RURAL D EVELOPMENT PRIORITIES AND REACHING THE RURAL POOR

1. RURAL DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES AND REACHING THE RURAL POOR

2. Some Countries have had successful rural development • Successful broad based rural development in China, Thailand, Central Europe, parts of Latin America was initial stimulus to their rapid economic growth

3. Some Global Success in Food Production, 1959-1997

4. Broader Successwith Agriculture • International price of food decreasing • Caloric intake rising • Percent of undernourished fallen • Rates of return to research projects high • Success rate of World Bank agricultural projects about 70% (OED) • Agriculture contributed to the success in rural development in China, Thailand, Central Europe, parts of Latin America

5. The MDGs: 8 goals and 18 targets – all interrelated The goals are: 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 2. Achieve universal primary education 3. Promote gender equality and empower women 4. Reduce child mortality 5. Improve maternal health 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases 7. Ensure environmental sustainability 8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development

6. Prognosis for Poverty, Education and Child Mortality MDGs Source: Global Economic Prospects, World Bank, 2003; Devarajan, S.,”Growth is not Enough,” World Bank, 2001

7. AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IS AT THE CONFLUENCE OF THE MDGs, HUNGER, AND SOCIAL PROTECTION Agriculture is key to: • Growth in most low income countries • Household poverty reduction of the rural poor • Food security through farm income growth and in some cases food availability • Safety net for the rural poor (who are often subsistence farmers)

8. Agriculture Must Grow Faster in Most Low Income Countries to Achieve Millennium Development Goals • Rural poverty and low agricultural growth persists in most low income countries • 3.6 % p.a per capita GDP growth is needed in low income countries to cut poverty in half by 2015 • 24% of low income country GDP is agricultural; agriculture must grow at about 3.5% p.a to achieve the overall growth and poverty reduction objective

9. Can Agriculture Grow Faster in Low Income Countries?

10. Water Supply is Less Assured in Rural Areas

11. Rural Education is Weaker Than Urban

12. A Major Challenge: Declining Interest by the Bank and by Other Donors • Champions of rural development are weak • Other priorities have been added by governments and donors; developing countries allocate half the public budget to rural areas as they do to urban • Rural development projects often performed poorly in the past • Irrigation, water, forest, fisheries projects are often controversial • Private returns to investment in agriculture in low income countries is often very low • Consequently, the impact of the Bank’s previous rural development strategy was negligible.

13. APPROACH TO THE NEW STRATEGY • Regional rural development strategies • Review of project experience and analysis • Consultations in client countries, in the Bank, with donors and NGOs • Analysis published in technical documents • Corporate strategy developed through ‘bottom-up’ approach • Detailed implementation plan

14. A SHIFT IN EMPHASIS • Giving voice to the rural poor • Addressing the entire rural space • Forging alliances of all stakeholders – donors and recipients • Addressing impact of global developments on client countries (trade, subsidies, climate change)

15. NEW STRATEGIC PRIORITIES • Fostering an enabling policy and institutional environment for broad-based and sustainable economic growth; • Enhancing agricultural productivity and competitiveness; • Encouraging non-farm economic growth; • Improving social well-being, gender equity, managing risk, and reducing vulnerability; • Enhancing sustainable management of natural resources.

16. RESPONSIBILITIES OF DEVELOPED COUNTRIES • Agricultural trade liberalization, to the levels of tariffs and non-tariff barriers which are established for non-agricultural products. • Reduction of agricultural subsidies, which currently depress world prices and expand world agricultural market share held by developed countries. • Expansion of agricultural and rural development assistance to developing countries to the levels characteristic of the early 1990s.

17. RESPONSIBILITIES OF DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (CONTINUED) • A focus on Sub-Saharan Africa is required in international assistance for rural development given the particularly difficult food and agricultural situation which exists there. • Better coordinate aid flows to developing countries. • Support to the transfer of scientific findings of relevance to developing country agriculture.

18. UNDERLYING FACTORS OF SUCCESS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES • Expanded investment in rural infrastructure, rural health, education, energy, telecommunications, in conjunction with local communities and the private sector. • Promotion of producer organizations and trade associations, so that rural people have more responsibility and more say in rural based activities. • Improvement of governance, and decentralization of some government functions to local government authorities, local community groups, and the private sector. • Where necessary, improved land administration and land reform. • Equity, especially in terms of gender.

19. WHAT’S NEW IN AGRICULTURE? • From staples to high value crops • From narrow agricultural focus to broader policy context – including global impacts • From focus on crop yields to market demands and incomes • From primary production to entire food chain • From agriculture to rural space • From thinking of farms as homogeneous to heterogeneity • From public to public-private partnerships, including community driven development • From avoidance of issues to head on approach (biotechnology, forestry, water)

20. RECOGNITION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF RURAL NON-FARM ECONOMY AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR • Improve investment climate for private investment in rural areas, promote labor mobility • Provide agricultural, financial, infrastructural, market and social services in part through the private sector, using market solutions • Promote producer organizations, trade associations, business chambers, and public-private cooperation

21. DEVELOPING RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND SOCIAL ASSETS, AND MANAGING RISKS ARE ESSENTIAL • Improve access to infrastructure and social services • Improve access to nutrition and health • Increase access to and improving the quality of rural education • Address HIV/AIDS in rural programs • Provide assistance in managing household food security • Provide new risk management instruments • Build the capacity of the public and private sectors and civil society to manage their own services

22. A CONTINUED COMMITMENT TO ENHANCING SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES • Environment, forestry and water strategies in the Bank give overall guidelines in approaching rural natural resource management • Elements will include: • Reducing land degradation • Improving water management • Sustainable production of forest products while protecting the environment

23. OVERALL IMPLEMENTATION THRUSTS • Raise the profile of rural development in national policy • Scale up innovative and successful investments, while exploring new approaches and innovation • Improve the quality and impact of donor operations • Implement global priorities (e.g. reduce deforestation, water pollution, over-fishing, loss of bio-diversity, soil erosion, adapt to climate change, bring agricultural science to poor countries) • Enhance partnerships between governments, civil society, NGOs, and donor organizations for rural development, including a global forum for rural development

24. AFR EAP ECA MNA LCR SAR FY03 Madagascar Nigeria Cameroon Ethiopia Angola Lesotho FY04 Tanzania Togo Burkina Faso D.R. of Congo FY03 Vietnam Philippines Papua New Guinea FY04 Indonesia FY03 Russia Turkey Uzbekistan Ukraine FY03 Yemen Djibouti FY04 Egypt FY03 Nicaragua Brazil Colombia Mexico FY04 Honduras Peru Panama Bolivia FY03-FY04 Afghanistan Bangladesh Sri Lanka Pakistan India, and: Uttar Pradesh Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Countries for focus for national rural development strategy preparation – first cohort

25. Objective Theme Policy and Institutions agricultural policy reform (ASL, PRSC, SAC) development of rural strategies institutional reform and capacity building participatory planning Agricultural Productivity and Competitiveness land reform and administration research and extension information technology – marketing and knowledge irrigation and drainage support for producer organizations/user groups food safety and agribusiness rural finance – including micro finance Bank Operations in Rural Space – Potential Areas for Scaling-Up and Innovation

26. Objective Theme Non Farm Rural Economy rural non-farm economy including business development private sector role in service provision infrastructure, including small towns Strengthening Social Services and Reducing Risk and Vulnerability health and education: specific rural issues community driven development/district programs social inclusion, including women and girls commodity, climate, and disaster risk management emergency reconstruction Sustainable Natural Resource Management soil fertility watershed development community natural resource management community forestry fisheries Bank Operations in Rural Space – Potential Areas for Scaling-Up and Innovation (cont.)

27. RISKS • Unable to give proper voice to the rural poor at national level • Desired multi-sectoral collaboration does not materialize within donor agencies and governments • Instruments available to donors not conducive to rural focus, learning, and innovation • Industrial country tariffs and subsidies continue to hinder developing country access to markets