Sustainable Development :: Rural Development :: Regional Role
The region is home to three-fourths of the world's agricultural
households. A large majority of them are very poor, mainly small and marginal
farmers with less than 2 hectares of land. others are small-scale coastal fisherfolk,
ethnic people in remote hilly areas, people in natural disaster-prone regions,
farmers with disabilities, and rural women. Yet, the region's high level of
rural poverty and hunger, which world leaders pledged to halve by 2015 under the
first
UN Millennium Development Goal, persist because of:
Lack of secure livelihoods for the marginalized rural poor
Declining public investment in agriculture and rural development
and changing attitudes towards small farmers
Top-down decision-making and lack of intersectoral planning
Trade liberalization and high-standard technology demands in
small-scale agriculture
Rural development priorities and programmes aim at institutional
capacity building for pro-poor, participatory, gender-sensitive and
sustainable agricultural and rural development planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation.
Lack of secure livelihoods for the marginalized rural poor
Livelihood insecurity is largely due to the overall inadequacy and unequal access
of the rural poor to:
Land, water, forests and other rural livelihood resources
Production services (credit, extension, market information facilities)
Growing rural populations and limited natural resources are compelling small
farmers and the landless to find non-farm work or migrate to urban areas.
Declining public investment in the agriculture/rural sector and changing attitudes of decision-makers
While public investment levels in agriculture have declined,
attitudes of decision-makers also have changed from "small farmer
households are the most efficient contributors to food security and agricultural
development" to "small farmer households are the most inefficient agricultural/food
producers".
Top-down decision-making and dominance of sector-based development planning
Agricultural and rural development policies, legislation and
investment programmes mostly do not reflect local farmers’ needs,
often leading to waste of public funds, rural indebtedness and
unsustainable development. Asian governments, although taking a more proactive
attitude on the need for increased investment in agricultural and rural
development, still do not ensure effective small-farmer participation in decision-making.
Trade liberalization in the agricultural/rural sector
Market conditions are increasingly complex and adverse for small and
marginal rural producers lacking competitive and organizational capacities.
Technology is often not adapted to small-scale farmers’ needs and credit is
unavailable to those without assets or land titles, particularly women and
tenants. Rural–urban production and marketing networks are needed.
High food quality and safety standards and intellectual property rights
have been introduced by trade agreements that were negotiated without the participation
of small-scale rural producers. Capacity building of small-scale producers
on fair trade is essential.
Rural development priorities and programmes
Institutional capacity building
Priority is given to strengthening institutional capacities within
ministries of agriculture and cooperatives and to local and rural development
for demand-driven
participatory, multisectoral development planning at national and decentralized
levels for improved and equitable access by the rural poor to resources and services
Enhancing institutional capacities aims to improve the genuine participation of
the rural poor, particularly women, in local decision-making and transparent,
efficient and sustainable management of local resources
Participatory equitable local development planning and governance
Technical assistance to Asia-Pacific countries for the promotion of participatory,
pro-poor, gender-sensitive local governance includes country policy reviews, policy dialogue, human resource development training and development of training materials.
Empowerment of the rural poor
In resource-poor areas, priority is given to interdisciplinary
interventions on poverty reduction and food security, strengthening the
self-management capacities of groups and community level associations
of the rural poor and enhancing their access to resources and services for improved
rural livelihoods.
Development of local institutional capacities to address livelihood
constraints for the rural poor caused by top-down decision-making/sectoral planning
and their neglect in agricultural trade agreement negotiations
Development of entrepreneurial skills and business management capacities
of women and other rural producer groups and village-level agricultural cooperatives
for viable agro/rural small-scale enterprise development
Enhancing sustainable natural resources management capacities of the rural poor
Alliance-building on poverty reduction and food security issues among
small farmers' and rural workers' organizations, agricultural cooperatives, rural
women's associations and other organizations of vulnerable rural poor, such as
people with disabilities and hill tribes, for policy dialogue, advocacy and partnership development
with government agencies, non-governmental organizations, UN agencies and the private sector
Agricultural cooperative enterprise development (ACED)
Membership-driven agricultural cooperatives of small-scale rural producers
are the most suitable rural enterprise development strategy for improving
their access to resources and production and marketing services. Cooperative principles
are about social cohesion, promotion of self-help, equality and equity among members.
Village-level cooperatives are often training schools for building self-confidence
and leadership that enhances effective participation of the rural poor in local governance.
Yet, successful cooperative development requires national political commitment and a de-linking of government officials and local politicians from cooperative business management. Also important are sound leadership and financial management skills for cooperative business planning, marketing and active member participation in cooperative services.
FAO's technical assistance focuses on cooperative policy, legislation and
institutional capacity building in support of ACED with emphasis on improving
business planning and market information network capacities.
Enterprise development for hill tribe people
FAO's poverty reduction and food security activities among hill tribe people
aims to improve their livelihood opportunities though village enterprise
development. Promotion of networking among hill tribe associations,
non-governmental organizations and local
government aims to improve their access to and management capacities of local resources.
Support to rural enterprise development among farmers with disabilities
An estimated 160 million rural poor have a disability, most of them farmers.
The main causes of thier disability are malnutrition, war and civil unrest (landmines) and
road or farm machinery accidents. FAO projects aim at awareness building, policy
formulation and strengthening in-house training capacities for promotiing
self-help rural livelihood opportunities for disabled persons in rural areas.
This is done through the development of their entrepreneurial skills and self-esteem
as rural entrepreneurs.
FAO is collaborating with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific (ESCAP), national governments and
non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the
Biwako Millennium Action Plan for an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for persons with disabilities.
