What kind of investment in agriculture and rural development is needed most?
We must dramatically boost institutional development, with a specific focus on farmers’ organisations and other rural institutions. Enabling poor people to overcome poverty means strengthening their capacity to access resources, services and markets. Investments must be made in rural finance institutions, in producers’ groups, farmer field schools, value-chain organisation and rural industries. We also need to invest in local governments and municipalities, as that is often a precondition for progress in terms of rural roads, water supply, irrigation and so on. Finally, funds are needed for agricultural research that benefits poor rural people. If you compare different world regions in this respect, what lessons are there? High government spending in East, Southeast and South Asia has clearly been linked to rapid progress towards food security for all. Conversely, in sub-Saharan Africa, extreme poverty remains high and the first Millennium Development Goal is unlikely to be met. Africa
