In the Asia-Pacific region, most of the 250 million farm households are small holders or near landless. The cultivated land to agricultural population is 0.24 ha/person compared to the rest of world average of 1.51 ha/person. Although the region has 68% of the world’s irrigated land, the availability is merely 0.09 ha/person against a world average of 0.16 ha/person.
In many cases governments implement national development strategies, including fiscal and trade policies, which are biased against agriculture and the rural sector in general. These policies are seriously affecting the livelihoods and entrepreneurial development of small agricultural producers, the landless and other producers in rural areas. In most countries public investment in the agriculture sector (including forestry/fisheries) has been, on average, less than 9% of total public expenditure per annum, while about 70% of the total workforce depends on the sector for their livelihoods.
As a consequence of the biased policies and budget allocations government institutions in most countries concerned have been unable to effectively promote agriculture and rural development through the provision of timely and adequate social and production services in rural areas. The services needed in rural areas by the small farmers, among others, are: access to primary health care, education, safe drinking water and electricity. In particular needed are a wide range of agricultural services in support of market oriented, sustainable farming systems based on productivity enhancing farm inputs, technologies, extension and training, which enables small farmers as entrepreneurs and provision of relevant agricultural credit and market facilities. Services needed by the growing off-farm working population are: access to credit, technology, organisation and entrepreneurship training to facilitate off-farm enterprise development based on local resources and processing of agricultural products.
Governments in most Asian countries have been unable to implement effective natural resources development and conservation policies. Policies and programs have been decided upon without proper consultation with rural poor and often as a result, these programs affect negatively the livelihoods of the poor in rural areas.
Fisheries with 52% of total world capture and aquaculture with 91% of the world production contribute significantly to food security in the region. Fish makes up over 50% of the animal production in most countries in the region and provides high protein food and additional nutritional benefits, which are highly beneficial to the physical and mental development of all people, especially the children. Yet the major constraint on improved income and nutrition of the rural poor and coastal fisher folk communities is the lack of regulatory frameworks at national levels. Sustainable fisheries management depends on participation by all the stakeholders. Yet often government policies demonstrate a policy bias which has been favourable towards large-scale industrial enterprises in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in which case, the policies favour highly profitable shrimp farming. Yet there is a major conflict on land resource management, if due to unsustainable shrimp farm practices, the soils of adjacent rice farmers are affected. Silting of soils will diminish rice crop yields and therefore worsen the livelihood conditions of the poorer small scale rice farmers while having no equal access for the shrimp farmers to intensify and or diversify their production and agro-enterprise development.
A similar policy situation applies to forestry. Often a policy bias exists in favour of forest tree production at a large scale by professionals and private or state companies. Such forestry policies frequently exclude forest communities from playing an effective role in planning and implementation of sustainable forest development and conservation activities. Yet the rural poor have always been dependent upon forest and tree products as an essential ingredient in their daily diet and as additional income opportunities. While much has been said in policy documents and programs about people’s participation in community, social forestry, agro-forestry development, these are often not effectively applied as operational concepts in government programs aimed at sustainable forest development management and conservation. Policy makers and program designers will benefit from the participation of rural communities, in particular women and ethnic minority groups, having extended local knowledge about sustainable use of forest and tree products for nutritional, medical and wood energy purposes.
Access to water resources in Asian countries has always been (in China and India in irrigated farming, particularly in semi arid areas) and will be ever more a major constraint on promotion of agriculture and rural development. Deforestation, land erosion, pollution, uncontrolled and inefficient extraction of groundwater and the use of freshwater resources, mainly due to unsustainable forest, farm management systems, industrial development and urbanisation provides the background. With all unsustainable short term oriented natural resources management practices, it is a loosing game between man and nature, where nature strikes back with droughts and floods, transforming arable land in to silt plateaus and or deserts.
The rural poor, in particular small farmers and ethnic minority groups, is often the most vulnerable from the negative impacts on their livelihoods. Current development approaches towards promotion of natural resources management by user groups and local communities are often with mixed results due to lack of real management powers at these levels as line ministries and the more powerful private sector representatives keep the control over the decision-making process, resource allocation and benefits sharing. There is a basic need for local institutional capacity building for participatory resources development and management. Yet there is a tendency to trust too much on the market mechanisms as the only solution towards more sustainable resources management. Conflicts between the ethnic minority groups, small scale farmers and the private enterprises, which turn hill slopes into fruit orchards, coffee and rubber plantations are on the increase.
Water shortage, either seasonal or permanent, due to gross mismanagement (e.g. monoculture) and or climate change will be a major challenge in agriculture and rural development. Urbanisation and development of intensive water using peri-urban agriculture are also new challenges to be met by the concerned government agencies in partnership with the private sector and rural communities. At the regional level inter country collaboration in water basin management and conflict management will become a key policy area for the promotion of sustainable agriculture and rural development.
Since public investment programs in most developing countries in the region have largely neglected the agricultural sector in the recent past, there is an overall financial constraint at the level of the government institutions, which often have development budgets marginally above their salaries. Donor agencies have sometimes compensated for the finances in selected areas of agriculture and rural development but, by and large, have failed to meet the real needs of the rural sector.
