Department of Agricultural Extension & Economics,
VIT School of Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning (VAIAL),
Vellore Institute of Technology,
Atsu Frank Yayra Ihou, Teaching Cum Research Assistant,
Department of Agricultural Extension & Economics,
VIT School of Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning (VAIAL),
Vellore Institute of Technology,
Clothed in Struggles: A Resource-Poor Farmer’s Reality
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Smallholder farmers remain pillars of food security across rural communities. They cultivate less than two hectares yet generate around a third of the world’s food, handling up to 80 percent of the supply in parts of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Their daily reality includes limited access to finance, insufficient infrastructure, and unpredictable climate shifts that erode resilience. These challenges often translate into fragile livelihoods and unsteady incomes.
They adapt with remarkable ingenuity, navigating small land parcels, weaving together traditional knowledge and minimal inputs, and persisting across seasons even when harsh conditions threaten output. Their resource-poor status does not reflect a lack of effort; rather, it highlights structural constraints that policymakers and development partners must acknowledge when designing meaningful interventions.
Transforming the Image of the Resource-Poor Farmer
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In this century, a smallholder should emerge as a pragmatic innovator, transforming limitations into entrepreneurial opportunities. Farmers should harness a mindset marked by autonomy, proactiveness, risk-orientation, and economic drive traits shown as key to entrepreneurial intention in value-added farming activities. Farmers should treat every drop of knowledge and every rupee of reinvestment with strategic purpose, pushing beyond subsistence into smart agripreneurship. Smallholder farmers should transform scarce land into high-value ventures, such as rice milling, oil extraction, or digital aggregation, and seize opportunities that reduce post-harvest loss and tap new markets. Moreover, innovation need not require high-tech tools; it may rest on using mobile platforms, clustering into cooperatives, or building small irrigation systems that ripple across the community. Such agripreneurs scale resilience and income with creativity, collaboration, and calculated focus.
Government as a Growth Engine for Resource-Poor Farmers
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Government can create fertile ground for farmer-turn-agripreneurs through sustained, future-oriented support. They should channel funding into inclusive value-chain programs, smallholder clustering, and aggregation mechanisms that foster scale and negotiating power. They should also expand technical training programs. According to FAO (2022), the Smallholder Support Programme stands as a model, boosting business-oriented agriculture skills among youth and women. Their policies should link smallholders with knowledge, inputs, finance, and markets in a coordinated way that builds over the years, not just seasons. The government should invest in maintaining an entrepreneurial mindset among farmers, that spark of autonomy, proactiveness, and risk-taking highlighted in recent research. Public investment subsidies and generate future successes: entrepreneurs will recognize opportunities, secure microloans or subsidies, and create value-added businesses. Over time, such efforts will multiply income, strengthen climate resilience, and inspire the next generation to farm smart.
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