Four items critical to smallholder success were outlined: Growing the right crop on the right soil and then trading those crops freely; clarifying property rights; providing smallholders with increased revenue reliability to moderate price extremes; and ensuring access to open markets and the global food trade.
"At Cargill we believe it is possible to feed the world's growing population -- and the smallholder farmer, who is growing crops to sell into markets, plays a key role in this equation,” Page said. “Increasing the productivity of this smallholder, who farms in a country where the Green Revolution has not yet occurred, is essential to ensuring food security and alleviating hunger.”
Cargill's heritage is working with smallholder farmers, and that today, Cargill businesses on the ground in developing countries provide technical know-how, training and practical support for smallholder farmers to help them increase their productivity and raise their living standards, he added. Cargill trains smallholder farmers in best practices, provides credit, establishes fair and transparent pricing policies and increases their access to markets.
