The World Water Forum is the world’s biggest water-related event and is organized by the World Water Council (WWC), an international organization that brings together all those interested in the theme of water. Its mission is “to promote awareness, build political commitment and trigger action on critical water issues at all levels, to facilitate the efficient conservation, protection, development, planning, management and use of water in all its dimensions on an environmentally sustainable basis for the benefit of all life on Earth”.

Founded in 1996 with its permanent headquarters in the French city of Marseille, the World Water Council is an...

Background 

It is estimated that approximately 85 percent of the world’s farms are smaller than 2 hectares. In Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, small-scale and family farmers produce approximately 80 percent of the total food consumed, and employ more than 75 percent of the population. Despite this, the contribution of smallholder family farmers to the formal economy is still underestimated due to limitations of the agricultural information systems in integrating family farmers into the official statistics. In other words, the social unit (i.e. the family) that constitute the majority of farm holdings is poorly documented and is not captured by the official...