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 90