The Context

Argentina is the second-largest country in Latin America and has the fourth-largest population (44.5 million). In 2018, 3.6 millions of people lived in rural areas (8%).

With a 2018 gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$518 billion, the country is one of the largest economies in Latin America. It is among the world’s leading food exporters, with large-scale agricultural and livestock industries. Agricultural exports accounted for more than half of total national export, valued at US$72 billion in 2014. 

In 2001, Argentina suffered a severe economic and financial crisis that left 61 per cent of the population living in conditions of poverty or extreme poverty. After more than a decade, still a third of the population live in poverty. In the last year, poverty rose from 27% to 35%, affecting more than 15 million people. Additionally, 7.7% of the population live in extreme poverty. Indigenous communities have particularly high levels of poverty.

At least one third of the 3.6 million people in rural areas live in poverty. They have limited access to land, frequently in less productive areas far from larger markets. They also lack land tenure security, innovations to increase their productivity and socio economic opportunities for improving human capital within rural communities.

Rural people have limited access to the technical assistance and financing they can use to modernize production. Because of weak rural organizations and transportation restrictions, smallholders also face difficulties in accessing markets and value chains. Additionally, farmers are increasingly affected by environmental problems linked to climate change, such as more intense and frequent extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. The areas at risk of desertification and water scarcity are increasing. 

The Strategy

In Argentina, IFAD loans work to reduce rural poverty by investing in smallholder farmers’ organisations as well as indigenous communities and helping them generate their own income. IFAD activities target the poorest areas of the country and its strategies focus on productive interventions for the poorest small farmers, especially vulnerable groups such as women, young people and, increasingly, indigenous peoples.

Our country programme strategy (2016-2021) is based on national priorities and is structured around three strategic objectives:

• Income and strategic opportunities.
• Human and social capital.
• Institutional development.

Activities preserve the central role played by farmers’ and community organizations in the rural transformation process.

Key activities include:

• bolstering the economic sustainability of families and their organizations by improving and diversifying productive activities, resilience, negotiating power in value chains and nutritional practices;
• strengthening the capacities of poor rural people and their organizations to improve the management of their organizations, their socio-economic conditions and their capacities to engage in dialogue with the public sector; and
• building the capacity of government institutions to support rural development.

Country Facts