Questions to think about as you read Pingali's speech

As part of your reading for Tuesday's class  we ask you to read a speech by Prabhu Pingali titled "Who is the Smallholder Farmer?" from the 2010 Borlaug Dialogue hosted by the World Food Prize.  You can either read the speech, or watch this video of it on Youtube (it isn't the best quality). 

Here are a few questions to think about as you read:

1. Pingali mentions several misconceptions about the role of smallholder famers.  What are they?   Are there others you can think of?
2. What are the conditions to enhancing smallholder productivity that Pingali notes in his speech.  Can you think of others?               
3. Based on what we’ve studied previously in this class, why is it important to care about smallholder farmers? 

Reading #11b is optional, but I encourage you to at least page through this publication.  It highlights many current key issues related to smallholder farmers.  Finally, we ask you to read one MEAS case study (reading #12).

The World Food Prize hosts an annual event called the Borlaug Dialogue, presented in honor and memory of Norman Borlaug.  This is an event that brings together stakeholders from all walks of life from CEOs of multi-national companies to smallholder farmers from Africa to discuss issues related to food security and international development.  I mention this event specifically because each year two scholarships to attend the event are offered to students enrolled in the INTAG minor.  If you'd like to learn more about the event, I refer you to your classmate Jenna, who has attended in the past and worked with the World Food Prize organization.  I'm also happy to let you know more details about the event and the INTAG scholarship.