Agriculture

Agriculture is a critical sector for poverty reduction. The majority of chronically poor households are engaged in agricultural activities, either as smallholders or labourers.  CPAN’s work on agriculture highlights that the main barriers for chronically poor farm households to escape poverty include limited access to quality land, water, farm equipment and human capital.  Building and protecting these is therefore critical.  

The needs of the poorest farmers are likely to be different from those who are wealthier.  Agricultural research and development should incorporate the priorities of the poorest farmers.

CPAN’s work also emphasises the importance of agricultural labour in providing an income for the poorest rural households.  Agricultural labourers though, are often neglected by agricultural agencies.

To read more about agriculture and chronic poverty, download the Agriculture Policy Guide: Meeting the challenge of a new pro-poor agricultural paradigm.

Download the accompanying Policy Brief here.

You can browse our full library of policy guides and other publications in our Resources section. To find more publications that are relevant to agriculture and chronic poverty, search using the agriculture tag.