How Can We Make Smallholder Farming More Sustainable, Safer and Secure to Feed a Growing World?

This year’s Africa Food Systems Summit 2025, in Dakar, Senegal, focuses on Africa’s youth and how they can lead collaboration, innovation, and the implementation of agri-food systems transformation for a stronger and more resilient food value chain.

It is estimated that some 500 million smallholder farmers around the world produce around 35-46 percent of the world’s food to help feed just over 8 billion people living on our fragile planet.

Smallholder farmers are crucial for global food security. But how can their agricultural practices be more sustainable and safer, reducing contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins and pesticide residues? How can they protect themselves and the environment from pesticide risks? How can young people drive transformation?

Risks to humans, livestock and the environment

Aflatoxins are poisonous carcinogens, primarily linked to liver cancer in humans and causing reduced milk production, impaired reproduction, and liver disease in livestock. 

Chemical pesticides contaminate water, soil, and air, causing biodiversity loss, harming aquatic ecosystems through algal blooms and fish kills, and can be transferred through the food chain. 

In humans, pesticide exposure is linked to chronic illnesses, including cancer and neurological diseases, while occupational exposure poses risks to farm and abattoir workers.

Clearly, we need to be aware of broader risks for livestock and ecosystems as well as humans if we are to have safe and sustainable agricultural production.

Youth and women are key players in the future of agriculture

I believe that our young men and women of all ages are key players in the future of agriculture where the challenges to safe production of food must be overcome if we are to reduce the associated significant health burdens.

At the same time economic losses from lost export trade and reduced competitiveness in the agri-food sector occur. To address these challenges we need improved policy, capacity building, technology implementation and robust coordination between agriculture, health, environment and trade sectors.

In essence a One Health approach is needed whereby a collaborative framework recognises the interconnectedness of human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health to prevent and manage foodborne risks.

One Health approach involves collaboration across sectors and development of multi-sector strategies to ensure safe food from production to consumption.

We recognise the real-life situation of the farmer

We must recognise the real-life situation of the farmer who is faced with having to understand which pesticide to use, how to use it on their crop, and how to apply it safely with reduced risk to their own health. This includes the use of correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Furthermore, we must respect the major challenge they face in that the low-risk products are sometimes not economically viable. Farmers use so called ‘nasty chemicals’ to ensure they have produce to sell at a cost that allows them to make a profit.