Reaching the rural poor in the Latin America and Caribbean Region
Weber, Karen Lyn
While Latin America and the Caribbean is the wealthiest of the developing regions, though the least dependent on agriculture, despite vast natural resources, and abundant tropical and temperate natural forests, these factors do however hide a great variation per country average ratios. The highly urbanized region contributes as well to high inequity, and poverty, particularly evident with respect to land distribution. And, although market liberalizing reforms characterize the region, accelerating trade integration with the global economy, yet, recurrent crises persist, accompanied by increasing inequality. Notwithstanding the high rate of urbanization, agriculture, and the rural sector will remain important for economic, social, and political reasons. The report identifies lessons that suggest the macro reforms, while necessary, were insufficient to remove the structural impediments constraining the rural poor, stipulating that productivity improvements should be more closely associated with competitiveness, as subsidies may skew the incentive structure of the various crops. It is strongly argued that this rural action plan needs to balance appropriate instruments with effective actions, stating that while the integration approach of rural development projects of the past was correct, the way projects were conducted was wrong, with no participation, nor decentralization, and, implemented in an adverse policy environment.
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