Bank Approach Research Articles

The bank and rural poverty: (MSC) By Leif Christoffersen. Finance & Development (International Monetary Fund Building, Washington, D.C. 20431, USA), December 1978, pp. 18–22. Free.

The vast majority of the world's poorest live in rural areas. There is no simple solution to alleviating their living conditions, and any efforts made depend on both national and international commitment to the policies chosen. This article, the third in a series, reviews an approach evolved by the Bank from 1973 to 1978. This approach concentrates on developing the productive potential of the rural poor at costs which enable scalability to large numbers. Since the majority of the world’s rural poor are small-holdings farmers, the success of this approach depends on improving small-scale agriculture. However, a rapidly expanding class of tenants, share croppers, and landless rural poor are much more difficult to reach through government programs. From 1973 to 1978, Bank lending for agricultural sector projects quadrupled to US$10 billion for 363 projects, and seventy-five percent of those projects directly involved small farmers. The Bank's approach is also directed at a predicted global food shortage. During this period, projects have shifted from supporting export crops to crops for domestic consumption. There has also been a shift in lending from a reliance on irrigated to rainfed agriculture, since the rural poor depend largely on the latter. To be successful, projects must have political commitment at regional and national levels, researched and tested technical methodologies, understanding of the social and cultural setting, a sustainable financial contribution scheme, and safeguard provisions. Rural poverty is not likely to disappear in the near future and will require massive efforts to address.