Agriculture and Rural Development

Agriculture, a mode of subsistence

Three quarters of the persons who are victims of absolute poverty in the world live in rural regions and their means of subsistence are generally tied to farming agriculture. Consequently, the sustainable development of agriculture is an essential precondition for reducing hunger and poverty.

Agricultural projects must also be integrated with rural development in general. One must not neglect other questions such as the non-agricultural economy, infrastructure, environmental sustainability, and economic and social services—whether existing or to be developed. These questions are all closely related. The objective is to ensure that populations in rural regions acquire the means to improve their living conditions.

Developing countries now deal with agricultural issues in relation with complex issues such as the globalization of trade, the new technologies and the environment. This requires building capacities in terms of human resources and on the institutional level.

Projects on three continents

We support agriculture and rural development projects in all Uniterra program countries.

In Africa: promoting food security

• In Burkina Faso , we support agricultural producers and cooperatives in marketing, distribution, agri-food processing and financial management.
• In Guinea , we are working to make rural organizations more dynamic in order to promote their self-development capacities, along with rational and participatory natural resources management.
• In Mali , we are strengthening the capacities of agricultural producers at every level (production, processing, marketing and distribution). We are also working to increase their weight in decision-making.
• In Niger , we are reconciling agricultural productivity with more sustainable resource management. Other objectives include greater stability in the domestic and regional agricultural products markets, and strengthening the technical capacities of rural producers.
• In Senegal , we are working to intensify and modernize agriculture in order to raise and diversify agricultural incomes. We also support peasant organizations to enable them to more effectively represent their members.
• In Ghana and Malawi, partners in agriculture and rural development are presently being identified.

In the Americas: Developing fair trade

• In Bolivia , we support farmers raising camelidae (llamas and alpacas) at every stage (production, agricultural credits and marketing). Moreover, we are strengthening the expansion of fair trade in such products. Projects in tourism, handicrafts and rural community development have also been undertaken.
• In Guatemala , we support the development of the networks involved in fair trade and responsible tourism. Several projects also seek to strengthen sectoral partnerships in rural development and thus enable producer organizations to play a greater role in the decisions affecting them.

In Asia: Protecting natural resources

• In Nepal , we support dairy production, micro-credit initiatives in rural areas and non-wood forest products.
• In Vietnam , we are contributing to the development of agricultural services cooperatives. In addition, initiatives have been undertaken to improve the management of the numerous natural disasters (cyclones and floods) that wreak havoc on the country every year.
• In Sri Lanka, partners in agriculture and rural development are presently being identified.