Abstract
Smallholder agriculture is a critical part of the global food system—making up more than 80% of all farms worldwide (FAO 2014). Yet many of these smallholders are economically vulnerable, living below the poverty line and often facing seasonal food insecurity. These smallholders are diverse, producing high value export crops such as coffee and cocoa, crops for local and regional markets, and food for home consumption. To date, companies who trade with smallholders as well as development organisations and public agencies have primarily focused on how to invest and adapt trade to increase incomes and reduce poverty. In recent years, however, more and more companies and development organisations are looking to move their work with smallholders beyond reducing poverty to something more aspirational, such as a ‘living income’ for farmers where they are able to consistently invest in their farms and family and where returns attract the next generation of farmers.
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Notes
- 1.
FAO states that 84% of the world’s farms are less than two hectares in size.
- 2.
Living wage has long been referred to in international agreements. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN 1948) recognises the need for workers to earn a living wage; the ILO Constitution (ILO 1919) recognises the right of workers to earn a wage, which allows for a decent standard of living for them and their families.
- 3.
Living Wages Around the World: Manual for Measurement (Anker and Anker 2018); the manual is also available online as an open access publication at: https://www.elgaronline.com/view/9781786431455/9781786431455.xml, last assessed 15 January 2019.
- 4.
The Global Living Wage Coalition is a coalition of six sustainability standard systems—Fairtrade International, Goodweave International, Social Accountability International, the Forest Stewardship Council, UTZ and the Rainforest Alliance/Sustainable Agriculture Network—working to move wages towards a living wage in global supply chains.
- 5.
Other drivers include—but are not limited to—a shortage of available adult labour, no access to decent education, a lack of awareness of child rights, etc.
- 6.
The drivers include—but are not limited to—ageing and disease prone trees, impacts from a changing climate, lack of good agricultural practices, etc.
- 7.
IHEA is a version of the Household Economy Approach (HEA), which was developed by Save the Children and Food Economy Group. For more information on HEA please see: The Household Economy Approach: A guide for programme planners and policymakers (Holzmann et al. 2008).
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Grunze, S., Komives, K., Seville, D., Daniels, S., Krain, E. (2019). Towards a Living Income Within Agricultural Value Chains. In: Schmidt, M., Giovannucci, D., Palekhov, D., Hansmann, B. (eds) Sustainable Global Value Chains. Natural Resource Management in Transition, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14877-9_35
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