William Dar
2 November 2008
opinion
Even as governments across the world are bailing out banks, insurance companies and financial institutions to prevent them from going bankrupt and starting a domino effect, they continue to neglect the poor farmers in their countries, an action that can have short- and long-term adverse impacts on national and global economies.
It is not just Wall Street that needs bailing out, but also the "side streets", where poor farmers across the world reside, especially those working the drylands of developing countries. Farmers in developing countries, particularly those that work the marginal arid and semi-arid ecological zones need policy, institutional and financial support more than corporate entities.
As of July 2008, the world population was estimated to be 6.6 billion. One billion of these are utterly poor people, most of whom live in the dryland areas of the world. When seen in conjunction with the present day food crisis and unabated rise in food prices that are affecting the common man, who, more than the poor, has a right to substantial assistance from governments?
Working for decades with poor farmers in the drylands of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) - believes that it is essential to strengthen the resource base and incomes of resource-poor farmers. These farmers are often the backbone of developing country economies. If their conditions are not improved, developing economies will continue to suffer adverse impacts that will be difficult to repair. Dryland farmers particularly suffer from the lack of governmental support.
Yet governments can do so much more to support these farmers. In addition to financial support, dryland farmers need supportive policies, improved infrastructure, improved access to better quality seeds and inputs, irrigation support, and support for establishing more effective institutions.
Cutting-edge agricultural research can achieve substantial improvements in crop yields and farmers' income. So it falls to reason that agricultural research itself should be supported better through government funds.
It is worth mentioning that less than 10 percent of public spending in developing countries goes to agriculture even though this sector commonly accounts for about half of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And less than one percent of public spending goes to agricultural research; research that is vital to innovative solutions that open new livelihood opportunities.
This year's World Development Report focusing on Agriculture for Development establishes that GDP growth originating in agriculture is about four times more effective in raising incomes of extremely poor people than that from other sectors where governments tend to focus more attention and effort. The Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) recently evaluated the impacts of its continued investment in agricultural research and found that for every $1 invested in international agricultural research, $9 worth of additional food is produced in developing countries where it is needed most.
ICRISAT is working at different levels and is adopting innovative strategies to pursue its vision of improving the well-being of the poor of the semi-arid tropics in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Its mission is to help reduce poverty, enhance food and nutritional security and protect the environment of the semi-arid tropics.
The methods used by ICRISAT for improving crop productivity and increasing farmers' income include integrated crop improvement and natural resource management; development and use of effective agricultural biotechnology tools for faster, more effective crop breeding; agro-ecosystem development and management; research on markets, policies and institutions; development of effective public-private-people partnerships; and the development of a pro-poor biofuel package that provides dryland farmers with food, fuel and feed security.
In our experience, proactive measures by governments of comparable zest as witnessed in the current global financial crisis in support of dryland farmers can greatly alleviate the concurrent global food crisis.
Dr Dar is the Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
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