China leads decline in world rural poverty

Monday, December 6, 2010

ROME — China has led a dramatic decline in rural poverty rates in many parts of the world over the past decade, a report released on Monday by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development showed.

The decline is mainly due to increased production and higher levels of private investment in the farming sector, as well as increased urbanisation across the developing world, economists from the Rome-based IFAD said.

Greater productivity of farmers and higher global food prices have also helped, as has the increase in farm market information available to small farmers in remote areas of the developing world using mobile phone technology.

“The figure of one billion poor rural people represents a substantial decline in rural poverty numbers — down from almost 1.4 billion in the late 1980s,” said IFAD’s 2011 Rural Poverty Report, which comes out every 10 years.

Source: AFP (link opens in a new window)