Innovation in family farming

More than 500 million family farms manage the majority of the world’s agricultural land and produce most of the world’s food. We need family farms to ensure global food security, to care for and protect the natural environment and to end poverty, undernourishment and malnutrition. But these goals can be thoroughly achieved if public policies support family farms to become more productive and sustainable; in other words policies must support family farms to innovate within a system that recognizes their diversity and the complexity of the challenges faced. The State of Food and Agriculture 2014: Innovation in family farming analyses family farms and the role of innovation in ensuring global food security, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. It argues that family farms must be supported to innovate in ways that promote sustainable intensification of production and improvements in rural livelihoods. Innovation is a process through which farmers improve their production and farm management practices.
1. Innovation and family farming -- 2. Family farming -- 3. The challenge of sustainable productivity -- 4. Agricultural research and development for family farms -- 5. Agricultural extension and advisory services for family farms -- 6. Promoting innovation capacity for the benefit of family farms -- 7. Conclusions: fostering innovation in family farming.

xvii, 137 p. : ill., graphs, tables

Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-137).

9789251085363
9789251085370 (eISBN)
0081-4539