Why smallholder farmers are key to both African and global food security

Global agriculture is at a crossroads. The planet is home to 8 billion people, a total which the UN predicts will rise to 10 billion by 2050. At the same time global food insecurity is rising due to the unprecedented rate of soil degradation and the increased frequency and severity of climate shocks, the pandemic, and regional conflicts. To keep humanity fed, farmers will have to nearly double their output. And it is possible to do just this while at the same time making a significant contribution to combatting climate change by rewarding farmers for increasing the amount of carbon stored in the soil they cultivate.

But the old ways of increasing global food production – using more land and more inputs – won’t work if we are to keep the Earth habitable for our grandchildren’s grandchildren. One of the major challenges for the 5 th United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC5), about to begin in Qatar, will be how to unlock the potential of smallholder farmers, who have been squeezed the hardest by recent events, so that they may more effectively contribute to long-term global food security while playing an important role in...