Opinion piece by Dr Jacqueline Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT

Giving Smallholder Farmers Due Recognition

Figure: Dr Jacqueline Hughes, Director General, ICRISAT

The recently released “State of Food Security and Nutrition 2022” report paints a grim picture. The number of people suffering from hunger in 2021 is estimated between 702 million and 828 million (corresponding to 8.9% and 10.5% of the world population respectively). This is 150 million more people than it was before the pandemic. The report begins with the disquieting line:

The prevalence of undernourishment (SDG Indicator 2.1.1) jumped from 8% in 2019 to 9.8% in 2021.

Regional disparities remain with Africa bearing the heaviest burden with one in five people in Africa (20.2% of the population) facing hunger in 2021 compared to 9.1% in Asia. Taken together, these two continents account for close to one-third of the world’s population facing hunger. In 2021, moderate and severe food insecurity rose with 29.3% of the global population, around 2.3 billion people, facing moderate or severe food insecurity, and 11.7% (923.7 million people) facing severe food insecurity. There is also a growing gender gap in food insecurity. In 2021, 31.9% of women in the world were moderately or severely food insecure compared to 27.6% of men. This gap of more than 4 percentage points has increased compared with the 3-percentage point gap in 2020. The nutrition indicators paint a similar picture of “… moving in the wrong direction”.

Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2022 report documented in very clear terms the widespread pervasive impacts of human-induced climate change on ecosystems, people, settlements, and infrastructure. In the case of agriculture, the report clearly documented that increases in frequency and intensity of climate extremes have reduced food and water security, hindering efforts to meet the SDGs. Although overall agricultural productivity has increased, climate change has slowed this growth globally over the past 50 years. Increasing incidences of extreme weather and climate events have exposed millions of people to acute food insecurity and reduced water security, with the largest impact observed in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and island nations. Low-income households across all regions have been severely impacted.

Climate change impacts will put pressure on food production and undermine food and nutrition security. A warming climate progressively weakens soil health and ecosystem services such as pollination, increases pressure from pests and diseases, and undermines food productivity in many regions.

See more: https://pressroom.icrisat.org/giving-smallholder-farmers-due-recognition