This paper is a Rapid Evidence Assessment that summarizes the role of smallholder producers and Small and Medium-sized Agrifood Enterprises (SMAE) across the five Action Tracks associated with the Food Systems Summit 2022 (FSS). The literature suggests smallholder producers and SMAEs will play a crucial role in global food ì systems in supporting progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Action Track 1 (AT1): Access to Safe and Nutritious Foods

The AT1 includes four elements: 1) food production; 2) crop diversity; 3) nutrition; and 4) SMAE participation in mid-stream segments of agricultural value chains.

• Smallholder producers generate between 20-40% of the world’s food, despite only operating on 12% of all agricultural land. Farmers working 2 hectares (ha) or less are an especially critical component of production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Asia, where they generate roughly 30% of most food commodities.

• Smallholder producers also tend to focus on different crops than larger farms, with larger shares of production in fruits, vegetables, and roots and tubers (and less in livestock). Medium- sized farms generate more nuts and have high shares of vegetable production. Larger farms are weighted towards cereal production or oil crops.

• Mixed production systems of the kinds operated by smallholder producers generate more diversity of key nutrients. Bolstered by their large footprint in fruit, vegetables, root and tuber production, smallholder producers’ share of nutrient production is highest for vitamin A, vitamin B12, and zinc. Smallholders generate low amounts of folate and iron.

• In SSA/Asia, SMAEs in midstream segments (processors, traders, logistical actors) handle or move as much as 65% of the food consumed in those regions and capture similar shares of the value of final products as farmers.

Action Tracks 2 (sustainable consumption) and 3 (nature-positive production): Environmental Sustainability

The analysis is broken analysis into six sections: 1) GHGs emissions; 2) food waste generation; 3) non-food use of crop production; 4) water usage; 5) agricultural biodiversity; and 6) sustainability certificates.

• Smallholder producers may have at least two factors working in their favor if emissions are considered on a per hectare basis (as opposed to per product): 1) outputs (smallholder producers generate relatively high shares of the world’s fruits, vegetables, and roots and tubers, and lower shares of livestock, which has an especially high emissions profile); and 2) production systems (smallholder producers tend to be capital-poor and depend on low-efficiency agricultural practices, which reduces their input usage; high input usage, in turn, tends to push emissions higher).

• Small farms account for 26-30% of total food waste (on-farm and post-harvest loss). The relatively high share is partially the result of smallholder producers’ large contribution to total crop production—only 2.3–6.1% of smallholder production is wasted. By comparison, farms larger than 1,000 ha waste 0-18.5% of their outputs.

• Smallholder producers allocate the largest percentage of their crop production (55–59%) to food compared to other size categories of farms.

• While irrigated agriculture accounts for 70% total freshwater withdrawals globally, less than 37% of smallholder producers in low and middle-income countries have irrigation. With smallholder producers instead relying on rainwater, climate change and rising global temperatures could elevate risks associated with water scarcity.

• Reviews of academic literature have found that 77% of studies report that small farms have greater agricultural biodiversity than larger farms.

• Estimates suggest that less than 2% of smallholder producers in low-income countries have earned formal certificates for sustainable production.

Action Track 4: Equitable Livelihoods

• The labour component of smallholder production and SMAE employment in food systems is significant. Up to 3.4 billion people live and work on small-scale farms and up to 75% of the world’s poorest households live in rural areas that depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. According to livelihood surveys from countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, food systems account for 59% of rural employment.

Action Track 5: Resilient Supply Chains

• Resilience capabilities in agricultural supply chains are often tied to various factors that can be challenging for smaller actors: 1) social innovations; 2) business strategy innovations; 3) technological innovations; and 4) financial resilience innovations.