Tackling rural poverty, together

Gary Howe

Senior Director Strategic Planning, Budget and Resource Management,
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Gary Howe joined IFAD in 1990, after ten years of teaching and research in the economics and politics of development at universities in Brazil, Mexiko and the US. He has formerly been the IFAD Director for Eastern and Southern Africa. In his present position he is responsible for strategic planning, the performance management system and corporate resource allocation. IFAD had been established as a specialised agency of the UN in 1977 as an outcome of the 1974 World Food Conference and after the Food Crisis in the early 70’s. Its main objective is to find country specific solutions in the fight against food insecurity and famine and to increase access of the rural poor to financial services, markets, technology, land and natural resources.

Mr. Howe, a lot of international organisations and institutions claim to work for agricultural development worldwide. What makes the work of IFAD so special?

We are the only UN agency dealing with small peasants in particular, supporting them to improve their situation and increase their food productivity by themselves. We are engaged in areas where others don’t go or have decreased their engagement — for instance by directly dealing with women’s issues and indigenous people. We also put emphasise on empowering local organisations. We want to guarantee the flow of aid to the end users as a major fact of sustainability.

Why is it so important to address especially the needs of the small-scale farmers?

Approximately two billion people worldwide live on small-holder farming, which makes one third of humanity! There are 450 million small farms of less than two hectares worldwide. Small farmers are at the same time to be found amongst the poorest in the developing countries. Nevertheless, in the past few years we saw a shift of donor’s engagement towards non-productive sector and general budget support with very little direct impact on the prospects and assets of small farmers. According to OECD statistics only three percent of the official development aid (ODA) goes into agriculture — compared to 17–20 percent 25 years ago.

What do you think was the reason for this declining interest in supporting agricultural development?

One: For a long time food was cheap, not least due to subsidies for European and American farmers. Supply to cities was not considered a problem.
Two: In many cases investment, especially in small-scale farming turned out not to be very productive. There was not much potential for development and economic profit, because prices have been so low.
Or in other words: As long as prices are low, there is no or very little initiative to invest in the sector.

Saying that, what is the impact of the current food price crisis on agricultural development according to your opinion?

The fact that agricultural prices are shifting upwards is a great opportunity for profit, savings and investment in agriculture – an opportunity that includes small farmers. In fact, rising prices are a challenge for some, an opportunity for others.