Small farms contribution to food security: a food system resilience perspective

Pavlos Karanikolas, Dimitrios Theocharidis (), Theodoros Tsiligiridis () and Konstantinos Tsiboukas ()
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Dimitrios Theocharidis: Greek Payment Authority of Common Agricultural Policy Aid Schemes
Theodoros Tsiligiridis: Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), Greece, Dept. Agr. Economics and Rural Development, Professor
Konstantinos Tsiboukas: Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), Greece, Dept. Agr. Economics and Rural Development, Professor

No 2017-1, Working Papers from Agricultural University of Athens, Department Of Agricultural Economics

Abstract: This study examines the contribution of small farms (SFs) to food security by using the concept of food system resilience. The study concerns both the whole agri-food system and the subsystem of citrus fruits in the NUTS3 region of Ileia, in Southwestern Greece. Within a dynamic and diversified food system, most of SFs are characterized by a high degree of market integration along with a low degree of food self-sufficiency. A series of reinforcing and balancing feedback loops make the system more vulnerable, undermining its adaptive and transformative capacities. On the contrary, a series of other processes, including specific farming practices which integrate successfully traditional and scientific knowledge, strengthen the system. The ongoing crisis of the Greek economy affects heavily the operation of the regional food system and its outcomes, while it relatively weakens the reinforcement function of some feedback loops, mitigating their adverse consequences. Possible food insecurity problems exist in farms/households which fall below the poverty line, while SFs have to overcome the risk of extreme fragmentation. The findings of this study question the capacity of the regional food system to deliver in a sustainable way its outcomes, as well as to respond effectively to the current challenges.

Keywords: Food and nutrition security; food system resilience; small farms; Greece (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I32 Q12 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
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