The future of smallholder agriculture

Rome/The Hague- 17 June 2011 – A presentation of the IFAD Rural Poverty Report 2011 will be held for the first time in the Netherlands on 23 June. The event is sponsored by the International Institute of Social Studies, Society for International Development, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs  and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The presentation, The  Future of Smallholder Agriculture, will centre on IFAD’s Rural Poverty Report 2011, which makes the case for smallholder agriculture lifting millions out of poverty, but only if it is market-oriented, profitable and environmentally sustainable. The report argues that national policies and investment approaches must fully recognize that farming of any scale is, first and foremost, a business.

What:  Presentation  The  Future of Smallholder Agriculture
When: Thursday, 23 June – 17:00 to 19:00
Where:  Aula, International Institute of Social Studies, Kortenaerkade 12, The Hague
Who:  Kevin Cleaver, Associate Vice President, IFAD
Edward Heinemann, Team Leader, Rural Poverty Report, IFAD
Jan Douwe van der Ploeg, University of Wageningen
Max Spoor, International Institute of Social Studies

Info and  Afke de Groot, Coordinator SID – a.degroot.sid@socires.nl –
Interviews:   +31 (0)70 3383293

About the Report

IFAD’s Rural Poverty Report 2011 states that, during the past decade, the overall rate of extreme poverty in rural areas of developing countries – people living on less than US$1.25 a day – has dropped from 48 per cent to 34 per cent.  Dramatic gains in East Asia, particularly China, account for much of the decline.

The report points to an alarming increase in the numbers of extremely poor people in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, although the percentage living on less than the equivalent of US$1.25 a day – at 62 per cent – has actually dropped slightly since IFAD last issued a Rural Poverty Report in 2001.  It also notes the persistence of rural poverty on the South Asian subcontinent, which is home to half of the world’s 1 billion extremely poor rural people.

Increasingly volatile food prices, the uncertainties and effects of climate change, and a range of natural resource constraints will complicate further efforts to reduce rural poverty, the report says. 

 

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Media Alert No: IFAD/07/2011

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$12.9 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 370 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the United Nation’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 166 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).