Who will feed the world? The production challenge

01.11.2011
This article focuses on the production challenge contained within the ambitious question of ‘Who will feed the world?’ By looking at the different players in developing countries’ agricultural systems: small-scale and large-scale producers and systems of production — LEI, low external input agriculture and HEI, high external input’ agriculture — it aims at exploring how to achieve sustainable agricultural growth, allowing for: food security, poverty reduction, and environmental protection. The article argues that debates which polarize small-scale versus large-scale models, or LEI versus HEI, have obscured the potential of building on complementarities. Drawing from case studies and a review of the current literature, the article calls for a four-pronged approach: supporting subsistence farmers; empowering small investor farmers; making large investments pro-poor; and building on complementarities between large and small farms. A variety of institutional arrangements could be used to combine the assets related to large-scale farms — capital, technology, and markets — with those of small-holder producers — land, labour, and local knowledge — to build sustainable food value chains.