A better and more complete understanding of family farms is urgently needed to guide policy makers’ efforts towards achieving a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper takes stock of the number of farms worldwide, and their distribution and that of farmland, on the basis of agricultural censuses and survey data. Thus, it shows that there are more than 608 million farms in the world. Rough estimates also indicate that more than 90 percent of these farms are family farms (by our definition) occupying around 70–80 percent of farmland and producing about 80 percent of the world’s food in value terms. We underscore the importance of not referring to family farms and small farms (i.e., those of less than 2 hectares) interchangeably: the latter account for 84 percent of all farms worldwide, but operate only around 12 percent of all agricultural land, and produce roughly 36 percent of the world’s food. The largest 1 percent of farms in the world operate more than 70 percent of the world’s farmland. The stark differences between family farms, in terms of size, their share in farmland distribution, and their patterns across income groups and regions, make clear the importance of properly defining different types of farms and distinguishing their differences when engaging in policy discourse and decision making towards the SDGs. The paper also considers evidence on labour and age provided by the censuses. There is a need to improve agricultural censuses if we want to deepen our understanding of farms.

Guided by the Global Action Plan of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028, this publication looks into ways that legislation can best support policy processes aimed at advancing family farming’s contribution to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. The publication aims to present some of the laws and regulations relevant to family farming to determine the features that can most positively benefit family farmers while providing information and experiences from different parts of the globe for decision-makers and practitioners. The objective not being to provide prescriptions for how to regulate family farming, but rather to present different options to decision-makers, thereby facilitating their appreciation of the complexity of existing legislative and regulatory frameworks that underpin family farming and empowering them for the design of supportive approaches best suited to their respective national context. With the multisectorality of family farming at its core and mindful of family farmers’ overwhelming contribution to nutritiously and sustainably feed the world, this publication analyses legislative processes in 12 different areas that are conducive to the agri-food systems transformation for a better production, better environment, better nutrition and better life for all, leaving no one behind.

This publication primarily aims to support decision-makers and practitioners in developing legislative measures to enhance the livelihoods of family farmers through a dedicated attention being placed on the importance of defining family farming and some of its most common features with cases discussed from different parts of the globe. While each context provides for a tailored definition of family farming with some of the definitions being broader and others narrower in their inclusion and enumeration, recurring elements made their way through multiple definitions and hint to certain commonalities across regions and languages. Against this setting, this publication primarily analyses cases of legislative measures for family farming through clear and tailored definitions while presenting examples, commonalities and differences on legislative practices in different parts of the globe and on a variety of intrinsic matters for family farmers’ livelihoods. After setting the legal background on which legislative interventions for family farming are mostly based, the publication delves into specific features of definitions through various examples before examining the closely linked nature of legislative and policy processes, which are presented through assorted examples of multisectoral legislative measures undertaken to enhance family farmers’ livelihoods.

Africa is not on track to meeting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 targets to end hunger and ensure access by all people to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round and to end all forms of malnutrition. The number of hungry people on the continent has risen by 47.9 million since 2014 and now stands at 250.3 million, or nearly one-fifth of the population. The 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions of this report explain that this gradual deterioration of food security was due to conflict, weather extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns, often overlapping. A continued worsening of food security is expected also for 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to hunger, across all countries in Africa millions of people suffer from widespread micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity are emerging as significant health concerns in many countries. This report shows that the food system in Africa does not provide food at a cost that makes nutritious food affordable to a majority of the population, and this is reflected in the high disease burden associated with maternal and child malnutrition, high body-mass, micronutrient deficiencies and dietary risk factors. The report also shows that current food consumption patterns impose high health and environmental costs, which are not reflected in food prices. The findings presented in this report highlight the importance of prioritizing the transformation of food systems to ensure access to affordable and healthy diets for all, produced in a sustainable manner.

Food systems are at a critical juncture—they are evolving quickly to meet growing and changing demand but are not serving everyone’s needs. Building more inclusive food systems can bring a wide range of economic and development benefits to all people, especially the poor and disadvantaged. IFPRI’s 2020 Global Food Policy Report examines the policies and investments and the growing range of tools and technologies that can promote inclusion. Chapters examine the imperative of inclusion, challenges faced by smallholders, youth, women, and conflict-affected people, and the opportunities offered by expanding agrifood value chains and national food system transformations. Critical questions addressed include: How can inclusive food systems help break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and malnutrition? \What can be done to strengthen the midstream of food value chains to improve rural access to jobs, markets, and services? Will Africa’s food systems generate sufficient jobs for the growing youth population? How can women be empowered within food system processes, from household decisions to policymaking? Can refugees and other conflict-affected people be integrated into food systems to help them rebuild their lives? How can national food system transformations contribute to greater dietary diversity, food safety, and food quality for all? Regional sections look at how inclusion can be improved around the world in 2020 and beyond. The report also presents interesting trends revealed by IFPRI’s food policy indicators and datasets.

The Sultanate of Oman has taken some important steps towards food security. In the World Food Index 2018, Oman ranks third in the Arab world and 29th worldwide. The agriculture sector plays an important socio-economic role for sustainable development in the Sultanate of Oman. Faced with extreme scarcity of water in an arid environment, Omani society has developed impressive technological and social organizations to allow for sustainable use of water through the Falaj (Aflaj in plural).

This is the first world history of peasants. Peasants in World History analyzes the multiple transformations of peasant life through history by focusing on three primary areas: the organization of peasant societies, their integration within wider societal structures, and the changing connections between local, regional and global processes. Peasants have been a vital component in human history over the last 10,000 years, with nearly one-third of the world’s population still living a peasant lifestyle today. Their role as rural producers of ever-new surpluses instigated complex and often-opposing processes of social and spatial change throughout the world. Eric Vanhaute frames this social change in a story of evolving peasant frontiers. These frontiers provide a global comparative-historical lens to look at the social, economic and ecological changes within village-systems, agrarian empires and global capitalism. Bringing the story of the peasantry up through the modern period and looking to the future, the author offers a succinct overview with students in mind. This book is recommended reading to anyone interested in the history and future of peasantries and is a valuable addition to undergraduate and graduate courses in World History, Global Economic History, Global Studies and Rural Sociology.