ABSTRACT
In the context of the challenge to create enough decent employment, family small-scale agriculture plays a key role. Today it employs close to 30 percent of the active labor force. Together with small and medium sized non-agricultural enterprise (representing close to half of total employment) it is the source of the great bulk of all jobs. According to recent trends these two sectors will remain the principal source of new jobs for several decades to come (Chapter 1). Continued rapid growth of the urban micro enterprise sector is likely to push down the average income of those so engaged, as it did over 1997-2003. This makes it unavoidable that small-scale agriculture continue to play a significant role in employment and income maintenance if poverty is to be reduced. Failure on this front will virtually assure an increase in poverty.
