Towards sustainable smallholder farming
Sustainable farming for smallholders is a challenge
Around 90% of the farms globally are small (less than two hectares in size) and cultivated by 1.5 billion of the world’s poor. They often lack secure access and rights to land, productive resources, knowledge, markets and opportunities.
Importantly, they lack the information they need to sustainably increase their yield while protecting the environment.
We’re on a mission to change that.
""A sustainable world is one where people can escape poverty and enjoy decent work without harming the earth’s essential ecosystems and resources"
Ban-Ki Moon
UN Secretary-General
Smallholder vegetable farming in Indonesia
Click on the image to explore the full interactive dashboard of smallholder vegetable farmer data in Indonesia.
To move closer to smallholder sustainability, we need
Design
Gain clarity on the problems smallholders face, and the critical information they need to sustainably increase their yield.
Capture
Collect relevant data in the field. Combine it with satellite data so that information can be tailored to specific locations.
Understand
Integrate and analyse the relevant data sets. Work with experts to translate the data into actionable insights for farmers.
Act
Provide farmers with a mobile application with tailor-made advice. Monitor farmer’s progress and compliance with sustainability standards.
Explore stories of change
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Indonesia’s government are aiming for food self-sufficiency by improving farm techniques, promoting climate-smart agriculture, improving efficient use of inputs, and increasing the knowledge of farmers on Good Agriculture Practices.
Increasing the yield of smallholder farmers in Indonesia with SMARTseeds -
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation initiates programmes to alleviate poverty across the globe. Their smart water for agriculture (SWA) programme aims to save water and energy in farming practices across selected counties in Kenya.
Increasing the profitability of farmers in Kenya with SNV -
GREENCoffee is a public private partnership of ten partners from the Netherlands and Vietnam, all working to ensure a sustainable future for coffee farmers in Vietnam.
Creating a sustainable information service for coffee farmers in Vietnam with GREENCoffee
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The World Vegetable Center is an international nonprofit institute for vegetable research and development. This project sets out to reduce malnutrition in the target provinces in Cambodia, in particular of women and children.
Reducing malnutrition in women and children in Cambodia with the World Vegetable Center -
Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) mitigates environmental degradation and rural poverty by encouraging the adoption of regenerative farming practices.
Planting systems of change in Honduras, Belize and Panama with Sustainable Harvest International -
The Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) is a multi-stakeholder platform established in 2011 to promote resource efficiency and sustainability in trade flows, production and consumption operations, and supply chains in the global rice sector.
Sustainable rice certification in Pakistan, India and Cambodia with Mars Food
20
partners have monitored smallholders with our platform
11
countries
8
commodities
Browse related resources
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Above: White pepper, during the SpiceUp kick-off meeting. Photo by Aulia Rahman. Denpasar, Indonesia. 8 May 2018. Earlier this year, the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) announced six new projects in the third call for the Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) Facility. Using satellite and mobile data, G4AW provides information to smallholder farmers to increase sustainable food […]
Spice up your salad: Akvo joins new Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) projects -
Enumerators from the Community Development Center (CDC) collecting baseline field data with their smartphone using Akvo Flow. Photo by CDC. May 2017 Since the end of last year, our regional Akvo team in South East Asia and Pacific has joined two exciting new consortia programmes, GREENcoffee (Vietnam) and SMARTseeds (Indonesia). Both programmes aim to create self-sustainable […]
Monitoring Geodata for Agriculture and Water programmes -
I’ve recently joined the Akvo team in Amsterdam, working on research related to agricultural supply chains, and support people here working on projects that touch on that area. To help everyone understand a bit more background on the field, I thought I’d introduce the topic of track and trace in agriculture. As I’m an academic, you’ll […]
Track and trace in agriculture – an introduction
Working on a smallholder farming programme?
Strategic partnership
€100,000+
Strategic collaboration at multi-organisation or multi-country level
Design - Full programme design collaboration. Division of partner roles and responsibilities. Data platform set up and maintenance
Capture - Training and support in collecting and monitoring data at scale.
Understand - Training and support in cleaning, combining, transforming, visualising and analysing data.
Act - Support in translating insights into decisions that drive impact. Support with internal and external communications.
Farmers reached: 20,000+
People trained: 50 - 100 people
Data journey partnership
€25,000 - €100,000
Continuous support throughout your data journey
Design - Programme design workshop. Data platform set up and maintenance. Survey design support.
Capture - Training and support in data collection and monitoring.
Understand - Data analysis workshop. Data integration, visualisation and sharing support.
Act - Support in translating information into actionable data for farmers.
Farmers reached: 2,500 - 20,000
People trained: 10 - 49
Starter partnership
€15,000 - €25,000
Local support with your project implementation
Design - Kick-off meeting. Data platform set up and maintenance.
Capture - Training and support in data collection and monitoring.
Understand - Data visualisation support.
Farmers reached: 100 - 2,500
People trained: 1 - 10
Interested in our information service for smallholders?
Embark on a data journey with Akvo
With our unique approach to development, we help our partners design their programmes so that they can capture and understand reliable data which they can act upon.
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