World Food Policy Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 91
World Food Policy
or all of their access to certain resources
(land, forest, water, work, or sale
opportunities, etc.). They may concern
an entire category of the population,
often the most socially and politically
fragile: for example, rural versus urban,
nomadic versus sedentary, employees
versus owners, poor households versus
wealthy households.
households, but the power relationships
are very unbalanced between enterprises
and farmers and, in that sense, there
exists a risk for farming families under
contract.
• Inequalities linked to salaried work
A
n the 1980–1990s, many authors
described the negative effects of
agricultural policies on land inequalities,
in favor of large farms to the detriment
of smallholders. For example, in
Malawi, the size of farms was reduced
and farmers who were net purchasers
had to work on other farms, usually at
the tiding-over period. As many small
farms were also managed by women,
it fell to them to work on the farms of
others and young children, entrusted
to their older brothers and sisters, had
to wait until the mother returned to
eat (Millard, Ferguson, and Khaila
1990). The current phenomenon of land
grabbing seen in developing countries
may offer economic opportunities for
some, but results in greater poverty, food
insecurity, and potential malnutrition for
others (Ansoms 2013).
national survey in South Africa
revealed that it was on commercial
farms that chronic malnutrition in
children was the most prevalent in the
country (Labadarios 2000). In the United
States (Nichols, Stein, and Wold 2014)
and Turkey (Simseka and Korukb 2011),
the nutritional status among the children
of seasonal agricultural workers is less
good than in the rest of the population.
In Chile, fruit and vegetable exports, and
the standardization accompanying them,
have led to a structural modification in
the wage earners in this sector (Bain
2010). Some relatively protected wage
earners under permanent contract
work alongside unprotected seasonal
wage earners (mostly women) who are
without contracts. The export policy
adopted by Chile has been accompanied
by deterioration in working conditions
for most wage earners. The development
of hired labor-intensive farming
therefore potentially increases the risks
of malnutrition.
• Unequal negotiating powers for contracts
• Inequalities linked to targeting
A
T
• Land inequalities
I
gricultural investments by foreign
investors or local elites, which lead
to contracts with smallholders, are a
strong trend in the future of farming
(Karsenty and Ongolo 2012). There is
a debate under way as to the effects on
the well-being indicators of farming
he question of targeting interventions
is a recurrent debate in agricultural
development: should farmers with
capacities, capital, etc. be targeted or
should the poorest farmers be targeted?
It is not a question here of choosing
but of considering whether there exists
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