8
Widespread and severe household food insecurity occurs in many farming systems and is expected to remain a major concern during coming decades. Indeed, available projections point to a probable failure to meet the commitments made by the international community to halve hunger and poverty by 2015. In all regions, poverty and household food insecurity are more prevalent and more severe in rural areas. There is thus an urgent need for a rapid reduction in rural poverty. In many cases, this will involve transitory measures to safeguard minimum nutritional and livelihood standards. However, programmes for immediate poverty alleviation need to be complemented by longer-term improvements based upon a process of pro-poor economic growth and development.
The objective of this Chapter is to examine and define possible ways of achieving the international commitment to halve hunger and poverty by 2015. Consideration is given to the relative importance of different household strategies for escaping from poverty, both in relation to the broad categories of farming systems defined previously, as well as with respect to the agricultural potential and degree of intensification of different systems. The conclusions of these analyzes provide the basis for the definition of a global strategy for hunger and poverty reduction, focusing on five main areas: (i) the reform of the policy and institutional environment; (ii) measures related to efficient markets; (iii) improving the availability of information and human capital; (iv) effective technology deployment; and (v) application of sustainable natural resource management. In each case, the three or four most important initiatives for poverty reduction are highlighted and discussed.
The 72 farming systems identified in the six developing regions can be grouped into eight major categories (see Chapter 1), based on the characteris-tics described in the previous chapters, in order to facilitate comparison and integration of development lessons into an overall global strategy for poverty reduction (see Table 8.1). The eight system categories, are: (i) smallholder irrigated farming systems; (ii) wetland rice based farming systems; (iii) rainfed farming systems in humid areas; (iv) rainfed farming systems in steep and highland areas; (v) rainfed farming systems in dry or cold areas; (vi) dualistic farming systems with both large-scale commercial and smallholder farms; (vii) coastal artisanal fishing mixed farming systems; and (viii) urban based farming systems. Except in the case of the dualistic category, smallholder producers dominate these system types.
Although the largest single category is that of the wetland rice based systems (of South and East Asia) with an agricultural population of 860 million, the rainfed humid, highland and dry/cold systems together account for over 1400 million people and a much greater area of cultivated land (over 6 billion ha). Interestingly, the three farming system categories with high levels of marketable surplus account for an agricultural population of only 130 million in total.
| Table 8.1 Comparison of Farming Systems by Category | ||||||||
| Category characteristic | Smallholder irrigated schemes | Wetland rice based | Rainfed humid | Rainfed highland | Rainfed dry/cold | Dualistic(large/small) | Coastal artisanal fishing | Urban based |
| Number of Systems | 3 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 19 | 16 | 4 | 6 |
| Total Land (m ha) | 219 | 330 | 2 013 | 842 | 3 478 | 3 116 | 70 | n.a. |
| Cultivated Area (m ha) | 15 | 155 | 160 | 150 | 231 | 414 | 11 | n.a. |
| Cultivated/Total (%) | 7 | 47 | 8 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 16 | n.a. |
| Irrigated Area (m ha) | 15 | 90 | 17 | 30 | 41 | 36 | 2 | n.a. |
| Irrigated/Cultivated (%) | 99 | 58 | 11 | 20 | 18 | 9 | 19 | n.a. |
| Agricultural Pop. (m) | 30 | 860 | 400 | 520 | 490 | 190 | 60 | 40 |
| Agric. Persons/ Cultivated ha | 2.1 | 5.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 5.5 | n.a. |
| Market Surplus | high | medium | medium | low | low | medium | high | high |
Source: FAO data and expert knowledge.
n.a. Not available.
The improvement of farm household livelihoods that would be necessary to meet international goals of halving hunger and poverty by 2015 could be derived from five main sources, defined in Chapter 1, which correspond to the principal farm household strategies for escaping from hunger and poverty. These are:
The relative importance of these poverty reduction strategies differs between system categories. In order to facilitate policy and programme formulation, the three most important poverty reduction strategies for each farming system category are shown in Table 8.2. In aggregate terms, a larger proportion of poverty reduction is expected from improvements on the farm (intensification, diversification and increased farm size) than from off-farm sources (increased off-farm income and exit from agriculture). In the context of farm improvement, diversification is a key strategy for poverty reduction in all eight system categories (and, in fact, is the most important source of poverty reduction in many of these systems). Intensification is key in four system categories, notably those with higher potential such as irrigated, wetland rice and dualistic systems, while increased farm, herd or business size is key only in dualistic and urban based systems.
| Table 8.2 Key Strategies for Poverty Reduction by Farming System Category | ||||||||
| Poverty Reduction Strategies | Smallholder irrigated schemes | Wetland rice based | Rainfed humid | Rainfed highland | Rainfed dry/cold | Dualistic(large/small) | Coastal artisanal fishing | Urban based |
| Intensification |  |
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| Diversification | |
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| Increased farm size | |
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| Increased off-farm income | |
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| Exit from agriculture | |
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Note: Key strategies are those which rank first, second or third for each system category.
Millions of farmers are expected to escape poverty by increasing off-farm income, which is second only to diversification as a key strategy for poverty reduction, and is of importance in all systems except the dualistic. The exit of farmers from agriculture within a particular farming system is expected to be an increasingly common phenomenon, and of particular importance among smallholders in rainfed highland and dryland areas, and in coastal artisanal fishing systems.
As indicated above, there are important complementarities between the poverty reduction strategies. In fact, farmers will often intensify and diversify their production simultaneously. Further-more, these on farm processes create the conditions for the development of the non-farm economy, which in turn stimulates further agricultural growth. On the other hand, poor farm households unable to participate effectively in diversification and intensification processes may well progressively increase the emphasis on off-farm income over time, until they finally abandon agriculture altogether.
Although significant gains have been made in agricultural production and economic growth in many areas as a result of the green revolution and subsequent efforts, considerable concern exists as to whether the poverty reduction strategies promoted in these areas are of relevance for farm households facing different circumstances. To evaluate this issue, the study compared the relative importance of different household poverty reduction strategies in high and low potential systems.
Both existing livelihood levels and the potential for future improvement depend upon the quality and availability of natural resources. Resource potential can be viewed as a continuum running from systems situated in cold or arid areas to those located in fertile, irrigated conditions. Examples of farming systems in low potential areas are the Agro-Pastoral Millet/Sorghum System in Africa and the High Altitude Mixed (Central Andes) System in Latin America. Although low potential systems account for 25 of the 51 systems which could be classified, their agricultural population is very small; only 290m or 17 percent of the developing world total. By contrast, farming systems in high potential areas contain an estimated agricultural population of 1450m and include: all Irrigated Systems; the Cereal-Root Crop Mixed System in the moist savannah of West and Central Africa; the Extensive Mixed (Cerrados and Llanos) System in Latin America; the Large-scale Cereal-Vegetable Farming System in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; and the Tree Crop Mixed System in East Asia and Pacific.
Farming systems in high potential areas, with relatively fertile soils and favourable climate, typically place much greater importance on agricultural intensification and diversification strategies than those farming in areas of low potential. For low potential systems, taken as a group, these strategies were relatively unimportant. Instead a single strategy, exit from agriculture, accounted for almost half the total weight of poverty reduction strategies - a perhaps understandable response to poor conditions and low levels of production and social services. However, the two strategies of increased off-farm income and increased farm or herd size appeared unaffected by the agricultural potential of the systems examined, and were of moderate importance in both groups.
Within the range of farming systems there is also a gradation in the level of production intensity. Although it might be thought that production intensity is a function of agricultural potential (above), in fact it appears more closely correlated to access to, and availability of, agricultural support services. Even relatively low potential systems in areas with high population densities and well-developed services can generate high intensities of production, while high-potential systems with low levels of service availability (e.g. the moist savannah areas of West Africa and the extensive Cerrados and Llanos zones of South America) can remain at low intensity.
Farming systems can be classified generally in four levels of intensity: low; medium (food-oriented); medium (market-oriented); and high. The 27 systems defined as low intensity, including agro-pastoral, pastoral, high altitude and sparse agriculture systems, support 350 million people but have scattered populations, extensive land use practices, low levels of input use and little market surplus.
Medium intensity (food-oriented) systems have evolved where population growth pressure on resources has been overwhelming and the 20 systems defined include an estimated agricultural population of 950m in many systems most associated with rural poverty, such as: the Maize Mixed and Cereal-Root Crop Mixed Systems of Africa; the Highland Mixed Systems of the Middle East and North Africa, and of South Asia; the Large-scale Cereal-Vegetable System of East Europe and Central Asia; and the Maize-Beans and Rice-Livestock Systems of Latin America. Medium intensity (market-oriented) systems, in contrast, comprise only 6 systems with a total population of only 100 million, and their development has been driven principally by the existence of readily accessible market opportunities. They are less important in terms of poverty reduction than they are in terms of export earnings, but include: the Tree Crop Systems of Africa and East Asia; the Horticulture Mixed System of East Europe and Central Asia; and a number of systems in Latin America and the Caribbean including the Coastal Plantation and Mixed System.
Systems which possess, or can evolve, well-developed agricultural services, will be key to increasing global food production and security in the future. These include in particular most irrigated and wetland rice systems (where more than 50 percent of the cultivated land is irrigated). These systems generally have an advanced level of market development with significant external input use and a substantial amount of irrigation - allowing them to generate a surplus for sale to urban areas and export markets.
Although exit from agriculture is more significant for low intensity systems, the assessments presented in the regional analyzes suggest that other household strategies are less affected by the level of intensity of the farming system. Intensification, diversification, increase in farm size and off-farm income are all classified as having somewhat similar degrees of importance at all four levels of intensification.
| Table 8.3 Key Regional Initiatives for Poverty Reduction | |||||
| Sub-Saharan Africa | Middle East and North Africa | Eastern Europe and Central Asia | South Asia | East Asia and Pacific | Latin America and Caribbean |
| Sustainable resource management | Sustainable resource management | Improved resource access | Improved water resourc e management | Increased small farm competitiveness | Sustainable resource management |
| Improved resource access | Improved irrigation management | Reoriented agricultural services | Strengthened resource user groups | Improved resource access | Improved resource access |
| Increased small farm competitiveness | Reoriented agricultural services | Expanded market development | Reoriented agricultural services | Enabling environment for off-farm employment | Increased small farm competitiveness |
| Reduced household vulnerability | Enhanced human resource development | Improved rural infrastructure | Enhanced human resources | ||
| Responding to HIV/AIDS | Rationalized agricultural policies | ||||
Source: Expert judgement.
Key regional initiatives highlighted as a result of the analysis of farming systems and presented in the preceding chapters, are summarized in Table 8.3. It is clear that some key initiatives are of importance worldwide, particularly improved resource manage-ment and more equitable and secure access to resources. Other initiatives, such as increased small farm competitiveness and re-oriented agricultural services are common, but not universal. Never-theless, it should be borne in mind that a similar general area of initiative (e.g. sustainable resource management) might have quite distinct components in different regions, in accordance with local needs and priorities.
These initiatives can all be related to the five broad areas of focus employed throughout the book: (i) policies, institutions and public goods; (ii) trade liberalization and market development; (iii) information and human capital; (iv) science and technology; and (v) natural resources and climate. These are explored further below.
A key challenge in relation to the reduction of hunger and poverty among farm households is the creation and effective delivery of reliable and pro-poor international, national and local public goods, within an environment of secure law and order and enabling policies and institutions. The five most important priority thrusts in this area are seen as:
Most reviews of policies and institutions suggest that governments should complete the withdrawal of direct public support from viable commercial farming and privatize associated services such as seed production and marketing of some crops. Nevertheless, it is clearly in the public interest that governments should continue to ensure reliable access to relevant public goods by the small farmer sector, as well as promoting the sustainable use of natural resources. Government efforts should be devoted to clear cases of public benefit, including education, public health, and research and extension services addressed to the needs of poor farmers and marginal areas. They should also concentrate on the enforcement of regulations, with a particular emphasis on avoiding barriers to entry for small enterprises. In addition, small farmers require equitable, secure, transferable, yet flexible, resource user rights and sustainable infrastructure - including roads and the structures to support small-scale farmer managed irrigation. Policies and institutions must, therefore, underpin smallholder development, as well as expanding the capacity of private sector service suppliers - this is particularly relevant in Africa and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
In order for farmers to manage their resources sustainably whilst simultaneously benefiting from economic liberalization, stronger local and meso-level institutions that involve multiple stakeholders are necessary. Some success has been achieved with the outsourcing of public service and infrastructure provision to private firms, NGOs and universities, thereby achieving efficiency gains. However, local participation is critical for monitoring the private provision of goods and services. Farmers' organizations and the private sector can play a key role in many areas, such as seed multiplication and varietal development. Exporters' associations can often implement phytosanitary inspection. Research priorities and budgets can be managed through competitive bidding and public-private cost-sharing arrangement.
Targeted safety nets for the poor will continue to be necessary to overcome natural disasters; and may become even more important for farmers who are unable to adjust quickly enough as the transformation of agriculture to market-oriented production accelerates over the coming decades.
At present, the movement towards reduced barriers to international trade appears irreversible, although the pace of change is uncertain. This process will affect all but the most isolated producers in farming systems throughout the developing world. Based on the analysis of farming systems in each of the developing regions, the five most important global priority thrusts concerned with maximizing benefits from trade liberalization and market development in order to reduce hunger and poverty, are seen as:
An enabling environment for market development is vital, and must include measures to foster the development of small-scale rural enterprises, as these are often key market and employment sources for smallholder households. It must also contribute to promoting competition in the marketplace. From the perspective of small producers who have very limited market power, a competitive market environment in which a number of buyers are active, is crucial. Mechanisms are required to overcome market failure, especially in respect of externalities; for instance through creating opportunities for farmers to earn income for the supply of environmental services. Helping to develop a favourable marketing environment for small producers often entails support to small-scale entrepreneurs by facilitating such areas as financing, information, and compliance with bureaucratic procedures (often feasible only for larger enterprises). It also involves the improved provision of public goods (see previous section). Associations of small traders, processors and exporters can also provide support to small entrepreneurs; reducing barriers to entry and ensuring that their needs are taken into consideration when developing or reviewing sectoral policies.
At the international level, there is a widespread belief within developing countries that trade liberalization has not been a symmetrical process, as many key agricultural and non-agricultural markets in industrialized countries remain protected by a wide range of subsidies and other barriers. At the same time, large commercial farmers in Europe, North America and elsewhere are using their greater access to modern technologies - often in conjunction with generous subsidies - to compete effectively in the developing world. Although trade liberalization has benefited urban consumers in developing countries, it has often negatively affected rural producers. A failure by the international community to address this imbalance could have serious consequences in the long term and threaten the entire liberalization process.
Through a focus on products and services in which they possess a comparative advantage - often labour intensive activities - a significant proportion of poor farmers have an opportunity to benefit from changing world market conditions and escape poverty. However, even farmers unable to make this transition may benefit through the employment creation engendered by more progressive farmers (in such areas as farm labour, packaging, processing, transport, and services). Evidence from a number of systems (Maize-Beans Farming System in Mesoamerica, Maize Mixed Farming System in Eastern Africa in the 1980s, and Rice Farming System in East Asia) demonstrates that smallholder farmers can participate successfully in market-driven growth and significantly increase household income.
As demand for specialist foods grows, and new post-harvest technologies improve product quality and extend the life and durability of perishable items, small producers will have increasing opportunities to achieve attractive cash incomes through the production of specialized products where diseconomies of scale exist (labour intensive and niche horticultural products, fruits, spices, ornamentals, organics etc). Small farm size is not an impediment to accessing these types of markets, which are expected to grow rapidly in importance - especially if farmers can combine forces through voluntary associations. Even producers who are geographically isolated have the potential to participate in these opportunities, through a focus on very high value-to-weight products (colorants, extracts, essential oils, etc.). Nonetheless, a focus on safeguarding household food security during the adjustment process will be crucial.
Three important global priority thrusts, concerned with enhancing the benefits of agricultural information dissemination and use and developing human capacity, have been identified to reduce hunger and poverty:
Globalization, urbanization, and the accelerating pace of technological change, are all increasing knowledge requirements within farming systems. New approaches must be developed to support information flows between farmers and formal knowledge, as well as horizontally among farmers themselves. More thought must also be given to the long-term sustainability and relevance of agricultural information systems. There is little evidence that users are willing to pay enough to make such services self-supporting, while pressure on government recurrent budgets often means that services descend to `least-cost' solutions once external financing is withdrawn. Private sector participation in information collection and distribution is often essential if services are to be sustainable.
Training and capacity building involve the empowerment of community members - men and women, youths, poor and non-poor - in order to enable them to identify their problems in a systems context, to analyze causes and effects, to assess options and arrive at well-informed decision in order to prepare for a better future. This implies that extension services must reorient their operations by basing them on facilitative rather than prescriptive approaches, with community participation forming the keystone in determining priorities and testing possible solutions. Implementation is likely to involve partnerships between governments, private sector or NGO service providers, civil society organizations and community-based groups.
Educational and training programmes in rural areas have generally failed to recognize the reality that many rural inhabitants, especially the young; will derive part or all of their future incomes from off-farm or urban employment. Greater emphasis must be given to imparting the vocational skills that will assist migrants and those needing to augment agricultural incomes to obtain skilled and semi-skilled employment.
Four important global priority thrusts, concerned with targeting science and technology, have been identified to reduce hunger and poverty:
Most of the growth in food production during the past three decades has resulted from the adoption of productivity-boosting technology by farmers in areas of high agricultural potential, particularly those with relatively high and reliable rainfall or equipped with irrigation. A major challenge in the coming decades will be to generate technologies that contribute to increases in agricultural production and improvements in livelihoods in those areas where the agricultural potential is lower.
For the longer term, there must be concerns about the heavy reliance of intensive agriculture on technologies that have inherently limited sustainability. The increasing emphasis in recent decades on input-based yield gains has left many small farmers at a tremendous disadvantage with respect to larger commercial operations, which can finance these costs, and inappropriate nitrogen fertilizer application is leading to pollution of surface and groundwater resources. The uncontrolled use of pesticides is also creating enormous health and environmental hazards. Equally worrying is the progressive narrowing of the genetic breadth of farm crop and animal species, which, apart from increasing their vulnerability is also leading to a rapid erosion of the genetic resources on which future breeding programmes can be based.
The implication is that the technical foundations for `modern' agriculture can no longer be taken for granted and that there is a need to search for more sustainable strategies towards intensification. This task is urgent, given the limited extent to which thinking has been focused on alternative and more sustainable technologies for high-intensity farming, and the very long gestation period required to develop and disseminate new technologies. The analyzes of farming systems in this document suggest a number of important characteristics of technologies that are suitable for poor farmers.
Increasing pressure on the use of scarce land and water resources, environmental degradation, and the possibility of climatic change are challenging the sustainability of farming systems in all regions, even those with low population densities. There is now a heightened awareness, among both farmers and the public in general, of the need to better conserve and productively manage natural resources. It is anticipated that increasing public pressure and support will be focused on sustainable natural resource management and environmental protection in future. Improved land management can be stimulated by the promotion of practices that not only generate environmental benefits but also rapidly yield tangible returns. Four important global priority thrusts have been identified, concerned with achieving more sustainable and productive use of natural resources and minimizing adverse climatic effects:
In many situations, conservation agriculture, involving reduced tillage, offers promising possi-bilities for increasing labour productivity and the efficiency of input use while simultaneously reducing moisture stress. Conservation agriculture has been promoted in a number of farming systems, and its performance on small-scale holdings in Latin America, and more recently in Africa, has been promising.
The loss of soil fertility cuts across most farming systems in all regions, but is particularly acute in most irrigated wheat and rice-based farming systems, some rainfed farming systems (e.g. the Maize Mixed Farming System in Africa) and highland farming systems (e.g. the High Altitude Mixed (Central Andes) Farming System). Because of declining commodity prices, exchange rate adjustments and reduced subsidies, application of mineral fertilizer on staple crops has become unprofitable for many smallholders and its utilization has fallen sharply. Priority initiatives to rectify the situation include: (i) greater use of green manures, enriched fallows and other sources of organic materials, including composting; (ii) expanded use of biological nitrogen fixation; (iii) better integration of crops and livestock; (iv) wider adoption of inter-cropping systems; (v) expansion of silvo-pastoral systems, especially on steeper slopes; and (vi) improvement of fertilizer import and distribution facilities and services with a view to reducing the farmgate price of imported fertilizers.
Water supply constraints are important in specific farming systems in all parts of the developing world, e.g. the marginal drylands of Latin America or the agropastoral systems of sub-Saharan Africa. In many cases, the rising demand for water for domestic and industrial purposes associated with urbanization, will intensify the competition for available fresh water. Where farming systems are rainfed, strategies must focus on improving the capture of rainfall and the utilization of soil moisture. Poor water use efficiency is often the result of water being considered a low value or free public good. For irrigated farming systems, changes are needed in the key areas of water and rural energy pricing policy and strengthening local management of irrigation infrastructure; both of which are important elements in increasing the technical efficiency of water use.
Changes in the frequency of extreme climatic events are likely to alter farming practices fundamentally in some vulnerable areas, such as coastal areas, semiarid zones and steep lands. Droughts, floods and hurricanes or typhoons are all expected to become much more frequent. A better understanding of the probable nature and impact of climatic changes is urgently needed, and appropriate adjustments of agricultural policies and projects are required to mitigate adverse effects. The development of watershed protection and anti-desertification measures is likely to take on a greater urgency. It is also necessary to establish a greater capacity, both nationally and internationally, to respond effectively to damaging weather events, such as floods and droughts, to minimize their long-term impact on resource management and rural livelihoods.
