Growth and poverty reduction: the role of agriculture

Agriculture has become a key sector for the UK Department for International Development’s (DFID) efforts to reduce global poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This DFID Policy Paper is intended to guide DFID's future international and country-based policy and programmes with regard to agriculture, also extending into other related areas and sectors. Built on an understanding of livelihoods, this paper shows why DFID believe agriculture should be placed at the heart of efforts to reduce poverty, proposes principles and priorities to guide their work, and to help decision-makers to weigh up the potential growth and poverty impact of agriculture compared with other competing demands on resources.

The policy document provides six guiding principles for agricultural development strategies in order to maximise the impact on poverty:

• reflect the stage of a country’s development
• give priority to agricultural development in places where significant productivity gains are possible and the potential links to the wider economy are strongest
• give priority to strategies designed to overcome the most significant obstacles to increased productivity and employment
• focus on demand and market opportunities
• make social protection complementary to agricultural growth
• ensure the sustainable use of the main productive resources

Building on these guiding principles, efforts to accelerate agricultural growth in poor countries should focus on seven priority areas:

• create policies that support agriculture
• target public spending more effectively
• tackle market failure
• fill the agricultural finance gap
• spread the benefits of new technology
• improve access to land and secure property rights
• reduce distortions in international agricultural markets.