Among the marginalized and vulnerable populations in the Region, the condition of disabled rural people is probably the most difficult. As many as 70–80% of the disabled people involved are farmers and rural workers, or disabled soldiers who have returned to the land.
FAO's mandate is in potential programmes for the prevention of disability though safe use of agro-chemicals; reduction of accidents through the safe use of agricultural tools and implements; nutritional adequacy through improved dietary practices and food security; disease reduction through provision of safe agricultural water supplies, accident prevention in agro- and forestry industry operations, as well as in an overarching commitment to include rural disabled people in farm and non-farm employment opportunities.
In order to alleviate the poverty they face when disabled, these people need to capitalize on any special capacity, skills or knowledge they have in order to start a new livelihood. These include, wheel chair farming, small implementmaking, repair shop management, blacksmithing, hydroponic and aeroponic greenhouse horticulture, apiculture or bee-keeping, sericulture or silk making, vermiculture or worm production, small scale food preparation and processing. These individuals constitute our primary target as we focus on this challenging field.
During this Round Table Meeting, substantial issues were considered including the status of rural disabled women, disabled persons in agricultural systems, sensorially disabled persons in rural areas, motor, visually and mentally disabled persons in agriculture, and accident prevention in rural areas. FAO has now started on the path of developing articulated policies and strategies for improving the poverty alleviation and income generating capacities of the rural disabled, an important sector of the rural poor.
The outcome of this Meeting is therefore vital, to demonstrate FAO's concern and commitment, to support the objectives of the Decade for the Disabled in more concrete and visible way. The result of the deliberations and the guidelines developed for the Integration of the Disabled in Agriculture and Agro Industries will break new ground in improving rural development and combating rural poverty.
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| Soetatwo Hadiwigeno Assistant Director General and FAO Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific |
