- How Will Agriculture Adapt to a Shifting Climate?
- Reflections from the Development Community
- Global Hunger Index: A Focus on Conflict and AIDS
- Using Household Expenditure Surveys to Measure Food Insecurity
- Income Diversification, Poverty, and Inequality in Vietnam
- Commentary—Obesity and Chronic Diseases: Not Limited to the Affluent
- CGIAR Researchers Join Forces with Senegalese Parliamentarians to Promote Agricultural Science for the Benefit of the Poor
IFPRI ForumFor the December issue of IFPRI Forum, IFPRI invited some key members of the international development community to comment on the successes and failures in reducing poverty and hunger in the developing world in 2006, as well as on the upcoming opportunities and obstacles of 2007. Here are their responses.
, Pakistan's former minister of finance, is currently the vice chancellor of the Beaconhouse National University at Lahore.
2006 successes: There was notable progress in Asia in moving toward the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving hunger and poverty by 2015. Major Asian countries like China (which has already surpassed the MDG target), India, and Pakistan have continued to make significant policy improvements and undertook pro-poor development programs. Brazil also expanded resources for its zero-hunger program.
2006 failures: 2005 was a landmark year for a remarkable array of high-level policy initiatives for addressing poverty and hunger, culminating in the G-8 Summit in July 2005. But actual progress in meeting those commitments has been very disappointing in 2006. The biggest disappointment was the deadlock of the World Trade Organization's Doha Round.
2007 opportunities: There are reasonably good prospects that the developing world, having recognized the importance of agriculture and rural areas in the fight against hunger and poverty, will continue to evolve and implement policies that improve the terms of trade for agriculture and create opportunities for nonfarm employment through microcredit, technical training, and small-scale irrigation projects.
2007 obstacles: The negative effects of agricultural subsidies provided by developed countries must be kept in check, otherwise the resultant distortions in global commodity markets will not only deny larger access for agricultural exports from developing countries, but also dampen domestic agricultural prices and erode the livelihood of small farmers in these countries.
is executive director, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Switzerland.
2006 successes: The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus—a fitting recognition for someone who had a vision and made it work for poor people.
2006 failures: The collapse of the Doha Round—this will perpetuate distortions and inhibit market opportunities for developing countries.
2007 opportunities: Political commitment to a realistic action plan on climate change in which all countries will engage, and a reduction in tensions, conflict, and suffering in West Asia, the Middle East, Sudan, and the Horn of Africa.
2007 obstacles: Instability and building commitment and capacity to deliver the outcomes desired.
is chair of the Global Water Partnership.
2006 successes: Agricultural productivity per capita went up—a little bit. And World Bank lending for agricultural infrastructure went up—a little bit. The availability of and planting of New Rice for Africa (NERICA) [varieties] went up—a little bit. Treadle pumps spread further in Africa—a little bit.
2006 failures: Even bigger issues than poverty and hunger are emerging. The damage we are doing to our planet will eclipse all other issues. Better resource management—including improvement of those measures that would help poor people—falls to the bottom of consumption-driven national agendas. The September United Nations Summit did little on development issues—and little on the big political items, either!
2007 opportunities: More and more, we know what to do—in terms of agricultural change, roads, roads, roads, roads, water management, soil restoration, crop intensification, credit that works, agricultural inputs. There is so much knowledge—and so many competing agendas.
2007 obstacles: It's poverty, stupid. From time immemorial, we have wanted to ignore it. But the number of poor grows—even though the percentage of people living in poverty continues to decline (which shows that while we know what to do, it is a question of how much we really want to do). It is horrifying but nevertheless true that as the ravages of climate change make their impact, it will be the poor that suffer first, and probably the most.
is assistant president of the Programme Management Department at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
2006 successes: Progress in China and Vietnam, East Asia more broadly, and some positive signs in parts of Africa such as Ghana and Tanzania.
2006 failures: The donor community: largely talk, less action. No reform of international trade and subsidy systems affecting agriculture. In many developing countries, limited or no internal action to address hunger and poverty—corruption remains rampant.
2007 opportunities: Adapting the China/East Asia models of poverty reduction to other circumstances and countries—and financing such approaches.
2007 obstacles: Continued lack of commitment by donors and many developing countries to action as opposed to words; lack of consensus on reform of trade and subsidy barriers.
is president of the Association of Farmers' Development Committees (CODECA), Guatemala. [Web only]
2006 successes: Poverty is the principal cause of hunger, and is mainly found in indigenous and farming communities. The root cause is an unequal distribution of resources and a lack of opportunities for rural development. Farmers' and indigenous associations and human rights organizations have worked to reduce poverty by generating proposals for rural development and local impact.
2006 failures: There is a need for these groups to be more united in the creation of consensual proposals that seek genuine and integrated rural development. But many of their efforts have been seriously disrupted by threats, intimidation, and the assassinations of leaders and campaigners. Political party mafias, government corruption, and exploitation by organized crime have brought many efforts to a stop or caused them to move forward slowly.
2007 opportunities: Given the poverty that exists in local communities, the greatest opportunity in 2007 is the coming together of organizations and peoples to strengthen local power, so that local people are the ones who participate in and make decisions regarding reforms that contribute to a true rural development, and help develop proposals that contribute to the reduction of poverty.
2007 obstacles: This is still a dream, however. The principal challenge now is to fight against opportunistic political parties, which purport to help the neediest, but whose "assistance" actually makes people and communities more dependent and vulnerable each day.
is president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California.
2006 successes: Although there were no huge successes in 2006, there were some modest improvements in efforts to address unmet basic human needs for water and water services.
2006 failures: Overall, governments are not living up to their commitments and responsibilities. The United States, for example, has failed to provide the financial and moral commitments it is capable of, and to meet its responsibilities in the area of water and sanitation.
2007 opportunities: To intensify efforts by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and governments to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
2007 obstacles: The continued obsession of governments with military power and expenditures remains a major obstacle to reducing economic inequality and increasing the opportunity for meaningful work and satisfying lives.
is director of and professor at the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research.
2006 successes: The rapid growth of the economies of China and India. China's real GDP is expected to grow at more than 10 percent during 2006. The employment generated from the strong economic growth and improvements in regional labor markets have continued to raise the income of farmers in the poor regions.
2006 failures: The suspension of the Doha Development Round Negotiations. The least developed and developing countries are the biggest losers because the round was originally supposed to be designed to be pro-poor and to create links that would help farmers in the developing world become more efficient and gain access to emerging world markets for agricultural commodities.
2007 opportunities: Continued strong economic growth in China and India, and the recent emergence of China-Africa cooperation and the willingness of China to join global efforts to facilitate economic development in Africa.
2007 obstacles: The absence of any urgency on the part of governments in both developed and developing countries to make political and financial commitments to reduce poverty and hunger. More effort should be made to invest in education and rural infrastructure, guarantee access to food and provide clean drinking water and primary health care.
is professor of Food Policy, Department of Health Management & Food Policy, Institute of Health Sciences, City University, London.
2006 successes: The impact of the climate-change agenda on the continuing realization that the sustainability and food production agendas need to come together.
2006 failures: The foreign policy failures of the rich countries (United States, United Kingdom) in the Middle East, and the failure of the political elite to sort out world trade even on their own terms, let alone in terms of a world sustainable trade agreement.
2007 opportunities: The continued coming together of academics, NGOS, and popular movements to pressure policy change.
2007 obstacles: Wars and political instability.
is disability advisor, East Asia Pacific Region/South Asia Region, World Bank, U.S.A.
2006 successes: There are very few "great successes," but there are pledges that should result in more aid to Africa, and commitments to better and stronger leadership by way of the Africa Peer Review mechanism. There has also been a reduction of poverty in the East Asia region, and in Africa, a few countries' growth registered up to 5 percent.
2006 failures: Growing domestic inequalities as a result of globalization. We need to better recognize that these huge domestic inequalities often result in conflicts, which only further perpetuate poverty and hunger.
2007 opportunities: Developing a comprehensive strategy for food security, investing in people, ensuring clean water for all, addressing the gender dimension, improving governance and resolving conflict, developing national policies that support social cohesion, creating regional cooperation linked to harmonized donor support, and developing stronger partnerships.
2007 obstacles: The lack of access to services, ongoing conflict, and HIV/AIDS. We need better infrastructure, so that food can be easily transported, stored, and distributed, and we need to design effective interventions that empower and facilitate the participation of poor people.
is secretary general of Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, Germany.
2006 successes: That agriculture and rural development are back on the political agenda after the World Bank has decided to dedicate its 2008 World Development Report to the subject.
2006 failures: That the sharp increase in official development assistance is mainly an effect of debt cancellation, and that the amount of "fresh money" to developing countries is still below our expectations.
2007 opportunities: That we—as German NGOs—will use the German European Union presidency together with the G8 summit in Germany to bring African agriculture higher on the political agenda, and that heads of state will commit to contributing higher amounts of their budgets to this sector, removing obstacles for small-farmer development, and acknowledging the importance of civil society when it comes to modernizing the economy.
2007 obstacles: That there will be new outbreaks of violent conflict in Darfur/Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Haiti; and that despite all the efforts of the international community, Afghanistan will be lost to warlords and religious fundamentalists.
is former minister of finance, Bangladesh.
2006 successes: Recognition of the importance of investment in agricultural research, of the need for diverting public resources and investments to villages where poor people are concentrated, of the importance of microcredit in reducing poverty (which earned Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank the Nobel Peace Prize), and of the need for research on biotechnology in many developing countries.
2006 failures: Unprecedented increase in the price of oil which has had, and will continue to have, a severe impact on the cost of production and marketing of cereals, fruits, and vegetables; the failure of multilateral trade negotiations; the failure of many developing countries to remain on track in terms of the MDGs, and the failure of donors to honor their commitments.
2007 opportunities: Reduction of global hostilities, especially in the Middle East and in Africa; government–NGO collaboration in many African countries; and learning lessons from the South Asian experience.
2007 obstacles: Failure to recognize the massive impact that global warming can have on weather, water, and soil fertility and to initiate policies to counter it; failure to initiate action on the protection and replenishment of sea resources; and failure to strengthen population-control programs, to sustain economic policy-reform initiatives, and to promote investment and governance in many developing countries.
is director of the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD), University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
2006 successes/2007 opportunities: 2006 may be the year in which global climate change finally got the attention it deserves. If projections are correct, then it will be a major source of food insecurity in poorer and more vulnerable parts of the world. I hope, therefore, that looking ahead to 2007, there will be serious attention paid to this issue and that we will see global political commitment, a change in attitude and a real desire to make a difference.
2006 failures/2007 obstacles: The failures of 2006 that will carry forward into 2007 also involve global commitments. The lack of new and fairer trade agreements must rank highest here. Without more equitable development, poverty and hunger will continue. Redressing this requires the wealthy to give up something. The biggest obstacle to reducing world poverty and hunger is that we are a selfish species with a narrow view of the world and what benefits us.