Atiqur Rahman

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Presentation by Atiqur Rahman Lead Strategist
and Policy Coordinator IFAD
214886-v1
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Today 1.2 billion live in extreme poverty
Latin America Caribbean
Near East North Africa
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• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

Sub-Saharan Africa
Asia
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900 million of the extreme poor live and work in
rural areas!
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• IFADs Rural Poverty Report 2001

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

Poverty is not just economic deprivation and the
poor are highly diversified
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Rainfed farmers

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

Smallholder farmers
Artisanal Fishermen
Pastoralists
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Wage labourers/ landless

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

Indigenous people/ scheduled casts/ tribes
Female-headed households
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Women are often principal earners

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

• They are disadvantaged in many ways
• lack of nutrition
• high mortality
• lack of income opportunities
• discrimination in pay and in access to land,
  legal systems and credit

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The rural poor...

• live in remote areas
• have few opportunities off the land
• suffer from hunger and disease

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

Access to food, either through production or
exchange, is critical for the rural
poor Increasingly the poor are becoming
dependent on non-farm incomes
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• GROWTH
• is important for poverty reduction
• But growth has to be broad based and accommodate
  non-farm production and market based exchange
• Efforts to reach the UN commitment to reduce the
  proportion of the poor by half by 2015 must focus
  on AGRICULTURAL and RURAL development

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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What has not worked?

• Washington Consensus
• Decline in investment in agricultural and rural
  development
• Project approach has produced mixed results
• Rural poverty has been too often secondary to
  urban poverty

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• ASSETS...

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

For the majority of the worlds poor,
particularly for women, land and water assets are
most pressing
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• What has not worked?
• Access to land
• Top-down, confiscatory land reforms
• Land reform without appropriate infrastructure
  and services
• Gender mainstreaming

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• What has worked?
• Access to land
• Confiscatory land reforms
• Support of post-reform farmers
• Decentralised, consensual or citizen-driven
  reform processes
• More widespread access to farmland assets remain
  central to poverty reduction.

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• What has not worked?
• Access to water
• Major dams
• Water subsidies
• Water charges
• Diversion of commercial water

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• What has worked?
• Access to water
• Small-scale irrigation
• Training of womens groups
• Formation of water user associations
• User financing of recurrent costs
• Hygiene education

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• What has not worked?
• Access to human assets
• Urban bias
• Unfavourable socio-economic conditions
• User fees

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• What has worked?
• Access to human assets
• Human-asset-improving in rural areas
• Nutrition improvement
• No targeting

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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ASSETS...

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

serve two functions They generate a flow of
income and they provide a means of buffering
consumption in the face of income and other shocks
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ASSETS

• Without secure property rights, farmers lack the
  incentive to invest in land and water management
• Pro-poor assets policy
• Legal rights to land
• Control over water assets
• Improving human assets

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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TECHNOLOGY...

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

needs to work for the rural poor
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• What has not worked?
• Large farm focus
• High potential area focus
• Labour replacing technologies
• Neglecting crops of the poor
• Labour displacement technology
• Privatisation of agricultural research

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• What has worked?
• Green Revolution - public research
• Integrated pest management
• Improved Land Management Technology
• Collaboration between farmers and researchers

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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BIO-TECHNOLOGY

• Bio-agricultural research can help the poor
  through developing crop varieties which are
• water stress tolerant,
• high yielding and
• pest resistant

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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BUT...

• Caution needs to be exercised
• Redirect technologies from the needs of the
  rich to the poor
• Environmental effects need to be assessed
  carefully and taken seriously
• And adapt to the environmental conditions of the
  developing countries
• The poor and the CSOs have to participate in
  deciding, clarifying which technology and how

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• MARKETS...

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

If Its Fair, Its Good
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• What has not worked?
• Liberalisation and commercialisation in societies
  with high inequality
• Liberalisation without preparing the people for
  open markets

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• What has worked?
• Farmer groups or associations
• Provision of market information
• Rural Roads

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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MARKETS

• Globalisation If Its Fair, Its Good
• Access to local markets
• Enabling access to global markets
• elimination of trade restrictions,
• reduction of subsidies,
• producer co-operations

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• Markets...

• Markets are central institutions for sustainable
  rural development
• For the poor to gain access to markets, they need
  organisations
• Question
• How can the poor be supported to create their own
  organisations to access markets?

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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INSTITUTIONS...

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

empowerment
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What are institutions?

• Rules of the game
• Mechanisms to structure political, economic and
  social interaction
• Central question
• How can the poor benefit from institutions?

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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What has, what has not worked?

• Difficult to answer but institutions which
  exclude either the rich or the poor have not
  worked and will not work in the future
• More important is the question
• How can the poor benefit from institutions?

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• DECENTRALISATION...

• Redefining the boundary between state and market
• Local institutions tend to be more accountable to
  local people
• Question
• What are the conditions under which
  decentralisation can work?

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• DECENTRALISATION...

• Common property resources management for
  sustainability of resources
• Poverty reduction too often a secondary goal
• Question
• Can cooperation emerge when vast inequalities and
  assymetries between rich and poor exist?

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• Financial Services...

• Credit helps the poor to smooth consumption and
  acquire assets
• Range of financial services savings, credit and
  insurance
• Poor must devise ways to spread risks
• Question
• How can it be ensured that savings, credit and
  insurance are treated in a unified way?

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• Coalition building...

• Coherent anti-poverty strategy requires stable
  partnerships
• Putting the poor at the centre of the process
  empowering them
• Strengthening the coalitions of the poor is
  essential
• Question
• How can the poor participate as partners in
  development processes?

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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INSTITUTIONS...

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

How can the poor benefit from institutions?
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Conclusion

• Reaching the 2015 targets will require
• increased ODA
• more allocation towards rural development and
  agriculture
• increased national effort

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion

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• Conclusion

• More questions than solutions
• No universal blueprints for poverty reduction
• There are many pathways for ending rural poverty

• Introduction
• Assets
• Technology
• Markets
• Institutions
• Conclusion