Efforts to stimulate agriculturefs role in pro-poor growth should, on the basis of the
principles above, be used to guide renewed attention to three priority areas. These are to:
œ Enhance agricultural sector productivity and market opportunities.
œ Promote diversified livelihoods on and off the farm.
œ Reduce risk and vulnerability.
Enhancing agricultural sector productivity and improved market
opportunitiesc
Improving sector productivity and expanding market access is at the core of a more
robust agricultural economy. Productivity gains will depend upon a supportive policy
environment that enables rural producers to use the resources available to them more
efficiently and sustainably. Secure and equitable access to land and water resources,
rangelands, fisheries and forests is a key ingredient of this policy environment. The
development of rural financial services is equally important to allow for purchases of
inputs and equipment in order to increase the productivity of land and labour and
stimulate income-generating activities. Productivity gains will also depend upon access to
information and technology developments framed by a demand-led and multidisciplinary
approach. Market access will depend on improved physical access and reduced
transactions costs, particularly through appropriately targeted infrastructure and better
transport services. Support for producer associations will enhance capacity to engage in
market places dominated by increasingly large food processing and modern food retail
industry such as global supermarket chains.
Promoting diversified livelihoodsc
The connections between the agricultural and non-agricultural rural economies are
key drivers of diversified livelihoods. A thriving agriculture sector underpinned by
improved productivity will expand the rural economy and influence wages and food
security. Traditionally, agricultural policy has focused on increasing agricultural
production, neglecting investment in post-harvest enterprises and non-agricultural assets
for more diversified rural livelihoods while treating as socially undesirable those
household strategies involving movement out of rural areas. To reverse this trend,
governments and external partners should improve their understanding of labour markets
and migration patterns and incorporate that understanding in national policies; establish
functioning land markets, so that people are more able to move to new forms of economic
activity; promote entrepreneurship; and tailor investments in infrastructure, education
and health services to new livelihood patterns.
Reducing risk and vulnerability…
Poor households with livelihoods dependent on agricultural production face
numerous shocks and stresses, some potentially catastrophic. The level of risk facing poor
rural households has risen with increased market exposure linked to globalisation
matched by the retrenchment of the state for the direct provision of services such as those
provided through state marketing boards, subsidies and price controls. Domestic shocks,
such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, have further weakened the position of many poor
households. Reducing levels of risk, where possible, and provision of instruments to reduce
vulnerability has to be a central element of pro-poor agriculture policy. This not only
provides social protection for poor people, but enables them to undertake new, viable but
more risky livelihoods, increase their participation in markets and generate pro-poor
economic growth.
principles above, be used to guide renewed attention to three priority areas. These are to:
œ Enhance agricultural sector productivity and market opportunities.
œ Promote diversified livelihoods on and off the farm.
œ Reduce risk and vulnerability.
Enhancing agricultural sector productivity and improved market
opportunitiesc
Improving sector productivity and expanding market access is at the core of a more
robust agricultural economy. Productivity gains will depend upon a supportive policy
environment that enables rural producers to use the resources available to them more
efficiently and sustainably. Secure and equitable access to land and water resources,
rangelands, fisheries and forests is a key ingredient of this policy environment. The
development of rural financial services is equally important to allow for purchases of
inputs and equipment in order to increase the productivity of land and labour and
stimulate income-generating activities. Productivity gains will also depend upon access to
information and technology developments framed by a demand-led and multidisciplinary
approach. Market access will depend on improved physical access and reduced
transactions costs, particularly through appropriately targeted infrastructure and better
transport services. Support for producer associations will enhance capacity to engage in
market places dominated by increasingly large food processing and modern food retail
industry such as global supermarket chains.
Promoting diversified livelihoodsc
The connections between the agricultural and non-agricultural rural economies are
key drivers of diversified livelihoods. A thriving agriculture sector underpinned by
improved productivity will expand the rural economy and influence wages and food
security. Traditionally, agricultural policy has focused on increasing agricultural
production, neglecting investment in post-harvest enterprises and non-agricultural assets
for more diversified rural livelihoods while treating as socially undesirable those
household strategies involving movement out of rural areas. To reverse this trend,
governments and external partners should improve their understanding of labour markets
and migration patterns and incorporate that understanding in national policies; establish
functioning land markets, so that people are more able to move to new forms of economic
activity; promote entrepreneurship; and tailor investments in infrastructure, education
and health services to new livelihood patterns.
Reducing risk and vulnerability…
Poor households with livelihoods dependent on agricultural production face
numerous shocks and stresses, some potentially catastrophic. The level of risk facing poor
rural households has risen with increased market exposure linked to globalisation
matched by the retrenchment of the state for the direct provision of services such as those
provided through state marketing boards, subsidies and price controls. Domestic shocks,
such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, have further weakened the position of many poor
households. Reducing levels of risk, where possible, and provision of instruments to reduce
vulnerability has to be a central element of pro-poor agriculture policy. This not only
provides social protection for poor people, but enables them to undertake new, viable but
more risky livelihoods, increase their participation in markets and generate pro-poor
economic growth.
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