CIHEAM IAM MONTPELLIER STUDY ON SMALL-SCALE FAMILY FARMING IN THE NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION SYNTHESIS STUDY ON SMALL-SCALE FAMILY FARMING IN THE NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION SYNTHESIS Jacques Marzin and Pascal Bonnet (CIRAD) Omar Bessaoud and Christine Ton-Nu (CIHEAM-IAMM) MAY 2016 FAO Supervising Officer: Alfredo Impiglia Delivery Manager for the Regional Initiative on Small-Scale Family Farming in the Near East and North Africa Region Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa, Cairo, Egypt E-mail: [email protected] Published by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Center de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développment International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies Cairo, 2017 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier (CIHEAM-IAMM) or the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. 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Cover photo: © FAO/Kai Wiedenhoefer TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface .........................................................................................................................................ix Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................................xii Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................xiii Introduction ...............................................................................................................................1 Background, objectives and rationale of the study ......................................................................... 1 Methodology and common analytical framework........................................................................... 3 PART ONE Conceptual framework and typology .........................................................................................6 1.1 Small-scale family farming: a polysemic concept ................................................................... 8 1.1.1 Heavy informational path dependence ............................................................................... 8 1.1.2 The merits of applying the concepts of family farming and inclusive territorial development to maximize the potential of policies to support small-scale family farming .......................................................................................................................9 1.2 Limitations of the size-only approach ..................................................................................... 15 1.2.1 A concept tied to the regional context and ill-suited to determining the scope of small-scale family farming .............................................................................................. 16 1.2.2 A concept that covers farm holdings with divergent objectives ....................................... 16 1.2.3 A concept that may be based on very different indicators and measurement instruments .............................................................................................. 18 1.3 The importance of stakeholders’ motives behind designing and implementing public policies ................................................................................................... 19 1.3.1 Local development and transformation of small-scale family farms in the economic dynamic of territories: what should be taken into account? ........................................... 19 1.3.2 Operational representations weighting the place of small-scale family farms within the territories: accuracy and biases ...................................................................... 21 1.4 The importance of scale, models, instruments and more appropriate methods of analysis for understanding and supporting the dynamics of small-scale family farming . 23 1.4.1 Choosing a suitable observation unit: the extended family or the agricultural household ..................................................................................................... 24 1.4.2 Design the knowledge system on the basis of a “structure-functioning-performance” conceptual model so as to better distinguish small-scale family farming sub-types .... 24 1.4.3 Adapting measurement and qualification instruments, analytical and representation methods in information chains ......................................................................................... 26 1.4.4 Representing the diversity of small-scale agricultural profiles in atlases for territorial management ..................................................................................................................... 33 iii STUDY ON SMALL-SCALE FAMILY FARMING PART TWO The contributions of small-scale family farming .....................................................................36 2.1 The multifunctional performances of small-scale family farming ...................................... 37 2.2 Support for different sectors and productions, stakeholder networks and the economy of the territories ................................................................................................. 38 2.2.1 A major contribution to the national agricultural market but less so to the international market .................................................................................................. 38 2.2.2 Varied involvement in intermediary organizations that need to be supported and adapt to new challenges ................................................................................................... 41 2.2.3 Train agricultural technicians and the general population to support economic transition and diversification to industry and services .................................................... 42 2.3 A major contribution to food and nutritional security and food systems ............................. 46 2.4 Understanding the contribution of small-scale family farming to the agricultural labour market, local employment and the regulation of migratory flows ........................... 49 2.4.1 A predominantly family activity, but with insufficient information on ongoing transformations and the role of women ........................................................................... 49 2.4.2 A seasonal or permanent contribution to, and dependence on, other employment sectors ............................................................................................... 51 2.4.3 An assessment of smallholding income in relation to the poverty line, which is still ambiguous due to multi-activity and transfers not being taken into account ................. 52 2.5 Better document the contribution to the environmental component of sustainable development ......................................................................................................... 55 PART THREE The structural change pathway ...............................................................................................58 3.1 Population dynamics ................................................................................................................. 59 3.1.1 Urbanization may be an opportunity for those who remain in agriculture ..................... 59 3.1.2 Young people enter the job market en masse .................................................................. 61 3.1.3 Ability or inability to benefit from the demographic dividend .......................................... 64 3.2 Structural changes in the economy ........................................................................................ 70 3.2.1 Significant variation of the role of agriculture in terms of land use, economic importance