A more challenging context for agriculture growth

Today, rural households face challenges much different than those faced by the “green
revolution” producers who achieved sustained gains in agriculture productivity only a few
decades ago. Over the past 20 years there has been a substantial decline in public sector
support for agriculture and many producers have lost access to key inputs and services.
While public sector provision of these services was not very efficient, it often provided the
sole linkages to markets for poor rural producers. Today, such links are tenuous and
complicated by much greater integration of the global economy. Smallholder producers
now compete in markets that are much more demanding in terms of quality and food
safety, and more concentrated and integrated than in the past. OECD agricultural subsidies
further distort many of these same markets.
Economic integration is accompanied by other challenges that further weaken the socioeconomic
position of the rural poor. In parts of the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa,
rural areas are hard hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is disrupting the transfer of
knowledge, destroying traditional land allocation systems, and dramatically changing the
demographic composition of many rural communities. Climate change with growing
population density is increasing pressure on an already fragile natural resource base that
is the mainstay of rural livelihoods. Conflict conditions, many of which result from, or are
provoked by poverty, are further eroding the livelihood systems and resilience of rural poor
women and men.