Zero Hunger

Worldwide there are 450 million smallholder farms, which provide the livelihoods of and support 2 billion people (Conway, 2014). There are doubts about whether these smallholder farms can however rise to the challenge of feeding the world in the 21st century. It is predicted that by 2050 the global population will have expanded to 10 billion people (Davis, 2017), and food production needs to increase by 70% to feed it (Gimenez & Altieri, 2014. Pg 50). Sub Saharan Africas (SSA) population is expected to double, and alongside climate change this has led to an expected increase in food insecurity in SSA by 43% in the next 20 years (Brooks, 2014). The solution to food insecurity, according to the World Bank and FAO is therefore to produce more. This has taken the form of an almost reverent trust placed in technology as the saviour of the global food system. It is hoped that through genetically modified seeds, artificial fertilizers, and monocropping food production will increase.

The narrative of smallholder food security is however shifting. With the advent of peasant groups such as La Via Campesina, and interest in alternative farming methodologies, such as agroecology. The future of farming may not in fact in be in the silver bullet of technology. The narrative within political economy is increasingly favouring projects acknowleding smallholder agency, and the contributiin smallholder agriculture can make to the future of farming sustainably.