For today let me only focus on the first question "under what condition can agriculture contribute in poverty alleviation of the extreme poor”.
For this let’s view the technology in research and development:
1. For those households who have limited access to productive resource; access to agricultural technologies via public extension or non-public system is vital. In this case capacity development and technologies package system can accelerate the lift-up from poverty.
2. On the other direction the technologies should be targeted to the available resource that can be may be used diary, poultry, beekeeping-like using hill side development integrated with afforestation and conservation development or river bank application system.
3. On the crop production side horticultural crop at homestead level and early maturing type of production of high value crops can have a returns yet the food crop production has to be sustainable (engage them marketing system like creating a small scale cooperative development).
4. Here the big solution should come from the research and development with triangulated solution involving policy makers, and other stakeholders. There is a thought that agriculture contribution to poverty alleviation is minimal when compare to non-agricultural sector; which I disagree because agriculture has a versatile effect from food security, nutrition, market stability, employment, environmental stabilization, etc but it needs smart policy makers with different stakeholder to the issue of poverty if the optimal policy is implemented then it’s effect will accelerate trigonometrically with diversified effect and will apply diffusion its impact to raw materials and others. But it has to have a curiosity as it will affect also human health directly.
Sr. Aklilu Nigussie