Investing In Rural People In Pakistan

Transcription

1. ©IFAD/Asad Zaidi Investing in rural people in Pakistan Rural Poverty in Pakistan Throughout its history, Pakistan has experienced cycles of high growth interrupted by shocks and crises. Following steady economic growth in the early 2000s, the country has faced significant challenges in recent years. The sharp rise in international oil and food prices in 2008 had a devastating impact on the economy, slowing growth as inflation soared. Widespread floods in 2010 added to Pakistan’s economic woes and threatened to reverse earlier gains in poverty reduction. Rising levels of ethnic and religious strife, conflict and insecurity have further limited the country’s capacity to deal effectively with persistent poverty. Although Pakistan’s poverty rate declined by about 10 per cent from 2001 to 2005, almost a quarter of the population still live below the national poverty line, and some 60 per cent are just above that level. Meanwhile, health and education indicators remain low in comparison with other countries in South Asia, and socio-economic indicators for women are the lowest in the subregion. Pakistan ranks 147th out of 188 countries on the United Nations Development Programme’s 2014 Human Development Index – a comparative measure of life
2. expectancy , literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide. And poverty in Pakistan is predominantly a rural problem. While rural people make up two thirds of the population, they account for 80 per cent of the country’s poor people. Agriculture is at the heart of the rural economy and accounts for roughly one fifth of the economy. Most of the land is arid, semi-arid or rugged, and not easily cultivated. Water resources are scarce in most of the country, and finding water for irrigation is a critical challenge for the agriculture sector – particularly in remote areas. Approximately half of farmers are owner-operators and about one quarter are tenants. It is common for tenant farmers to be in debt to landowners. In total there are over 4 million family farms, with an average farm size of 4.7 hectares. Although most rural people rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, many of the poorest also depend on non-farm activities for income. The exact number of landless wage-labourers, the most vulnerable segment of the population, is not known. The incidence of poverty in Pakistan varies from one province to the next. Poverty is widely and evenly distributed in mountainous regions, where communities are small, scattered and isolated. The coastal belt and low rainfall areas also tend to have a high incidence of poverty. The rugged terrain and fragile ecosystems in these areas make farming difficult, while lack of access to markets and services contributes further to chronic poverty among local populations. Those who suffer most acutely from rural poverty are small farmers with limited land and livestock, landless farmers and especially women, who – as a result of systemic gender discrimination – have little access to resources, services or assets of their own. A major cause of rural poverty in Pakistan is the highly unequal distribution of assets, particularly land and access to water. As a result, the direct gains in income from crop production tend to accrue to a small fraction of the population. Other causes of rural poverty include the price of food, lack of education, limited access to health services, large family size, gender discrimination, environmental degradation and deterioration of the natural resource base. Eradicating rural poverty in Pakistan Pakistan’s national economic strategy cites macroeconomic stability, financial discipline and sound policy as key to broad-based growth, job creation and poverty reduction – the nation’s principal economic objectives. Pakistan’s poverty reduction strategy has six main goals: • Accelerating economic growth • Maintaining macroeconomic stability • Investing in human capital • Augmenting targeted interventions • Expanding social safety nets • Improving governance The key policy documents outlining Pakistan’s national poverty reduction strategy are Vision 2030, the Medium-Term Development Framework 2011-2014 and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II. These documents underscore the importance of the agriculture and rural non-farm sectors to the country’s overall poverty reduction strategy, recognizing that they represent valuable sources of employment. Pakistan’s rural development objectives include strengthening the rural economy, improving the quality of life of rural people and enhancing living conditions in rural villages. To meet these objectives, the government is committed to increasing agricultural 2
3. productivity , augmenting the supply of critical water resources, improving rural infrastructure, delivering social amenities and implementing projects that meet local communities’ needs. Within the agriculture sector, the government has outlined a number of strategic development objectives, including a focus on increasing yields, diversifying cropping patterns, producing high-value crops and investing in livestock and dairy development. IFAD’s strategy in Pakistan IFAD’s work in Pakistan aims to combat rural poverty by promoting rural development. It began operations in the country in 1978. As laid out in the 2009 country strategic opportunities programme (COSOP), IFAD’s overarching strategic objectives in Pakistan are, first, to connect rural people with the skills, services and technologies that will enable them to increase productivity; and, second, to build and support local capacity through the promotion of participatory development processes. Projects: 26 Total cost: US$2,338.4 million Total approved IFAD financing: US$604.8 million Directly benefiting: 2,080,400 households To achieve these objectives, IFAD’s strategy focuses on: • Eradicating poverty in vulnerable and remote areas • Achieving community participation • Identifying opportunities for innovation • Supporting partnerships between public and private sectors. A defining characteristic of IFAD’s strategy is its focus on people. By promoting skills enhancement, vocational training and access to financial services, IFAD aims to provide rural households with wider opportunities, including increased access to markets and to partnerships with the private sector. Key IFAD partners in Pakistan include the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Programme, the Asian Development Bank, Pakistan’s provincial and national governments, the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, civil society, non-governmental and community-based organizations and, increasingly, private enterprises. In order to ensure that its country programme has a sustained impact on reducing rural poverty, IFAD focuses its support on areas that have a high incidence of poverty or that suffer from specific development problems due to their geographical location. In coming years, greater efforts will be made to promote local innovation, policy dialogue and knowledge management. Comprehensive assessment tools, such as the country programme evaluation and the COSOP, enable IFAD to fine-tune its efforts in Pakistan. For example, the most recent COSOP calls for an emphasis on high-value crops, livestock development and market access, and on mitigating the effects of climate change. These recommendations inform both current and future projects and help ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of IFAD’s work. 3
4. Ongoing operations Livestock and Access to Markets Project The goal of this project is to contribute to rural growth and poverty reduction in rural Punjab , enhancing the livelihoods of poor households in the districts of Mianwali, Khushab, Bhakkar and Layyah. This objective is to be achieved by addressing the key constraints that prevent increases in production and productivity in the livestock sector. The project aims to increase production and market access for livestock products, facilitating linkages between smallholder producers and private entrepreneurs along the dairy and livestock value chains through: • T  argeted, area-specific interventions to strengthen smallholders’ access to livestock services – and increase the capacity of local private providers and government institutions to deliver such services • Broader policy support aimed at strengthening the overall regulatory and institutional framework in the livestock sector. The target group includes smallholder farmers whose incomes, nutrition security and safety nets depend primarily on livestock. Within this category, the project specifically ©IFAD/Asad Zaidi targets the productive poor, the vulnerable poor and households headed by women. The project will limit its scope to the livestock subsectors that have the highest potential for generating impacts on poor smallholder farmers, including dairy, small ruminant and backyard poultry activities. 4 Total cost: US$40.8 million Approved IFAD loan: US$34.5 million Approved IFAD grant: US$594,000 Duration: 2014-2019 Directly benefiting: 112,500 households
5. Gwadar-Lasbela Livelihoods Support Project The goal of this project is to increase the incomes and enhance the livelihoods of poor rural farmers and fishers in the region . The two target districts of Gwadar and Lasbela share three quarters of Pakistan’s coastline in the province of Balochistan, where over 60 per cent of the population lives in poverty. Total cost: US$35.3 million Approved IFAD loan: US$30.0 million Duration: 2013-2019 Directly benefiting: 20,000 rural households Because of their distance from the provincial capital and limited connections with the rest of the country, these districts remain underdeveloped – despite large and well-endowed fishing grounds and ample development potential. For example, the recent completion of a coastal highway linking the entire coastal belt with Karachi has opened up great potential for development. Completion of the Gwadar Deep-Sea Port has also promised new opportunities, including possible export of fishery products and trade with other regional and international markets. However, considerable challenges prevent this potential from being fulfilled, including: • Underdeveloped support infrastructure • Antiquated harvesting and transport practices • Underdeveloped markets and processing systems • Limited capacities and resources of fishing communities. ©IFAD/Asad Zaidi To address these challenges, IFAD’s project goals include improving physical infrastructure and marketing facilities, enhancing communities’ access to capital, strengthening community and village organizations, and building capacity among regulatory and support organizations. 5
6. Southern Punjab Poverty Alleviation Project The objective of this project is to increase the incomes of landless casual labourers , smallholder farmers and women who are heads of households by enhancing their employment potential and boosting agricultural productivity and production. The project is designed to assist the Government of Pakistan in alleviating poverty in southern Punjab. Located within Pakistan’s cotton/wheat zone, southern Punjab has long been neglected by development assistance on the assumption that its relatively productive agriculture sector would ensure financial security for the population. However, recent analysis has revealed that the incidence of poverty in the region is among the highest in Pakistan. This poverty is evidenced not only in low per capita incomes and consumption expenditures, but also in the lack of access to schools, medical facilities, roads, electricity and other elements of infrastructure and human development. Among the root causes of poverty in the region are the skewed distribution of land and exploitative farming arrangements. The project is designed with these challenges in mind, providing a range of income-generating opportunities for the poorest and most vulnerable members of rural communities in the target area. Programme impact: Partnering with commercial banks to expand access to rural credit The Programme for Increasing Sustainable Microfinance (PRISM) – an IFAD-supported initiative in Pakistan – has taken a unique approach to the critically important task of ensuring that poor rural people have access to financial services. Namely, it has cultivated partnerships with commercial banks, which previously had limited involvement in rural microfinance. In the process, PRISM has substantially contributed to the transformation of the microfinance sector in Pakistan, reducing the sector’s dependency on declining donor financing. At a total cost of US$46.6 million, the programme received an IFAD loan of US$35 million and directly benefited the members of some 160,000 households – half of them women – between 2008 and 2013. As a result of PRISM’s activities, commercial banks have increasingly invested in microfinance institutions across the country. In turn, IFAD’s partner organizations have gained greater access to liquidity and institutional development, and poor households have benefited from timely and fairly priced microfinance services. PRISM has made solid progress in the context of a difficult economic environment and widespread international concern about the health and vibrancy of the microfinance sector. Despite these challenges, the programme has expanded access to rural credit, thereby increasing the productivity of both farm and non-farm enterprises, and enhancing the livelihoods and food security of farmers and microentrepreneurs alike. 6 Total cost: US$49.1 million Approved IFAD loan: US$40.2 million Duration: 2011-2016 Directly benefiting: 80,000 rural households
7. ©IFAD/Asad Zaidi Economic Transformation Initiative - Gilgit-Baltistan (ETI-GB) The objective of the initiative is to increase agricultural incomes and employment for at least 100,000 rural households in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, where over 90 per cent of the population is engaged in agriculture. The initiative will focus on: Total cost: US$120.2 million Approved IFAD loan: US$67.0 million IFAD loan: US$67.0 million Duration: 2015-2022 Directly benefiting: 100,000 households • I ncreasing agricultural production, and introducing high-value cash crops and linking farmers to local markets • Developing and improving infrastructure including irrigation schemes and rural roads • O  rganizing smallholder farmers into producers’ groups and formulating value chain development In Pakistan, poverty in remote rural areas is largely due to small per capita landholdings (0.6–0.8 acres), poor access to markets, lack of access to credit, inputs and support services, limited off-farm employment opportunities, and policy and institutional constraints. The initiative will directly support the government’s second poverty reduction strategy paper (2010), which highlights the need for an increased investment in agriculture and rural development. 7
8. Building a poverty-free world ©IFAD/Asad Zaidi IFAD invests in rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided US$17.7 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached about 459 million people. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agriculture hub. Contacts: Hubert Boirard Country Programme Manager IFAD Via Paolo di Dono, 44 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: +39 06 5459 2298 Fax: +39 06 5459 3298 E-mail: h.boirard@ifad.org Qaim Shah Country Programme Officer 39, Street 27, F6/2 Islamabad, Pakistan Tel: +92 5183 55859 E-mail: q.shah@ifad.org For further information on rural poverty in Pakistan, visit the Rural Poverty Portal: http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org International Fund for Agricultural Development Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: +39 06 54591 - Fax: +39 06 5043463 E-mail: ifad@ifad.org www.ifad.org www.ruralpovertyportal.org ifad-un.blogspot.com www.facebook.com/ifad instagram.com/ifadnews www.twitter.com/ifadnews www.youtube.com/user/ifadTV May 2016