Renewed attention has recently been given to the importance (and the position) of small-scale family farms through the International Year of Family Farms (IYFF). However, public policies are deficient, investments are lacking, and many of the 500 million smallholder farmers receive little to no support. Standard typologies that distinguish “commercial farmers”, “part-time farmers” (in transition, and on their way out) and “subsistence farmers” miss the point of the complexity of farming livelihoods, in which particularly the large group of latter category is actually active in various markets. Influential policy perspectives focus on the insertion of small-scale family farmers in (global) value chains as an important way to promote rural development, and consequently reducing rural poverty. This study argues that such “one-size-fits-all” approach should be looked at critically, as the results have been mixed, at best. Although the integration of smallholders into global value chains is promoted to enhance their competitiveness and market access, these value chains may not actually engage many of these rural producers, and may end up being exclusionary. A broader approach is needed to also address inequalities in land rights and empower poor rural people through strengthening their organizations and meeting the calls for the promotion of inclusive and sustainable rural development processes through renewed forms of collaboration between the State, the market and civil society, and in particular by promoting rural poverty reduction through broader rural territorial development.