The urgency of a new agenda

Attention to agriculture in terms of policy commitments and investment levels has
declined in both international donor and developing country policies and programmes,
despite the demonstrated high rates of return and the reductions in poverty that come
from such investments. Yet achieving the internationally agreed poverty reduction targets
will depend on establishing higher rates of economic growth, which equates to growth in
agricultural sector productivity for the majority of countries where these targets are
relevant. And a more robust agriculture sector will need to be framed within a new agenda
that not only matches today’s rural and global realities but engages and enables poor
households to generate sustainable livelihoods.