A/HRC/19/75 12. In Guatemala, for example, most of the fertile lands of central Guatemala are part of huge plantations, while the majority of smallholder farmers and indigenous people are left to cultivate the steep slopes of the country’s mountainous regions. 4 Hunger and malnutrition levels in Guatemala have been found to be closely linked to the quantity of land held; children of families possessing less than two manzanas5 of land being 3.2 times more likely to be malnourished than families possessing more than five manzanas.6 Poor subsistence farmers lack access to sufficient, good-quality land and survive on microfincas (smallholdings) of less than one hectare of unproductive land, although they really need 25 hectares of fertile land to feed their families adequately. As a consequence of extreme inequality in access to land, indigenous people and poor peasant farmers or agricultural workers living in rural areas account for the large majority of the hungry and malnourished (A/HRC/13/33/Add.4, para. 11). 13. The situation is similar in Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (A/HRC/7/5/Add.2, para. 14). In the west, the poor and hungry are mostly indigenous people, living in rural areas and struggling to survive from small-scale and subsistence farming on the cold, windy plateau of the altiplano. Most people have very small landholdings, barely large enough for subsistence. Most agricultural work is done by hand with little access to machinery even to plough the fields, and there has been little investment in irrigation and other infrastructure that would allow increased production. This has resulted in very high levels of malnutrition, especially micronutrient malnutrition, among altiplano families because their diet is inadequate.7 14. In Ethiopia, chronic food insecurity persists in the country, which is predominantly agrarian, and poverty is significantly higher in rural areas than in urban areas. 8 Agriculture is still predominantly rain-dependent and only 3 per cent of irrigable land is irrigated, contributing to a high vulnerability to drought.9 Many Ethiopian farmers do not produce enough even for their own subsistence. Two thirds of households farm on less than 0.5 hectares, insufficient to support a family, and these holdings are becoming smaller and smaller owing to the fast rate of population growth. 10 The poorest and most destitute are now mainly dependent on wage labour in other people’s fields. With few opportunities for wage labour or opportunities for off-farm employment to earn income, many people simply do not get enough to eat. C. Landless people working as tenant farmers or agricultural labourers 15. Approximately 20 per cent of the world’s hungry are landless. Most work as tenant farmers or agricultural labourers. Tenant farmers usually have to pay high rents and have little security of possession from season to season. Agricultural labourers usually work for extremely low wages that are insufficient to feed their families, and often have to migrate from one insecure, informal job to another.11 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 See E/CN.4/2006/44/Add.1 and A/HRC/13/33/Add.4. One manzana = 6,987 m2. United Nations, Common country assessment: Guatemala, 2004, p. 16. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Objetivos de desarrollo del milenio. La Paz, situación actual, evaluación y perspectivas, 2007. International Food Policy Research Institute, Ending the Cycle of Famine in Ethiopia (Washington, D.C., 2003). E/CN.4/2005/47/Add.1, para. 11. Rahmato D. and Kidanu A., “Consultations with the Poor: A study to inform the World Development Report (2000/01) on Poverty and Development”, National Report, Ethiopia, 1999. IFAD, Rural Poverty Report 2001. 5