Extreme poverty is a global challenge; it is observed in all parts of the world, including developed economies but mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. According to World Bank data, in 2015, there were nearly 702 million people living in extreme poverty, down from 1.75 billion in 1990. "Global Monitoring Report; Development Goals in an Era of Demographic Change" (PDF). www.worldbank.org/gmr. Retrieved 4 November 2015. Of the 2015 population in extreme poverty, about 347.1 million people (35.2%) lived in Sub-Saharan Africa and 231.3 million (13.5%) lived in South Asia.
In a broader perspective, poverty is a phenomena occurring mainly due to insufficient income caused mainly by deprivation of employment and inadequate opportunities, incurable diseases, deformities etc. Considering the above situation, poverty can be defined as a general state of deprivation, having more to do with entitlement and capacity, rather than conventional indicators such as income and nutrition .Therefore, poverty means, the forms of economic, social and psychological deprivation occurring among people lacking sufficient ownership, control or access to resources.
Most of the people in extreme poverty are in the rural sector and their livelihood is mainly related to agriculture. Hence, agriculture plays a very important role in eradicating extreme poverty. Most of the farmers in the two regions indicated above cultivate small extents of lands mostly 0.5- 1 ha which are of different topography. Some are hilly in which soil erosion is prominent. Their net income has been sliding down consistently due to a number of factors indicated below:
- Soil productivity plays an important part in increasing/sustaining crop yields. A number of factors determine soil productivity. Among these are soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. In addition, soil erosion, soil management practices, climate also influence soil productivity. Soil productivity tends to be reduced mostly by soil erosion caused by run-off. Continuous cultivation of crops in the same piece of land without implementing appropriate crop rotation programme, inadequate organic and inorganic fertilizer application also tends to reduce soil productivity.
- In many countries drought, floods tend to cause crop losses causing extreme poverty.
- In many countries good quality seeds and planting material are not available to small holders which tends to cause poverty.
- Weeds, insect pests and diseases cause yield losses causing a reduction in the incomes of farmers.
- High post-harvest losses.
- High cost of production mainly due to high costs of inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and labour.
- Problems related to marketing.
- Inadequate implementation of Agro industries.
The degree to which these issues/problems affect the small holder farmers vary considerably not only from country to country but also within the same country. For example, in Sri Lanka, crop losses due to elephant damage and drought in some parts of Sri Lanka is considerable which causes the farmers to continue to be poor. Floods in Bangladesh and droughts in India and sub-Saharan Africa have a devastating effect on the farmers’ incomes. Difficulties involved in marketing at reasonable prices and high post harvest losses in many Sub-Saharan African and South Asian countries also tend to exacerbate poverty. It is sine qua non that a comprehensive approach is adopted to increase income of farmers through appropriate actions with emphasis on increasing productivity to eradicate extreme poverty in these two regions atleast by 2030.
Home gardening.
Home gardening plays an important role in alleviating poverty. A proper home garden fulfills the family’s food and nutritious requirement to a great extent and reduces the expenditure on food. It also improves the family’s food consumption pattern, minimizing the cost, maintains food and ecological safety through promotion of environmental friendly cultivation methods, encouraging youth to undertake home gardening and improves mental and physical health of family members.
Hence, Agriculture, in addition to other factors, plays a very important role in eradicating extreme poverty.
Dr.Stanley Weeraratna
الدكتور Stanley Weeraratna