April 1988 LARC/98/3
April 1988 LARC/98/3 |
I. EXTERNAL AND MACROECONOMIC CONTEXT1. During the last decade of the century, the Latin American and the Caribbean countries have been consolidating a new development style consistent with world transformations, accelerated technological changes and new forms of international relationships. On the one hand, the political framework of this process is characterized by almosta a universal prevalence of democratic government régimes in the region. On the other, significant progress has been achieved in economic growth recovery. 2. Despite significant differences among the countries of the Region, it is possible to identify common lines in a new developmental model based on the emphasis of the role of the market as allocator of productive resources and, consequently, characterized by a reform of the role of the State in a context of trade liberalization, regional integration, privatizations and deregulation, granting priority to macroeconomic balances so as to provide an adequate environment for the former processes. 3. After the foreign debt crisis and the difficult recovery of macroeconomic balances that resulted in economic stagnation and the consequent fall in per capita income during the last decade, starting in 1991 GDP growth rate has been positive every year. 4. Simultaneously, important progress has been achieved in the consolidation of economic stability. Inflation has diminished drastically. In 1997 it was 11% while most of the countries of the Region experienced inflation rates of only one digit. 5. In line with the globalization process of economic relations, the path of regional growth presents increasingly stronger international associations. In 1997, the influx of foreign capital reached 70.000 million dollars. These substantial resources play an important role in funding the development of the Region. 6. The economic transformation process still presents serious obstacles and progress is uneven in the different countries (as, demonstrated, for example by the Mexican crisis at the end of 1994/1995 as well as the vulnerability of external balances). These problems have resulted in an economic annual growth rate of only 3.5% on average from the beginning of the recovery (that is to say, 1991 to 1997), which is clearly insufficient to cover the urgent demands of development in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. 7. One of the most worrying characteristics in the current economic and social paradigm is growing economic and social polarization. Income concentration in Latin America and the Caribbean was already very high prior to the crisis of the eighties. During the adjustment process, the necessary sacrifices had a more than proportional impact on the poorer population, and polarization became more acute. In contrast, during economic recovery, benefits have concentrated on the higher income population. Current growth is not taking the countries of the Region closer to the type of equitable income distribution of developed countries. 8. Economic heterogeneity and the trans-generational transmission of poverty - the children of the poor have less access to educational, training and health opportunities and live in compressed economic media, lacking infrastructure and services - represent the main difficulties in overcoming the structural problems of underdevelopment and in generalizing access of the whole population to minimal acceptable standards of well being. 9. On the other hand, changes in the State’s role in development, deregulation processes and deep modifications in the relation between national and international agents determine the need for a renewal of the institutional framework. This must not be understood as a mere adaptation of functions and organizational structures of State institutions; it has to do with a broad concept that also includes networks and forms of relations among the agents, as well as accepted or agreed upon rules and conventions.
II. NEW OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT10. The advent of new determining factors in economic and social development in the Region and changes in international markets are stirring significant inflections to the relationships between agricultural growth and global development. The behaviour of agriculture not only affects the markets of sensitive products; it also affects natural resources, beyond their directly productive potential and as the environmental base for development. Likewise, it plays an important role in the possibilities for progress of a broad proportion of the population living in the rural environment. 11. Beyond the traditional functions the production of wage-goods, salary and raw materials contribute to the net foreign exchange, new orientations for agriculture and rural development are currently emphasized in the Region. Among them: food security, creation of competitive advantages, participation in capital formation processes, trade and agroindustrial integration, overcoming regional imbalances, territorial organization of development, environmental sustainability; the struggle against poverty, and achievement of a greater endogenous equity in the process of economic growth. 12. Consequently, the outlook of agricultural development itself is being expanded, in order to transcend the tight sectoral framework and take into consideration the fundamental interrelations of agriculture with the transformation and revaluation possibilities of the rural environment, the environmental sustainability of the development model and the attainment of solidary societies and more equitable economic functioning modes. 13. For decades, the more feasible economic alternative to reduce the population devoted to agriculture has been migration to large cities. In practice, this has proven to be far from a solution for the migrants themselves, making marginality more acute and increasing the social and fiscal costs derived from the keen problems that afflict large urban centers. Currently, an increasing migration stream to other countries has been added to national migratory movements. 14. It is necessary to open and broaden other options. To a great extent, these are linked to the concept of a territorially based rural development. That is to say, a development based on the multi-functionality of rural activities - and not on a single sectoral activity – supported on the utilization of various local and regional resources and striving for a stronger rooting within the regions where the population is located. Basically, it is a question of supporting and amplifying - with training, infrastructure, services, technical and financial assistance - the diversity of economic activities that, in practice, the rural poor are forced to perform in order to survive. 15. More than a rural development focus in a restricted sense, it is a question of orientation towards urban-rural development. In fact, it is acknowledged that a great part of the opportunities for economic activity depend on the links with some urban center. For this reason, it is necessary to strengthen the system of intermediate cities with activities of a very diverse nature, within the relationship of the urban center with its rural hinterland, overcoming the idea of opposition between the rural and the urban. 16. Agricultural sectoral policies, by themselves, can not provide an answer, to the magnitude of problems and challenges of the rural world. It is essential to define a rural development strategy, recognized as a national priority, and to establish a social consensus on objectives, forms and costs of the main policies. 17. However, to establish a rural development strategy based on multiple activities, the concourse of agricultural policy is essential. In the countries of the Region, rural development can not ignore the importance of agricultural activity in employment and income for the rural population. Agricultural activities - which on the contrary will tend to diminish relatively - are not necessarily the main means for increasing employment and income generation in rural environments. They are, however, in many cases, the starting point for a certain savings and investment capacity in the rural world and for the development of activities in industrial sectors and of services directly or indirectly associated to them. 18. On the one hand, sectoral development should be based on the construction of a systemic competitiveness, including several forms of inter-sectoral integration and of territorial articulation. On the other, rural development implies a diversification of employment and income sources and a greater vertical integration of economic activities in rural areas, increasingly relying on their articulation with urban centers. 19. The rural development strategy requires a process of social and productive investment to complement the farmers’ savings capacity and strengthen their organizations’ bargaining powers. Autonomy in the orientation of the process demands the ability of the farmers to actively participate in the process of rural development, a difficult goal in the context of deteriorating conditions of small agricultural production. 20. A broad participation of social policies, above all in education, health, food security and provision of basic services is also necessary. Together with investment in physical infrastructure, investment in human capital must also be considered - in education, health and living conditions; in natural capital as the environmental base for all development; and in social capital, in terms of the norms of trust and interpersonal networks on which they are based and which allow the deployment of synergy in the actions of the various agents, reduce uncertainty and increase efficiency. III. NEW FACTORS IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT21. The growing interdependency among countries, as well as among productive sectors, lend increasing weight to exogenous factors to primary production. Although inexpensive manual labour, abundance of natural resources and technological progress are still having a significant impact, there are new factors which have been gaining importance in determining economic yield, international competitiveness and the pace of agricultural progress. 22. Macroeconomic policies have fundamental impact on economic stability, investment processes and market growth, with important global effects on agriculture. Moreover, specific variables, such as exchange rates or interest rates, affect international competitiveness. 23. The development of exchange mechanisms and of communications media have strongly stimulated the international trade of goods, and important technical progress in transport, packing, preservation, marketing, quality control and typification have also been experienced. Capital flow, credit and other financial mechanisms are closely interrelated with product sales. Foreign investment has become an important factor in market penetration and in technology sales. 24. The demand for greater competitiveness of agricultural producers must be met with different approaches. Productivity also depends on the series of transformations - in space, time and form - necessary to successfully reach the final consumer. Competitiveness not only applies to primary products, but also to the production-consumption system as a whole. It is not only a question of discovering in which products a country has relative advantages. The essential issue is building and developing system competitiveness, including several forms of inter-sectoral integration and territorial articulation. 25. In the context of the new rural development it is essential to take into account social aspects. For example, demographic dynamics and its relation with poverty is still a challenge to be solved. According to surveys on farmers in various countries in the Region, effective fertility is relatively higher thad desired, but most significantly, the gap is higher in rural areas and it increases as the educational level of the mother decreases. Likewise, although the number of children of adolescent mothers (15 to 19 years old) has been declining, it still shows high indeces, exceeding the proportion of 150 per thousand in countries of Central America and the Caribbean. There are, consequently, factors of vegetative reproduction of poverty that an adequate population policy, respectful of individual beliefs, could help reduce. 26. Social transformations present new determining processes in the design of rural policies. The trend towards a "feminization of agriculture" or a growing presence of women in agricultural work and a simultaneous fall of male participation in the sector is worth mentioning. It is estimated that women supply 40% of the labour force in the agriculture of the Region. According to a recent study, women would likewise constitute 40% of the internal agricultural supply. This reality is linked to the growing number of rural households headed by females, due to, among other reasons, male migration in pursuit of better paid employment in cities or abroad. 27. The drastic decrease of permanent employment in rural areas and its replacement by temporary work, associated with the frequent practice of sub-contracting has contributed to a growing instability of the agricultural labor market. 28. On the other hand, the great dynamism of non-agricultural rural employment has transformed these non-agricultural activities into an increasingly important source of income that, in many cases, surpasses income generated in agriculture activities or, at least, constitutes an important complement to family economies. The structure of this type of employment closely mirrors urban employment: 35% of the population is employed in industry, 25% in trade and 30% in services. 29. Migratory processes to other countries are also prevalent. In periods of slow economic growth, migrations grow strongly, also encompassing professionals and skilled workers, a process implying drainage of human capital. 30. On the other hand, remittances coming from relatives living abroad have grown systematically since the eighties, reaching significant levels in the external balance of some countries of the Region. In regional terms they represent a capital influx of approximately 5% of export values. But in some countries they represent amounts higher than the total value of agricultural exports. 31. These transformations might generate changes in resource use and land tenure, like for instance a trend of land and agricultural capital concentration in large and modern properties to the detriment of small and medium size farmers which can already be seen in some regions. The massive change in production structures and technology will probably cause strong modifications in the location of agricultural activities and a different geographical distribution of labour. It is possible that in the medium term, sectoral adjustment could cause great deployment of employment and population, with significant consequences on population distribution in rural areas. Precarious settlements of salaried landless workers could continue to rise near modern, expanding agricultural areas, and, on the other hand, many traditional farms in crisis areas where, additionally, alternative activities are hard to find, could become non-viable. 32. For the process of adequating agriculture to a new national context as well as to the new conditions of production activity to remain coherent with an orientation towards increasing competitiveness, towards achieving greater equity and the environmental sustainability of development, a new style of agricultural development should be built. This new style must accelerate environmentally sustainable productive modernization, stimulate vertical integration and generate urban-rural territorial links, supporting the creation and diversification of productive employment. 33. For this style of development to evolve fully, it is crucial to arrive at a national consensus supporting an investment process in rural development. The importance of guiding the process of agricultural transformation in congruence with the long-term interests of the countries of the Region could hardly be exaggerated. Whether the 5 or 7% of active population that might be displaced from agriculture in the coming years is led towards informal activities in large metropoli, making economic polarization and social marginality more acute, or whether it is led towards strengthening the system of intermediate cities, the integration of economic activities and a balance in regional development is by no means irrelevant. To a great extent, this depends on the agricultural and rural development strategy explicitly or implicitly adopted by the countries of the Region. 34. According to these determining factors, the new trends in agricultural development are targeted towards:
35. Considering the above, the FAO Medium Term Plan (1998-2003) emphasizes, with regard to the food and agriculture sector, two main objectives: "…food security and sustainable agricultural and rural development…(that) are increasingly perceived as two sides of the same coin", and defines the following action guidelines:
IV. PRIORITY36. Four areas for priority tasks stem from the preceding considerations:
37. According to the Rome Declaration on Food Security and the World Food Summit Plan of Action, which set the bases for food security on an individual, family, national, regional and global levels, FAO is carrying out a special programme on food security to raise the corresponding levels in low income food deficit countries. This programme is targeted to urgently attend the need to strengthen food security in these particularly vulnerable countries, and to cooperate with governments in the organization of national programmes allowing the identification of resource needs - their own and from complementary external sources - as well as the essential technical definitions for their channeling, in order to sustainably increment national food production in compliance with Summit agreements. Currently, the Special Programme is operating in two countries of the Region, while preparations are progressing for its implementation in another seven. 38. Parallel to this urgent programme, FAO follows up on Summit agreements through an integral strategy, including the various elements identified in the Action Plan: creation of a political, social, and economic environment that facilitates food security; determined progress in poverty eradication; sufficiency, stability and sustainability in food supply on a national and family levels; coherence in foreign trade policies; improvement of capabilities in preventing and facing catastrophes; emphasis on investment in human resources. 39. At the beginning of this decade, six countries of the region presented a critical situation in relation to sufficiency in food availability, that is to say, their supply was lower than the basic medium standard, which is none other than the energetic requirement to sustain a healthy and active life. Other four countries were in a precarious situation, with a supply lower than 1.1 of the basic standard. The remaining countries exhibited full sufficiency levels in relation to aggregate availability, which does not imply absence of access problems in poor families. 40. Concerning instability, 10 countries exhibited high levels of instability in the availability of basic grains over the last three decades. To a great extent, they coincide with the countries of insufficient availability. 41. The degree of food dependency can be measured in terms of the weight of imports within energetic supply, as well as in terms of the value of food imports in relation to the external purchasing capacity generated by exports. According to the criteria of the projection of imported calorie proportion, the Caribbean countries show critical dependency levels (higher than 40%); other seven countries show levels between 30 and 40% and misusing dependency in terms of sacrifice of available foreign currency, four Latin American countries, and in general the countries of the Caribbean, face problem situations. 42. An obstacle to the achievement of food security in the Region is the difficulty to reflect food consumption deficiencies of an important part of the population in the market. The undernourished population is, to a great extent, coincident with the poor population lacking effective demand capacity. The principal factor explaining massive malnutrition in the region is lack of income for access to food. According to the last available data, poverty levels encompass 34% of the urban population and 53% of the rural population. Indigence levels are 13 and 30% respectively. The vast majority of undernourished population is concentrated in these groups. 43. Lower income countries that find major difficulties in funding an accelerated process for national food production and external purchase capacity, also present the more serious poverty and indigence coefficients. In the group of low income, food deficit countries, urban poverty affects more than 50% of the population, while rural poverty exceeds 60%. 44. According to the estimates of the 6th World Food Survey, the proportion of undernourished in the Region would have decreased from 19 to 14% in the 70’s and 80’s, only to rise again to 15% at the beginning of the 90’s. It seems reasonable to propose, as a minimal goal, a reduction to a maximum of 6% before the year 2010. For the nine countries of the Region concentrating 16 % of the whole population of the Region and 47% of the undernourished, the goal would be to reach 2700 calories of food energy supply per person by the year 2010. For these countries, this goal would imply a growth of 3.5% in per capita food availability per annum, while for the remainder of the Region the rate to achieve would be 2.4%. 45. To reach this goal, it is necessary to propose a strategy that, parallel to increasing food availability, will attend to the priority problem of generating higher incomes for the poorer population so they can improve their food access possibilities and be able to attain minimum required consumption levels. Rural development (understood in its interrelations with urban centers) plays a significant role in both aspects. DYNAMIC INSERTION IN FOREIGN TRADE 46. The opening of the economies of the Region has been the result of internal structural transformations rather than trade negotiations. Even in this latter aspect, the resulting trade liberalization of the regional integration process has been more demanding than the one originated in multilateral fora on world trade. In this regard most Latin America and Caribbean countries have advanced rapidly in trade and financial liberalization. 47. The speed of change in Latin American development conditions is following the accelerated pace of tranformations in international financial circuits and markets. Private and social agents and governments are facing the challenge of adjusting their performance in increasingly shorter time spans. It is necessary to deepen reforms, but, at the same time, it is also necessary to accompany them with policies that maximize the use of the new opportunities that are opening up and to limit the social and economic costs of prospective productive reconversion. 48. The preceding considerations suggest two types of measures:
49. Likewise, it is important to systematize experiences on information mechanisms and the formulation of specific projects to make use of productive options within the integration and complementation processes. These efforts will permit the strengthening of integration processes and preparing more efficient, fair and stable agreements. 50. Internally, a priority orientation lies in the increment of agriculture´s systemic competitiveness. Many of the weaknesses of agriculture in the Region are due to problems that are beyond agricultural technology and farmer capacity. As has been stated, competitiveness does not lie only with primary products but with the productive chain as a whole. 51. On the other hand, spontaneous effects of relative price changes on agricultural production could be strongly limited because of market failures and the unfavourable context still prevalent in many of the Region’s economies. To maximize the positive effects of trade liberalization and economic integration, it is essential to have an agricultural policy that guarantees: i) that the best prices actually reach the farmers and ii) that they have productive response capacity. Consequently, agricultural policy must overcome - with the aid of all the agents involved - current bottlenecks in credit, marketing, infrastructure, services, market information, technical assistance and input supplies. Only with such a policy will producers be able to benefit from better relative prices and reflect this incentive in enhanced productivity and production. SUSTAINABLE OF NATURAL RESOURCES 52. The Region has a relatively advantageous supply of natural resources and it is important to reflect this condition appropriately in great strategic definitions of development models. This could take Latin American and Caribbean countries along paths that are partially different to those being followed by recently industrialized countries in other regions of the world. The agricultural and forestry areas in the Region are three and one half times larger than Africa’s and almost twenty times larger than Asia’s. In this regard, a strategy based on the development of productive complexes starting from natural resources (clusters), with all its implications in terms of direction of investments and of educational and scientific-technological development needs to be there considered. 53. Accelerated replacement of comparative advantages -based solely on abundance of natural resources- by competitive advantages shows that in order to take advantage of the natural resource potential and maintain or progress towards insertion in international trade, a national strategy, emphasizing the incorporation of knowledge and technology to agricultural resources, strengthening their links to agroindustry, para-agricultural industry and services, and their capacity to guarantee quality and reliability in external markets is indispensable. 54. Overcoming eventual conflicts (trade offs) between sustainability and production growth must be sought by means of incorporating environmentally favourable technologies within the production process, improving traditional techniques as well as making use of the potential of genetic engineering and biotechnology to produce food based on the adaptation of local varieties. It is also relevant to consider the internalization of environmental costs. This implies a reorientation in the type of agricultural modernization, shifting from a modernization that neglects the development of native materials to one that applies them. 55. As regards the links between rural poverty and the environment, rural development policies must reflect the multi-functional character of small agriculture and its ways of utilizing the agro-ecosystem, recognizing that the latter are closely associated to the need for risk reduction. In general, due to its precarious conditions, small agriculture tends to provide solutions that do not take into account the potential decline of future yields, particularly if its practices have no immediate negative impact. On the other hand, it is important to retrieve and disseminate experiences on the sustainable management of common pool resources by community organizations. 56. Erosion, measured in terms of sediment transport, fluctuates in certain places between 190 and 346 tons per hectare on an annual basis, while in similar well-managed areas they do not exceed five tons per hectare each year. Erosion phenomena affect a good part of the surface of the Region, threatening some important areas with the loss of all possibilities of economic use in less than a decade. Stopping the accelerated erosion process, mainly in economically depressed hillside areas, demands solutions that are not exclusively agricultural. It demands complementing productive systems with non-agricultural employment and income generation and strengthening the relationships between urban nuclei and their agricultural surroundings. 57. As regards crops, vis á vis the trend to respond with chemicals of greater intensity to soil fertility losses and pests, it is necessary to expand the use and knowledge of alternative technologies such as integrated pest management and integrated plant nutrition systems. This entails a major boost of research and training in the application of these technologies. 58. In livestock, grazing systems with multiple livestock species, characteristic of traditional shepherding practices in regions of Asia, make better use of available grasslands and maintain a reasonable vegetative balance. Notwithstanding the above, considering that grasslands are one of the most important soil uses, fodder cultivation and lot feeding rather than free grazing, offer a better alternative from the energy efficiency point of view, provided potential profitability allows it. On the other hand, if demand for meat remains stable, fodder cereals demand will increase to 30% of cereal production in the year 2050 and difficulties will arise stemming from the doubling of methane emissions and from animal waste disposal mechanisms that have to be foreseen. 59. As regards forestry, regulations and controls have proven insufficient to reduce indiscriminate burning and felling. It is necessary to broaden the range of options towards the utilization and exploitation of non-wood forest products for food as well as pharmaceutical and other uses. Complementarily, the possibility of introducing subsidy policies for small producers in payment for environmentally positive externalities derived from natural resource conservation, avoiding imbalance between the use of firewood, essential to food preparation and preservation, and natural growth, promoting agroforestry and the planting of local adapted species needs to be explored. 60. Concerning the sustainability of fishery resources, according to FAO estimates, catch levels in the areas of greater productivity are exceeding by between 104 and 300% the maximum sustainable pelagic biomass yields. Experience indicates that control measures require a broad participation of all those directly affected in order to generate equitable, accepted and respected rules. If this is not achieved, there is no alternative other than closing catch zones in critical situation, monitor fishing crafts and regulate catch numbers, sizes and calibers. Protection of artisanal fishermen vis a vis unfair competition of factory ships is a particularly critical area of concern. On the other hand, the rural development strategy must include, in every possible case, integrated aquaculture systems within soil use planning. 61. Tools such as the Soil Information Systems or the Environmental Information Systems are fundamental for good decision making. The timely availability of reliable information on natural resources potential and limitations in general, and of the soil resource in particular, in terms of sustainable soil use options based on ecological, economic and social aptitude, constitutes a requirement in planning sustainable development and an integrated management of natural resources. 62. As regards water rights, common grasslands, community forests, access to marine and inland fisheries and, in general, access or use of public or common property resources, it is necessary to promote the establishment of institutional forms (if these do not exist) aimed at avoiding opportunistic (free rider) utilization. Where these institutions are in place, they should be strengthened and their experiences disseminated for demonstration purposes. REFORM 63. The withdrawal of several public institutions that had performed a multiplicity of activities in connection with agriculture, as well as the drastic shift towards increasing competition within agricultural production in national and international markets, radically modified relationships among agents and led a good number of rural institutions into abrupt obsolescence. 64. Many of the old instruments of sectoral policy disappeared with the adjustment of the role of the State and other instruments have not adequately replaced them. Meanwhile, needs persist as, for instance, in financing systems or in marketing. It is also necessary to modernize the institutional framework for agricultural research and rural extension so as to achieve greater efficiency and generalize technical progress. New priority needs have also emerged, as is the case of information systems and support to a better international insertion. Likewise, it is important to pay attention to land tenure reform aspects and, in general, to ownership rights and natural resource use. 65. It is equally important to support the countries’ capacities to strengthen and readapt their plant protection and animal health systems due to their fundamental effects on production as well as for the negative consequences of a possible growing use of sanitary measures as non-tariff barriers to trade. Cooperation between countries of the region is indispensable for phyto and zoo-sanitary systems to have permanent success given the accelerated increase in trade an in passenger flow across frontiers. 66. Within this approach, the main role of institutional development is to increase efficiency and reduce uncertainty. The challenge consists in building institutional forms that can strengthen and channel social and private initiatives, providing the possibilities for them to access information, achieve a long-term perspective and acquire bargaining power. 67. Institutional changes aim at converting rural development policy into a State policy. That is to say, a policy sufficiently rooted to overcome its lack of continuity, allowing the full development of the processes of agricultural productive transformation and revaluation of rural spaces. These, as is obvious to all, require medium to long-term time spans to attain their objectives. 68. To reduce uncertainty and allow greater efficiency in interrelations among different agents, rural institutionality needs to be re-built, considering the process in a broad sense and not limited to the mere re-adaptation of State organizations but favouring a framework that provides stability and fluidity to the set of relations among the market, the State and civil society. 69. Sectoral institutional reform must allow the development of synergies between the State and the agents of development and promote the development of social capital in a new institutional framework providing conditions to effectively overcome paternalism and authoritarianism and favouring the evolution of the trends of the new model of agriculture. 70. The basic question for sectorial institutional reform is the search for the type of institutionality that can meet the needs of a rural development strategy, and define the role of ministries of agriculture and complementation with other instances that exceed the limited results obtained this far by inter-ministerial coordinations. There is no simple answer or a single valid solution for all the different national realities in the Region. A formulation pretending to do so would be judged as banal for being too general or irrelevant for many cases if it were more specific. However, in examining registered trends on agricultural development style, it is possible to establish aspects that should be taken into account in the change process of public institutionality and in stimulating the development institutions in civil society. 71. The preceding statement shows that, from the public sector’s point of view, several countries of the Region suffer from an institutional vacuum, derived from the absence of an instance with sufficient attributions and capacity to integrally approach the rural development problem, understood as stated above. 72. On the other hand, it is essential that the institutional framework of agricultural policy allow the participation and channeling of initiatives from the different agents: small and large producers, family farmers, indigenous groups, tradesmen, entrepreneurs, investors, governmental and non-governmental institutions. Particularly, it must allow the mobilization of the producers themselves to overcome the legal, political, economic and cultural obstacles that limit their development possibilities. 73. The subject of alliances and associations among different agents of civil society, the market and public entities acquires particular relevance, among other reasons, due to uneven access to information, distortions in public action aimed at obtaining institutional rents and the absence or limitation of mechanisms directed towards promoting cooperation. These alliances must be seen as institutional arrangements, creating synergy among the various instances in order to overcome the problems generated by the isolated action of the market, the State and the different civil associations. 74. Strengthening the managerial capacity of local authorities, in a genuine decentralization process, appears to be the option with the most potential to raise efficiency in local development policy, articulating the representative organizations of society and increasing the efficaciousness of qualified human resources in the public sector. 75. Emphasis on the process of resource decentralization and de-concentration constitutes the first step in the direction of the required institutional changes. However, it is necessary to overcome the limitations imposed by the persistence of the compartmentalized character of public functions, which locally reproduce the central situation, and the insufficient technical qualification of staff in decentralized agencies. Technical support to decentralized instances, laying emphasis on an orientation towards strongly articulated functioning with producers and other agents of civil society is thus clearly a priority for re-building rural institutionality. |
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