Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food Security

Ensuring food security and reducing rural poverty are fundamental to achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth

The words hunger and poverty ignite flames in the belly and mind. The challenge of reducing them, as targeted in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, is formidable. Expected risks from climate change increase the difficulty.

Recent food crises have exposed the vulnerabilities of households, governments, and the international system to food and nutrition insecurity.

Despite recent gains in poverty reduction, rural Asia remains home to the world's largest share of poor. Increasingly dynamic and globally integrated markets offer opportunities for the growth of the agriculture and rural sectors.

Unfortunately, the majority of the region's poor cannot benefit due to lack of skills and access to resources that would let them contribute. Compounding poverty is that many parts of Asia are suffering from rapid ecosystem degradation.

Moreover, increasing demand for land and water imposes severe strains on the overexploited natural resource base. Particularly vulnerable are Asia's dryland, upland, coastal wetland, and floodplain—home to a large number of the poor and vulnerable.

Taking a big picture approach to agriculture and rural development

ADB's Strategy 2020 approach to agriculture and rural development is multidisciplinary. We identify and prioritize our agriculture and rural development assistance holistically, tailoring assistance to a country's sociocultural and economic landscape.

To further ensure aid effectiveness, we align our engagements with our comparative strengths, ability to add value, and compatibility with the work of other donor partners. We also provide a broad range of rural products and services to our developing member countries.

Our support includes investments in infrastructure and technology/productivity enhancement measures, as well as policy reform and institution/capacity development. This builds on the productive, social, and environmental assets in the rural sector; broadens rural opportunity; and allows all to participate in and benefit from the region's dynamic growth.

Providing solutions for inclusive, long-term, economic growth

To foster long-term food security, ADB helps improve agricultural productivity through investments in rural infrastructure, agribusiness development, rural finance, food supply chain development, agriculture technology development, and irrigation and water resource management.

Kinds of assistance vary. They range from large-scale irrigation projects in Uzbekistan and India to addressing post-conflict agriculture in Afghanistan, and providing value chain improvements in Mongolia. They also take in market development assistance, such as our project for small farmers and agroprocessors in Nepal that provides access to market information and technology for product improvement, and help for making market-based investment decisions.

In addition, ADB works to bring fundamental agricultural reform that provides more rational pricing of food commodities, along with strong social safety nets for the poor and vulnerable.

Promoting environmentally sustainable growth

Environmentally sustainable growth is a primary objective of ADB's Strategy 2020. ADB's agriculture and rural development operations work toward it through climate change adaptation and mitigation, and improved management of environment, water and land.

Environmental management

To protect against expected extreme weather events such as drought, as well as increase agricultural resilience to climate disasters, ADB supports conservation and improved water resource management.

We also work with International Food Policy Research Institute and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics to support adaptation of agricultural systems to climate change for the rural poor and most vulnerable farmers.

Ecosystem protection

Ecosystems contain rich biodiversity that provides important sources of livelihood for poor and vulnerable groups. Protecting them from overexploitation is high on our agenda.

Our community initiatives safeguard core ecosystem areas through information-based management, and funding for community infrastructure and other livelihood support facilities.

We also help develop integrated frameworks and capacity across multiple sector agencies to support sustainable agriculture-based livelihood initiatives that use an integrated ecosystem management approach.

Strengthening regional cooperation and integration

Strong cooperation at the subregional and regional levels is essential for enhancing country-level investments in agriculture and rural development.

Here our far-reaching programs include sharing and advancement of agricultural research, streamlining agricultural trade, developing biofuel and rural renewable energy, and strengthening coordination of control and prevention of transboundary animal diseases.

ADB is helping improve water management through water-sharing agreements for boundary-crossing rivers; promoting resource conservation technologies to improve productivity, income, and food security; and building human-resource capacity in the areas of food quality, safety, standards, and trade.

We are also lead agency for Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management (CACILM), a partnership between Central Asian countries and international donor community to combat land degradation and improve rural livelihoods in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. CACILM's goal is to restore, maintain, and enhance the productive functions of land in Central Asia.

Moving sustainable economic growth forward

In sum, Strategy 2020 commits ADB to a results-driven, holistic approach to agriculture and rural development that

• fosters public and private investments in the rural sector,
• upgrades people's capacity—with special focus on gender equity,
• strengthens knowledge development and dissemination,
• promotes partnerships with other donors and specialist agencies, and
• addresses governance issues.