Agriculture & Rural Development

Despite significant increases in productivity, main challenges in agriculture and rural development in developing countries resist. Agricultural reform has not solved the social and economic problems of the poor in developing countries and the sector remains a place of uneven development and unsustainable use of natural resources with a worsening impact on climate change. Globalisation presents a new challenge in terms of ensuring the quality and safety of domestic and exported food supplies. Moreover, women in rural areas continue to struggle with low income, limited access to education, credit and land, job insecurity, and deteriorating work conditions.

Today, agriculture and rural development are far from playing a passive, supporting role in the process of economic development. The agricultural sector in particular and the rural economy in general play an indispensable part in any overall strategy of economic progress, especially for the low-income developing countries.

An agriculture- and employment based strategy of economic development requires at a minimum three basic complementary elements:

• Accelerated output growth trough technological, institutional and price incentive changes designed to raise the productivity of small farmers
• Rising domestic demand for agricultural output derived from an employment-oriented urban development strategy
• Diversified, non-agricultural, labour intensive rural development activities that directly and indirectly support and are supported by the farming community

Examples

PC&A has experience in improving agricultural production systems along the value chain in procurement, production, processing and marketing. We have a particular expertise in the following fields