Tackling rural poverty, together

Extract

The world food situation is currently being rapidly redefined by new driving forces. Income growth, climate change, high energy prices, globalization, and urbanization are transforming food consumption, production, and markets. The influence of the private sector in the world food system, especially the leverage of food retailers, is also rapidly increasing. Changes in food availability, rising commodity prices, and new producer– consumer linkages have crucial implications for the livelihoods of poor and food-insecure people.

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Business as usual could mean increased misery, especially for the world’s poorest populations. A mix of policy actions that avoids damage and fosters positive responses is required. While maintaining a focus on long-term challenges is vital, there are five actions that should be undertaken immediately:

1. Developed countries should facilitate flexible responses to drastic price changes by eliminating trade barriers and programs that set aside agriculture resources, except in well-defined conservation areas. A world confronted with more scarcity of food needs to trade more—not less—to spread opportunities fairly.
2. Developing countries should rapidly increase investment in rural infrastructure and market institutions in order to reduce agricultural-input access constraints, since these are hindering a stronger production response.
3. Investment in agricultural science and technology by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and national research systems could play a key role in facilitating a stronger global production response to the rise in prices.
4. The acute risks facing the poor—reduced food availability and limited access to income-generating opportunities—require expanded social-protection measures. Productive social safety nets should be tailored to country circumstances and should focus on early childhood nutrition.
5. Placing agricultural and food issues onto the national and international climate-change policy agendas is critical for ensuring an efficient and pro-poor response to the emerging risks.