A/HRC/43/44/Add.1 done electronically, including banking, mobile and utilities payments, leasing, tax payments and judicial services. Subsidies, allowances and registration of business entities working in the nutrition sector can also be requested electronically. 19 This programme, when effectively implemented, will eliminate many cumbersome administrative procedures that farmers have to go through and will bring transparency and trust to the system. 44. The Government is putting in place an electronic agriculture information system to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the agrarian management and decision-making processes in the country. The system is based on the basic principles of proximity to farmers, transparent and efficient management the application of innovation and the possibilities of integration with internal and external systems. 45. However, the digitalization of agricultural incentives could exclude small-scale farmers or producers who have no technical capacity to use the system. As stated by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in his recent thematic report, “the digitization of the welfare system is often used to promote deep reductions in the overall welfare budget, a narrowing of the beneficiary pool…and a complete reversal of the traditional notion that the State should be accountable to the individual”. In his report, the Special Rapporteur emphasizes that “the starting point should be on how welfare budgets could be transformed through technology to ensure a higher standard of living for the vulnerable and disadvantaged” (A/74/493). C. Challenges for small and medium-sized farmers 46. Despite the efforts of the Government to develop the country’s agricultural potential, farmers and producers explained to the Special Rapporteur that they were confronted with significant challenges, such as the lack of implementation of legislation promoting food security policies, the lack of integration of a rights-based approach and the lack of public consultation. These challenges are of concern and need to be addressed. 47. In Ganja, the Special Rapporteur heard from NGOs working with small-scale farmers that more than 90 per cent of farms are smallholdings, which occupy 85 per cent of the agricultural land. According to the most recent statistical census from 2015, 95.4 per cent of all landowners are smallholders, who are considered to have less than five hectares of land. Owing to the small size of farms, which are most frequently between one and three hectares, and the lack of farmers’ associations/unions, small farmers have difficulty in accessing the market on favourable terms. There is often a huge difference between the price of products at the farm gate and the price in the final consumer market. 48. The Special Rapporteur was also told that small-scale farmers were confronted by water shortages, lack of access to quality seeds, lack of adequate machinery and technology, such as modern drip systems, and difficulties in accessing the market, loans and subsidies and in processing their yields. Smallholder farmers with only one or two hectares of land are extremely vulnerable and cannot live from their production, often having to move to “day jobs” in the service sector or leaving their land entirely to move to the city to guarantee their family’s survival. 49. The Special Rapporteur was confronted by the existing disconnect between farmers and the State authorities whereby farmers complained that parliamentarians never visited their constituencies, walked on their land or spoke with them to learn about the challenges they faced. Without consultation with the parties concerned, programmes and projects will hardly reflect the real necessities of the agricultural sector. 50. Another challenge for small-scale farmers is the need to stay competitive in the face of the development of intensive agriculture carried out by large-scale agribusiness companies. To achieve such competitiveness, smallholder farmers should establish associations of producers that are engaged in the same agricultural subsector and work 19 See www.digital.gov.az/en. 9