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The State of Food and Agriculture 2015 in brief

Year of publication 2015

Pages 12p.

Author ESA SOFA-team,FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

ISBN No ISBN

Series title The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) in Brief

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on reducing poverty have been met by many countries, yet many others lag behind and the post-2015 challenge will be the full eradication of poverty and hunger. Many developing countries increasingly recognize that social protection measures are needed to relieve the immediate deprivation of people living in poverty and to prevent others from falling into poverty when a crisis strikes. Social protection can also help recipients become more productive by ena bling them to manage risks, build assets and undertake more rewarding activities. These benefits spread beyond the immediate recipients to their communities and the broader economy as recipients purchase food, agricultural inputs and other rural goods and services. But social protection can only offer a sustainable pathway out of poverty if there is inclusive growth in the economy. In most low- and middle-income countries, agriculture remains the largest employer of the poor and is a major sourc e of livelihoods through wage labour and own production for household consumption and the market. Poverty and its corollaries – malnutrition, illness and lack of education – limit agricultural productivity. Hence, providing social protection and pursuing agricultural development in an integrated way offers synergies that can increase the effectiveness of both.

Language English

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    Despite significant progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals on poverty and hunger, almost a billion people still live in extreme poverty (less than $1.25 per person per day) and 795 million still suffer from chronic hunger. Much more will have to be done to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals on eradicating poverty and hunger by 2030. Most of the extreme poor live in rural areas of developing countries and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. They are so poor and m alnourished that their families live in a cycle of poverty that passes from generation to generation. Many developing countries are adopting a successful new strategy for breaking the cycle of rural poverty – combining social protection and agricultural development. Social protection measures such as cash benefits for widows and orphans and guaranteed public works employment for the poor can protect vulnerable people from the worst deprivation. It can allow households to increase and diversify t heir diets. It can also help them save and invest on their own farms and or start new businesses. Agricultural development programmes that support small family farms in accessing markets and managing risks can create employment opportunities that make these families more self-reliant and resilient. Social protection and agricultural development, working together, can break the cycle of rural poverty.
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