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Rural development
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Background: Promoting rural development, strengthening ownership
If the international community is to come closer to its goal of halving the percentage of the world's population forced to go hungry by 2015, it must push ahead with the development of rural areas, where hunger and poverty are particularly widespread. This is why the German government has been advocating that the World Bank make more funds available for rural development.
And the pleas did not fall on deaf ears. The World Bank's 2008 World Development Report focused on rural development (World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development). The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) was involved in drawing up the report, which conveys the key message that rural growth reduces poverty three times as effectively as non-rural growth.
The central goal of German development cooperation is to strengthen the ability of people in rural areas to help themselves. This allows them to forge ahead independently and develop their own regions, thus securing their livelihoods and improving their living conditions. The German government wrote this objective into its 2009 coalition agreement. It aims to work for, "sustainable international commitment to strengthen agriculture and rural areas in developing countries".
Country-specific solutions
There is no blueprint for rural development programmes though. Specially tailored and weighted measures are needed for every individual country and region. German development cooperation takes into account the specific root causes of poverty, hunger and underdevelopment among the rural population.
Promotion can, for instance, aim to
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facilitate access to production inputs for small farmers; this might take the form of promoting farmers' organisations and cooperatives
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ensure a more equitable and secure distribution of land with the help of land reforms
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deliver extension services and make available small-scale loans to support small farmers
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build roads and markets to help farmers distribute food and market their produce
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improve access to education and political participation on the part of the poor population.
Global Donor Platform for Rural Development
In order to harness synergy and achieve a larger impact, BMZ has been active in building a Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (GDPRD). This international development cooperation tool aims to network the donor agencies responsible for agriculture and rural development, and thus improve coordination.
Together they are to resolve the problems of agricultural development, market reform and improving living conditions in rural areas. The initiative has the support of many donor countries, development organisations and international financing institutions. BMZ hosts the GDPRD Secretariat.
Fields of activity in the rural development sector
Rural development means far more than increasing agricultural production. It embraces economic, social, environmental and institutional dimensions of rural life. Important fields of activities of German development cooperation are as follows:
Information
Publications
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Rural development and food security
BMZ Information Brochure
(PDF 2.1 MB, accessible) -
Rural development and its contribution to food security
BMZ Strategy Paper
(PDF 276 KB, accessible) -
Agricultural Research for Development – Creating Opportunities
(PDF 3.1 MB, accessible) -
Green Economy
(PDF 1.2 MB, accessible) -
Biofuels
Opportunities and risks for developing countries
BMZ Strategy Paper
(PDF 536 KB, accessible)
