The importance of small family farms in global food security | Monika Barthwal-Datta | TEDxOrange

There are 1.5 billion small family farmers, men and women, who live and work on around 475 million family farms, that are no more than 2 hectares in size. Monika reminds us up to 80% of all food consumed in the world are grown by these farmers, and these people are at the forefront of our fight for food security in the face of climate change.

Monika Barthwal-Datta is a Senior Lecturer in International Security in the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UNSW. Growing up, Monika lived and studied in a number of countries, including India (where she comes from), Japan, New Zealand, Uganda and ultimately the UK where she completed her postgraduate studies. While studying for her MScEcon in Security Studies (Aberystwyth University) and then her PhD in International Security (Royal Holloway College, University of London), Monika worked as a freelance broadcast journalist for the BBC World Service Radio. She moved to Sydney in late 2010 to take up a two-year research fellowship on Food Security in Asia at the Centre for International Security Studies, University of Sydney, and moved to UNSW Australia in mid-2012. Monika’s research focuses on international security from ‘non-traditional’ perspectives that prioritise the needs and concerns of those who are least powerful and marginalised.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx