Challenges in Smallholder Agriculture

“A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain and drinking largely sobers us again”. Alexander Pope 1711, essay on Criticism

Take a more sobering in-depth evaluation of the challenges facing smallholder communities. Focus on issues that have been inadvertently overlooked or mechanisms that may have been emphasized well beyond their overall effectiveness in serving smallholders. Review the basic premise that has guided the rural poverty alleviation effort for the past 40 years and how it might be modified to better assist them in the future. Gain an in-depth understanding of challenges facing smallholder producers and those committed to assisting them in undertaking a diagnostic participatory program to find the most effective means of alleviating their poverty.

Examine the overall economic environment in which smallholders operate based on relative consumer prices between host and USA, and the calories they will have access to relative to the calories they are expected to exert in agronomic field work. Look at how this impacts on the operational environment in which they manage their lands and their ability to implement production programs designed for their benefit, and the technology transfer efforts to teach them improved technology. Discern the different support services available and which are the most effective in serving their needs, before concluding with a community wide analysis as how smallholders fit into their overall rural community, and the type of questions that might be considered in a comprehensive participatory diagnostic process.

Analyze data of your choosing, obtained either from the instructor’s website www.smallholderagriculture.com or when possible from field assignments where you are working with, including some preliminary surveys of your conceptual expectations. Summarize, share with the class and compare to reality. Gain a more in-depth understanding of the challenges facing smallholder communities, the degree they maybe maxed out to the limited their operational resources will allow, the drag this places on the physical potential as reflected in the technology promoted for their benefit, and thus how to best adjust the operational resources to provide more effective opportunities to assist with their poverty alleviation.

Upon completion of this course participants will be able to:

• Demonstrate a more in-depth understanding of the challenges of smallholder producers.
• Identify the degree to which producers are limited by their operational resources.
• Act to adjust the environment in which they operate to provide an improved opportunity to assist with poverty alleviation.