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Smallholder Farmers’ Role in Sustainable Development

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  • First Online:
Zero Hunger

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

Definition

  1. 1.

    Smallholders are those with a low asset base operating less than 2 ha of cropland (World Bank 2003).

  2. 2.

    Smallholder farms are defined as those farms operating 2 ha or less (UNCTAD 2015).

  3. 3.

    In the United States, farm size is defined by an economic criterion: the “gross product.” In particular, a small family farmer is defined as one that grows and sells between $1,000 and $250,000 per year in agricultural products (USDA 2007).

Introduction

About two-thirds of the 3 billion rural people live in developing countries that about 475 million households are stallholder and work on lands less than 2 ha (Nagayets 2005). Many of them are poor, and they are in food insecurity and have a limited access to markets and services. Their choices are limited, but they manage their lands and produce food for a significant proportion of the world’s population. In addition to farming, they have numerous economic activities and help to their small incomes (Rapsomanikis 2015).

These small...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Extension, Communication and Rural Development, Faculty of Agriculture, Zanjan University, Zanjan, Iran

    Zahra Bagheramiri

  2. Guilan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and education Center, Rasht, (AREEO), Iran

    Fathollah Keshvarz Shaal

Authors
  1. Zahra Bagheramiri
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  2. Fathollah Keshvarz Shaal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zahra Bagheramiri .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. European School of Sustainability Science and Research, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, The University of Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Gökçin Özuyar

  5. International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Agricultural Management, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran

    Mohammad Sadegh Allahyari

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Bagheramiri, Z., Keshvarz Shaal, F. (2020). Smallholder Farmers’ Role in Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A.M., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P.G., Wall, T. (eds) Zero Hunger. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95675-6_47

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