Despite the central position occupied by smallholder agriculture in the current development debate, a general and operational definition of smallholders still does not exist. The question “what is a small farm?” keeps receiving different answers depending on the context in which is posed. Alternative ways of defining smallholders reflect heterogeneous historical, institutional, eco-systemic contexts and depend upon what is the role of smallscale agriculture in the rural economy. A harmonized and unique definition of smallholder agriculture still needs to be established and operationalized. This has become a pressing issue given the need to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which refers to the concept of smallholder in indicators 2.3.1 and 2.3.2.