A new global field size data set collected as part of a crowdsourcing citizen science project by IIASA researchers has shown that the proportion of smallholder farms may be much larger than previously thought, contributing much more to global food production.
A new global field size data set collected as part of a crowdsourcing citizen science project by IIASA researchers has shown that the proportion of smallholder farms may be much larger than previously thought, contributing much more to global food production.
Smallholder farms are classified as being made up of fields less than around 2 ha in size. Evidence is increasing that such farms make a substantial contribution to world food production, but until now, the data on the number and distribution of smallholder farms has been lacking. Previous estimates have suggested that smallholder farms make up between 12 and 24% of the global total. However, the new research led by IIASA researcher Myroslava Lesiv shows that smallholder farms in fact make up 40% of the global agricultural area.
The study is the first to estimate field sizes at the global, continental, and national level, and covers the entire world, rather than just 55 countries as in earlier studies. The data are much more detailed and denser than anything previously collected. The crowdsourcing method used is a unique approach to quantifying and mapping field size.
The crowdsourcing campaign began in June 2017 using the Geo-Wiki app. It lasted for four weeks and was focused on collecting field size data. The Geo-Wiki app takes high resolution satellite imagery from Google Maps and Microsoft Bing and allows users to visually assess those images, for example for land cover or human impact. In this case, users were asked to assess images of agricultural land.
Read more at International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
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