I, along with two of my colleagues, recently became the newest (and very proud) members of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD). To join the plethora of associations and working groups in Washington, DC, AIARD brings together professionals from the public and privates sectors and academia to set learning agendas and create a forum for learning exchange on topics related to agriculture, food security, nutrition, and everything in between. The association is entirely run on a voluntary basis, and this year, I’m thrilled to share that my boss was elected President; the gavel was literally passed on during this year’s annual conference, held last month in DC.
The 48th annual conference was titled, “Priorities for Inclusive Agriculture and Rural Development,” a very pertinent topic that has infiltrated both donor and practitioner agendas in the last couple of years. As stated in the conference opening, “The current thinking of many development agencies around the world has been to include poor households as a target for development and keep the focus on using market-led approaches. While these two development objectives are not mutually exclusive, most current development activities either focus on the poor, where scale and market inclusion are a challenge, or focus on value chain development, which does not meaningfully include the participation of resource-poor households.” Practitioners are increasingly researching and attempting to design programs that incorporate approaches that are “market-based” yet inclusive of marginalized populations such as those of so-called ‘low caste’ and women, among others. Another link that practitioners have attempted to strengthen is that between agriculture development and food security and again, between food security and nutrition. Even in May of this year, prior to the G8 Summit, President Obama encouragingly spoke to the importance of global agriculture and its link to food security and has complemented his Feed the Future initiative with the newly announced (and very aptly named) New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. There are some very obvious and very pertinent trends here that AIARD integrated into its agenda this year.
Inclusive Agriculture and Rural Development. As we engage in programming to increase incomes and strengthen economies, market-based solutions are key to sustainable economic growth. Development should not be seen as charity; rather, it must be stimulated and then perpetuated through the extension or transformation of existing market systems that anchor new approaches and systemic changes. On that note, over half of the world’s population is comprised of women, who must be taken into account when promoting workforce development, job creation, and market development. The potential is immense. Women and marginalized populations do not and should not rely on charity; rather, they must be integrated into the system just as you and I are in the countries and economies that we are fortunate to work in. Provided with the right skills, equal opportunity, financing, voice, greater control of assets, and greater decision-making power, the potential for women, youth, and the poor to contribute to economic growth is spectacular. I almost feel I’m perpetuating a negative construct by categorizing women with the marginalized in my writing and ponder this as I write proposals and design program interventions that seem to do the same. I would like to move away from this practice, and this means changing perceptions of women, and simply seeing them as people too.
Market-based also means realizing the importance of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private sector investment to spur sustainable economic growth. Unfortunately, the sorts of such partnerships that appear to be most prevalent in high potential developing economies, such as those in Africa, are focused on extraction of resources with very little wealth, if any, being reinvested into the local economy. Particularly in rural economies, PPPs should focus investment in inclusive agriculture development that boosts local economies, while also securing household food security. Making markets work for the poor means making markets work for all!
Integrating Nutrition and Agriculture. Promoting agriculture development and the production of crops that not only have high income potential, both domestically and for export markets, but are also nutritious and can enhance food security and nutritional status is an increasingly obvious priority, but one that is rarely remembered. USAID’s Feed the Future initiative aims to embed food security and nutrition into its programming, which is a major stride in this area. To achieve this, women, again, need to be integrated into production, sales, and household-level programming that increases their access to all pertinent resources (e.g., water, land, credit). Production and livelihoods should be diversified, with production focusing on more nutrient-dense foods. As discussed in a post on Bangladesh in May, reducing post-harvest losses through improved technologies and improving processing to retain the highest nutritional value is immensely important. Finally, increasing market access and opportunities to all -- the inclusive factor -- will help individual and overall economies and greatly reduce the seasonality of food insecurity.
Agriculture programs can help improve access to diverse and quality foods, but increased nutrition requires complementary health services that will promote improved utilization of food and maternal and child care practices. The complementarity of high nutrition crops, increased dietary intake of these nutritious foods (rather than selling the whole harvest), increased agricultural incomes, improved nutrition knowledge and practice, and improved policy coordination are critical to the successful integration of nutrition and agriculture development.
The 48th annual conference was titled, “Priorities for Inclusive Agriculture and Rural Development,” a very pertinent topic that has infiltrated both donor and practitioner agendas in the last couple of years. As stated in the conference opening, “The current thinking of many development agencies around the world has been to include poor households as a target for development and keep the focus on using market-led approaches. While these two development objectives are not mutually exclusive, most current development activities either focus on the poor, where scale and market inclusion are a challenge, or focus on value chain development, which does not meaningfully include the participation of resource-poor households.” Practitioners are increasingly researching and attempting to design programs that incorporate approaches that are “market-based” yet inclusive of marginalized populations such as those of so-called ‘low caste’ and women, among others. Another link that practitioners have attempted to strengthen is that between agriculture development and food security and again, between food security and nutrition. Even in May of this year, prior to the G8 Summit, President Obama encouragingly spoke to the importance of global agriculture and its link to food security and has complemented his Feed the Future initiative with the newly announced (and very aptly named) New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. There are some very obvious and very pertinent trends here that AIARD integrated into its agenda this year.
Inclusive Agriculture and Rural Development. As we engage in programming to increase incomes and strengthen economies, market-based solutions are key to sustainable economic growth. Development should not be seen as charity; rather, it must be stimulated and then perpetuated through the extension or transformation of existing market systems that anchor new approaches and systemic changes. On that note, over half of the world’s population is comprised of women, who must be taken into account when promoting workforce development, job creation, and market development. The potential is immense. Women and marginalized populations do not and should not rely on charity; rather, they must be integrated into the system just as you and I are in the countries and economies that we are fortunate to work in. Provided with the right skills, equal opportunity, financing, voice, greater control of assets, and greater decision-making power, the potential for women, youth, and the poor to contribute to economic growth is spectacular. I almost feel I’m perpetuating a negative construct by categorizing women with the marginalized in my writing and ponder this as I write proposals and design program interventions that seem to do the same. I would like to move away from this practice, and this means changing perceptions of women, and simply seeing them as people too.
Market-based also means realizing the importance of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private sector investment to spur sustainable economic growth. Unfortunately, the sorts of such partnerships that appear to be most prevalent in high potential developing economies, such as those in Africa, are focused on extraction of resources with very little wealth, if any, being reinvested into the local economy. Particularly in rural economies, PPPs should focus investment in inclusive agriculture development that boosts local economies, while also securing household food security. Making markets work for the poor means making markets work for all!
Integrating Nutrition and Agriculture. Promoting agriculture development and the production of crops that not only have high income potential, both domestically and for export markets, but are also nutritious and can enhance food security and nutritional status is an increasingly obvious priority, but one that is rarely remembered. USAID’s Feed the Future initiative aims to embed food security and nutrition into its programming, which is a major stride in this area. To achieve this, women, again, need to be integrated into production, sales, and household-level programming that increases their access to all pertinent resources (e.g., water, land, credit). Production and livelihoods should be diversified, with production focusing on more nutrient-dense foods. As discussed in a post on Bangladesh in May, reducing post-harvest losses through improved technologies and improving processing to retain the highest nutritional value is immensely important. Finally, increasing market access and opportunities to all -- the inclusive factor -- will help individual and overall economies and greatly reduce the seasonality of food insecurity.
Agriculture programs can help improve access to diverse and quality foods, but increased nutrition requires complementary health services that will promote improved utilization of food and maternal and child care practices. The complementarity of high nutrition crops, increased dietary intake of these nutritious foods (rather than selling the whole harvest), increased agricultural incomes, improved nutrition knowledge and practice, and improved policy coordination are critical to the successful integration of nutrition and agriculture development.
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