Rural Poverty and Hunger (MDG1) Kevin Cleaver Director of Agriculture and Rural Development November 2004

Relevant Millennium Development Goal MDG Goal 1 - Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger  Prevalence of underweight in children (under five years of age)  Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption

Global poverty rates down 20% since 1990, but progress is uneven

Food Security World Bank’s definition: Access  by all people at all times to sufficient food,  in terms of quality, quantity and diversity for an active and healthy life  (without risk of loss of such access)  Food security and hunger reduction are not the same as agriculture development. Agriculture is more than food; but non-food agriculture growth expands incomes with which food can be bought

HUNGER AND POVERTY 70 % of poor in developing countries are rural Hunger: A cause and an effect of poverty 800 million people in developing countries undernourished and hungry The hungry often suffer other MDG deficits: water, education, sanitation, environmental pollution Malnutrition is the major cause of disease world wide, and is related to infant mortality

Characteristics of the Hungry UN Hunger Task Force has identified hotspots in developing countries with high proportions of undernourished hungry people. Most are in China, South Asia and Africa  Hunger hotspots based on number of underweight children < 5 years old Many of the hungry are small holder farmers – with a production short-fall Categories of people most vulnerable to hunger: those having insecure rights to land, water, food; live in drought prone areas; HIV positive and other serious health problems; poorly educated women; those with poor sanitary conditions

Improving Food Security and Reducing Hunger Food Availability  Agricultural productivity  Agricultural markets and distribution systems  Agricultural and trade policy Food Access  Poverty reduction  Food (processing and storage) markets Food Utilization  Nutrition education  Health care  Safe water provision  Sanitation

Dimensions of Food Security. Short-Term (1-3 years) Medium-Term (5-15 years) Long-Term (25-30 years) Household access to food nutrition and health access to income or means to produce food poverty eliminated social infrastructure National safety nets nutrition and health economic development sustainable production systems agricultural research rural and economic development sustainable production systems agricultural research Global grain stocks food aid international research fair trading system sustainable global supplies

NEEDS AT NATIONAL LEVEL Technology for agricultural production and processing Infrastructure Safety nets for the disabled and for those unable to produce or to earn enough to consume an adequate diet; nutrition interventions Education Sanitation and water In urban areas, same as above, plus employment and functioning food markets Policy

Policy Component for Governments affected by Food Insecurity Policy on Hunger and Food Security to be incorporated into PRSPs Governments to remove policy and investment blockages contributing to food shortages In countries where agriculture is dominate, increase agricultural expenditure (from the very low 1-4% of government spending) Governance

Development Assistance Donor support to government food policies and governance improvements Participatory preparation approaches to hunger reduction projects Donor investment in R&D, land reform, irrigation, food security, soil improvement Direct institutional intervention for mothers and for children less than 2 years old Help reduce vulnerability to shocks; safety nets Help with market reforms Urban intervention (mostly employment, water, sanitation, market development) LT commitment by donors

Issues of Implementation for governments and donors Food Aid problems Poor donor coordination of agriculture and rural development programs Developing country governments often neglect agriculture and rural development (when they pay attention - China, India, Uganda, Brazil for example - good results are obtained Industrial country agricultural tariffs and subsidies The technology gap

The challenge of measuring progress or lack thereof Data required for monitoring and evaluation of policy, investments and marketing system has moved way beyond agriculture Importance of data at national and international level to monitor trends in food and agriculture production, yields, prices, input prices, processing, employment, input use (including water and land), soil degradation, water quality, household budgets, income Data which allows deduction regarding causality The strategy and issues presented above are based on past studies of causality, along with assumptions, ideology – to be challenged

The challenge of measuring progress or lack thereof, cont. Strategy impact needs to be monitored by region (or more decentralized), by income category, by farm size, by crop, by industry Need for more rural statistics, not just agriculture. Rural education, health, energy, infrastructure, environment, industry More on hunger (related to MDG of hunger reduction) – nutrition, infant mortality, food security Suggests even more focus on household data of producers and consumers

The challenge to you …. Available data is out-dated (note end period in data in this presentation is often 2002). This is not helpful as a management tool Data not disaggregated enough Data on other rural indicators (rural health, education, infrastructure, finance, energy, environment) even worse than agriculture

The challenge to you …. Cont. Data on health and nutrition are poor Country capacity is weakest where needed most (in the poorest countries) International efforts under-funded and not always well coordinated