Three quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas and depend on agriculture, forestry and fisheries for their income and subsistence. Farmers make up one third of the world’s population, 1.5 billion of which are ‘small-holders’ who farm for their own food. In many developing countries, agriculture generates around one third of the national income and employs two-thirds of the work force, the majority of whom are women.
Because of these factors, growth in agriculture raises living standards and reduces poverty quicker than growth in other sectors, such as manufacturing. It also helps speed up the achievement of other development targets such improving education and maternal health and combating the spread of HIV and malaria.
We also know that when we invest in agriculture, we reach the very poorest. This is especially true of women, who contribute to the bulk of farm labour. Greater direct incomes for women from agriculture also result in better nutrition, education and health for all the family, especially children.
UK aid is supporting farmers with seeds, tools and technical training to improve their production, income and nutrition.
UK aid is also supporting the very poorest through cash transfer programmes that aim to both protect households assets (such as oxen for ploughing or seeds for planting) that might otherwise be sold in a crisis, as well as help them buy them in good times.
For example, in Ethiopia, UK aid is supporting the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) which gives cash and food to nearly eight million of the very poorest people. As well as protecting livelihoods, the programme helps to build community infrastructure, like classrooms and water points. It has also shown that families have been able to keep their children in school through crises, and have slowly begun to build up assets like sheep and chickens.
Promoting Public-Private sector partnerships
UK aid is increasing its support to challenge funds where private sector partners agree to match DFID funds to pilot innovative investments in agriculture. This means more money for aid but at less cost to the British tax payer.
In Bangladesh, for example, our partnership, through the Katalyst programme, has generated 183,000 jobs in five years by helping poor farmers sell their produce.
In Nigeria, DFID is working with the private sector to supply 170,000 small-scale farmers with affordable fertiliser and training. And we are also piloting a partnership with a UK tea company and the Rainforest Alliance that is putting Rwandan tea on UK supermarket shelves for the first time, employing 7,400 workers and sourcing tea from nearly 10,000 small-holders.
Investing in research
Investment in agricultural research in developing countries pays off. Not only does it have a high rate of return – over 40% per annum, it also helps farming communities to grow resilient crops and prevent malnutrition.
For example, in Uganda, UK aid has funded research into growing sweet potatoes which are high in vitamin A which has helped to tackle malnutrition and in South Asia we have funded research into the development of Scuba Rice - rice plants which become dormant if fully submerged in water – which has helped farmers in South Asia to become more resilient to the effects of floods.
Supporting global changes
Climate change and population growth threaten the long term stability of the global food system. The longer-term challenge of feeding another two billion of our fellow citizens by 2050 is at the heart of the UK’s efforts to reform the food system so that everyone benefits.
Specifically the UK supports the G20 Ministers of Agriculture action plan to develop better global information and surveillance systems for timely action to crises like we see in the Horn of Africa today. We are also supporting the reforms needed to make markets function well and investment more easily available. And we are looking at ways to develop risk management tools so that when shocks like tornadoes, earthquakes or drought, do happen in a country, they are better able to cope and recover.
We are also working to ensure that African governments are in the lead and own the agenda. That’s one of the reasons why CAADP (Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme) is so important – because it puts African countries and their governments in the lead, and people can hold them to account for delivering on their investment plans for agriculture. Nearly 20 African countries now have detailed agricultural investment plans.