Smallholder agriculture and agrarian livelihoods

Studies suggest that the importance of agriculture to rural livelihoods remains relatively stable over time. Agrarian livelihoods meanwhile are unique and vulnerable in the sense that they rely on family labour and are dependent on natural resources and weather patterns that vary strongly geographically. The African smallholder sector consists of millions of smallholders. Politically, development of the smallholder sector is important as a way of dealing with rural poverty, urban food insecurity and promoting a broader transformation of the economy. In this chapter we discuss the perceived role of smallholder farmers in development processes and the unique nature of agrarian livelihoods. We also describe the agricultural policies that have been promoted to address key productivity constraints and encourage commercialization processes within smallholder agriculture. While these appear to have improved rural livelihoods, at least in some places, such improvements have come at the cost of growing differentiation with respect to key assets such as land.