Chapter Three
Poverty, Hunger, and Malnutrition
Challenges and Breakthroughs for Rural Revitalization
Homi Kharas and Lorenz Noe
The transformation of rural areas offers the surest path to local livelihood improvements and food and nutrition security for the rural poor.
KEY FINDINGS
- The world is not yet on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Poverty and malnutrition rates are falling in many places, but not fast enough.
- Many of the world’s poor and malnourished people live in rural areas and are dependent on the agriculture sector for food and livelihoods, so addressing rural development needs is central to achieving the SDGs.
- Breakthroughs are needed in both policy and financing to foster the agricultural and rural growth needed to reduce poverty and hunger and spark rural revitalization.
- Critical challenges to reducing rural poverty and malnutrition include limited international and domestic investment, the current international trade environment, and climate change.
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
- Expand and improve data on rural poverty and malnutrition to provide evidence for sound policymaking. Establishing a working group to propose improvements, particularly in disaggregated rural and other subnational data, could be a first step.
- Adopt a systems approach to addressing rural needs, including integration of natural resource issues, as well as those of other sectors, with agricultural production and agrifood systems development. A global bioeconomy council could help support this approach.
- Increase financial and policy support for reducing rural poverty and malnutrition by strengthening national and international accountability mechanisms and commitment to rural revitalization.
- Create an attractive policy environment for private sector and blended public–private investment in rural development that could reduce rural poverty and malnutrition.
Browse Chapters
Chapter One
Food Policy in 2018–2019
Chapter Two
Rural Revitalization
Chapter Three
Poverty, Hunger, and Malnutrition
Chapter Four
Employment and Livelihoods
Chapter Five
Gender Equality
Chapter Six
Environment
Chapter Seven
Renewable Energy
Chapter Eight
Governance
Chapter Nine
Europe's Experience
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