Agrotechnology

What this world needs is smarter farmers

10^th International Conference on AGRICULTURE & HORTICULTURE

October 02-04, 2017 London, UK

Marc van der Sterren Kleopatra Chira

Farming Africa, Netherlands

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Agrotechnology

Abstract:

Smallholder farmers are the most important people in the world. They produce 80 percent of all the food in the world, and almost 100 percent of our healthy food. Nevertheless they are widely neglected by the public, the media and most important: the people and organizations who rule this world. To keep up the demands for a growing world population and further increases in demand for high-protein food, the FAO estimates that food production will need to increase by about 60 percent. The main increase needs to come from smallholder farmers in developing countries. 80 percent of all hungry people depends on some sort of farming. If those people produce a bit more, the world food problem is solved. For most subsistence farmers in Africa itâ??s possible to double or even to multiply their production. This means they can even produce for the growing cities in and outside Africa. In 2016 the United Nations ratified 17 sustainable development goals. The aim is to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind. With the empowerment of smallholder family farmers through providing them access to independent information we can both keep up the demands for a growing world population and reach all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The new publication SMARTER FARMERS is the start of a campaign which urges world leaders to focus on the empowerment of smallholder farmers by access to independent information.