding buyers. That said, while much that needs to be done is straightforward, such as provision of public goods, fostering the institutional innovations to allow small farmers to deal with the emerging supply chains will require patient work, tailored to specific circumstances. The future of all smallholders may well not lie in farming, but the measures to stimulate the rural nonfarm economy and provide jobs for those leaving farming—a favorable rural investment climate, provision of public goods, institutional development—are largely the same as those for agricultural development as well.
1. INTRODUCTION
Agricultural development has returned to the limelight in development studies and practice, more so than at any time since the early 1970s. Increasing awareness that most poverty is rural and that agricultural development has been neglected in some developing countries was lent urgency by the shock of the 2007–08 spike in cereals prices on world markets. A new consensus on the need to reinvest in agricultural development has emerged, perhaps best stated in the World Development Report for 2008 (World Bank, 2007).
5. CONCLUSION
Overall this collection of papers suggests that small farm development is not only desirable for its impacts on poverty, but also feasible even in changed circumstances. There is broad consensus on the policy implications, although there remain issues to address, as follows. First, broad policies to support smallholder development are clear in outline: provide public goods to rural areas including roads, health services, clean water, and schools; invest in agricultural research and extension. Public goods are particularly important for small farmers since they are unlikely to provide these themselves in the absence of public investment. Public goods need to be complemented by correcting market failures where possible. How to do the latter is not so clear. Ideally institutional innovations, such as those outlined by Poulton et al. (this volume), provide the answers
