One who has very little access to political power, productive assets and/or income streams within society.; FAO/RAFE (1978) defined small farmers, small fishermen and peasants in broad terms, including the low-income producers of agricultural, livestock and aquatic products. They referred, in particular, to tenants, informal tenants such as share croppers, landless agricultural labourers and small owner-operators. Wapenham(1979) defined a small farmer as an agricultural producer controlling no more land than he can farm without the permanent employment of non-family labour. Steenwinkel (1979) included in his definition all people in the rural areas of developing countries who do not have the means to provide for their basic needs or are living in constant fear of losing their means. The key elements in all of these definitions are subsistence, low income and illiteracy.