Agriculture Non-Agriculture Remittances 13% 35%

the development of a thriving agriculture sector. Government expenditure on agriculture in developing countries dropped from 11 per cent in the 1980s to 5.5 per cent in 2005, with the same downward trend observed in official development assistance going to the agriculture sector, which fell from 13 per cent in the early 1980s to 2.9 per cent in 2005 (UN-DESA Policy Brief 8, October, 2008). In Africa, governments publicly committed in the Maputo Declaration of 2000 to spending 10 per cent of their GDP on agriculture, including rural infrastructure spending (UNESC ECA 2007). However, only eight countries had reached the agreed level by 2009 (CAADP 2009).

52% Agriculture

Figur e 1: Total average contribution to poverty reduction from growth of agricultural, remittance

and non-farm incomes in selected countries Source: OECD calculations based on data from Povcalnet (2009); WDI (2009)

from non-agricultural labour productivity. Using cross- country regressions per region, Hasan and Quibriam (2004) found greater effects from agricultural growth on poverty (defined as less than US$ 2 per day per person) reduction in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. (This trend was not seen in East Asia and Latin America where there were greater poverty-reducing effects of growth originating in non-agriculture sectors).

Despite the potential contribution of agriculture to poverty alleviation, mainly owing to the urban bias of many national government policies (Lipton 1977), rural sectors in most developing countries have not received the levels of public investment required to support

Agricultural GDP/GDP Percent

10 15 20 25 30

0 5

Agriculture-based Transforming Urbanized 29 29 24 16 1980 2000 14 10

10 15 20 25

0 5

44 Agriculture-based Transforming Urbanized Figur e 2: Contribution of agriculture to GDP and public expenditure on agriculture as a proportion of

agricultural GDP Source: EarthTrends, based on year 2000 data obtained from WDR Overview. Available at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2008/Resources/2795087-1192112387976/WDR08_01_Overview.pdf

7. Agriculture based = developing, Transforming = new industrialised, Urbanised = developed-countries. 8. This poverty-environment nexus is a well researched area. For a framework and review, see Opschoor (2007).

39

Between 1980 and 2000, an inverse association was noted between the contribution of agriculture to GDP and public spending on agriculture as a percentage of agricultural GDP as shown in Figure 2, which distinguishes between agriculture-based, transforming and urbanised countries7

.

The result of this long-term neglect of the agriculture sector in developing countries is that rural poverty rates consistently exceed those in urban areas, with more than 75 per cent of the world’s most impoverished people living in rural areas, and many seeking ways to migrate to cities (IFAD 2003). We note that in this scenario, poverty can result in environment-related economic consequences if crop production is based upon unsustainable land use, which in turn results in the depletion of soil nutrients and cultivation of unsuitable, marginal land that can lead to soil erosion, degradation of ecosystems and the reduction of natural habitats8

for biodiversity.

In the following paragraphs, we discuss particular attributes of conventional and small-scale agricultural practices that have exacerbated these trends.

Public spending on agriculture/agricultural GDP

30 Percent

1980 17 10 11 12 2000