The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed each year on 17 October. It is an opportunity to acknowledge the effort and struggle of people living in poverty and to recognize that poor people are the front line in this fight. It offers a chance for poor people to make their concerns heard and to raise awareness of the need to increase investment in poverty eradication programmes in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

“At IFAD, we know that listening to poor rural people is the most important part of our role in our efforts to enable them to overcome poverty,” said Rosemary Vargas-Lundius, IFAD’s Policy Coordinator in the Office of the Chief Development Strategist.

“Poor people do not want to be labelled as poor and they do not want handouts. They want to build better lives themselves for their families,” Vargas-Lundius continued. “They know, and we at IFAD know, that the most effective way to reduce poverty and increase food security is to enable smallholder farmers and other poor rural people to have access to assets and build the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to overcome poverty.”

Cashing in on cassava chips in the Philippines
Take, for instance, the members of Banal na Kaharian ng Dios na Buhay, a self-help group of cassava producers from Los Arcos, about 12 kilometres (km) from Prosperidad in the Philippines. In 2005, they received financing of about US$850 from a poverty alleviation fund set up through an IFAD project. Half was considered a grant and half an interest-bearing loan.
With the money, the group initially developed value-added cassava products such as cakes and rolls. It then decided to concentrate on cassava chips, an inexpensive snack with a long shelf life and a large potential market. The project provided training in cassava production and processing. It also arranged a study tour for group members so they could learn directly from other cassava processors.

With this knowledge, the group set up a small processing centre and began producing chips under the brand name ‘C3’. To expand their client base, group members brought their products to the nearest school, 7 km away, and sold directly to students and teachers. Today, C3 cassava chips are sold in supermarkets, canteens and stores locally and as far afield as Butuan City, about 85 km away. Group members’ earnings have shot up from less than a dollar a day to almost US$9.

With its profits, the group repaid its loan, and in time, it branched out into other activities as well. For instance, it started the village’s first convenience store. Villagers can now buy rice and other basic goods there, instead of having to travel to town – a savings in both time and transport costs. They can even buy on credit.

“This is just one of the many, many examples of how IFAD projects can help poor rural people help themselves,” says Vargas-Lundius. “What was once a desperately poor community is now thriving.”