Even today, agriculture is an important source of income and the world’s largest business. One-third of the economically active population obtains its livelihood from agriculture. In Asia and Africa, millions of small-scale and subsistence farmers, pastoralists, fishermen and indigenous peoples produce most of the food consumed worldwide, in most cases on very small plots of land. Over the past decades, agricultural policy and international institutions, as well as private and public agricultural research have often considered small-scale and subsistence farmers as backward “phase-out models” of a pre-industrial form of production. For more than 50 years, “grow or die” has been both the capitalist and socialist principle for progress, with just a few exceptions. The widely held belief was that only large economic units were capable of achieving increases in productivity on a competitive basis through modern and rationalized cultivation methods, mainly with chemical inputs and the use of machinery. A global increase in productivity was considered necessary to feed a rapidly growing world population.
The IAASTD describes this development model of industrialized nations as the “agricultural treadmill”. It is based on technological advances achieved through mechanization, plant breeding for high-yielding varieties, the use of agrochemicals and genetic engineering, etc. With increasing external inputs, the unit costs of production are declining and the productivity per worker is increasing. Production is growing and producer prices are falling. The only businesses that can survive on the market are those that remain one step ahead of their competitors by investing in rationalization and expansion, or those with locational advantages. If others catch up with them, another round begins. An end to this treadmill is not in sight: The more global the market, the higher the speed and the more incalculable the game becomes for each participant.
The IAASTD calls into question the idea that this universal principle of technological progress in a free-market economy is the ideal concept for sustainable food production and the organisation of agriculture. Firstly, fertile soils - the most important basis of agriculture and a resource that can rarely be multiplied - are seldom distributed fairly. Almost nowhere in the world does access to land follow classical market rules of supply and demand. The distribution of soils is shaped by the historical legacy of feudalism, colonialism and patriarchal inheritance rights and has always been the result of very particular machinations and struggles for power, which are rarely transparent, fair and non-violent. >>more
Approximately 3.4 billion people – or 45% of the world’s population – live in rural areas. Roughly 2 billion people (26.7% of the world population) derive their livelihoods from agriculture. In 2016, an estimated 57% of people in Africa were living in rural areas. 53% of the population was economically active in agriculture.
<aside> 📘 大约 34 亿人——占世界人口的 45%——居住在农村地区。大约 20 亿人（占世界人口的 26.7%）靠农业谋生。2016 年，估计有 57% 的非洲人居住在农村地区。53% 的人口在农业部门从事经济活动。
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In 2017, an estimated 866 million people were officially employed in the agricultural sector: Of these, 292.2 million were located in Southern Asia, 148.4 million in Eastern Asia and 215.7 million in sub-Saharan Africa. The agricultural sector accounted for 57.4% of total employment in sub-Saharan Africa and 42.2% in Southern Asia. Although the share of total employment in agriculture has declined over the past decade, the total number of workers in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has grown.
<aside> 📘 2017 年，估计有 8.66 亿人正式受雇于农业部门：其中，2.922 亿人位于南亚，1.484 亿人位于东亚，2.157 亿人位于撒哈拉以南非洲。农业部门占撒哈拉以南非洲的总就业人数的 57.4%，占南亚的 42.2%。尽管过去十年农业部门的总就业份额有所下降，但撒哈拉以南非洲农业部门的从业者总数有所增长。
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The vast majority of the world’s farms are small or very small. Worldwide, farms of less than 1 hectare account for 72% of all farms, but control only 8% of all agricultural land. Farms between 1 and 2 hectares account for 12% of all farms and control 4% of the land. In contrast, only 1% of all farms in the world are larger than 50 hectares, but they control 65% of the world’s agricultural land.
<aside> 📘 全球绝大多数农场属于小农场或极小农场。全世界，面积少于 1 公顷的农场占所有农场的 72%，仅控制着所有农业用地的 8%。面积在 1 至 2 公顷之间的农场占所有农场的 12%，控制着 4% 的土地。相比之下，全球所有农场中面积超过 50 公顷的仅占 1％，而它们却控制着全球 65％ 的农业用地。
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There are more than 570 million farms in the world. More than 90% of farms are run by an individual or a family and rely primarily on family labour. Family farms occupy a large share of the world’s agricultural land and produce about 80% of the world’s food.
<aside> 📘 全球共有 5.7 亿多个农场。超过 90% 的农场由个人或家庭经营，主要依靠家庭劳动力。家庭农场占据了全球大部分农业用地，生产了全球约 80% 的食物。
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