Use of Indigenous Knowledge Systems not bringing in foreign ideas which are divorced from the way of living of those people the development is intended

Interesting that you posted this in Agricultural Economics. There are great returns to Agricultural research in most regions. With Josphine's warning in mind, I would look at current practices and identifying any practices that are leading to surpluses now or for minor changes in current practices. I have seen some excellent gains from minor changes in soil management (especially trash management). Also investments in human capital - education and agricultural extension.

I agree with you Derak, building social/human capita along with promoting good agricultural practices through education/ extension services can play an important role in alleviating poverty. Besides these ensuring better market infrastructure and market linkages are also equally important. Public-Private Partnerships to ensure that these institutions are proactive would go a long way in ensuring better incomes to the farmers. At the same time creating a level playing field for both small and big farmers is also needed.

I also agree with Josphine that foreign ideas or technologies are not always good, they have to be home grown and well understood by the actual users to get the best solutions for them.

Developing countries need to realise that Agriculture is the backborne of their economies and invest heavily in it. Input subsidies like fertilizers may need to be considered. Also, collective marketing (like use of cooperatives) help farmers get a better bargaining power for their produce. Government may also have to create warehouses for storage of grains. Gov't could also consider buying grains like maize in times of boom and releasing in times of scarcity so as to keep prices low. However, before all these, what Josephine stated is right. We have to look at what suits developing countries and not just impose things because they work elsewhere

I do agree with Stella in everything she has stated especially collective marketing, but the issue of input subsidies in other countries it has ended up in the hands of a selected few. There is need for transparency. I do not know if we can separate economics and politics, but where there is political stability the economy is also stable. If developmental information is shared equally among citizens and everyone has a sense of belonging then it won't be difficulty to eradicate poverty

As we all agree, agricultural development can positively impact poverty levels. To ensure agri growth, the following are needed - 1) In the short/medium term - assured provision of inputs such as quality seed, fertilizer and pesticides; irrigation development and market infrastructure (roads, market yards) 2) In the long-run: improving rural education levels to enable population to shift out of agriculture and increase in agricultural R&D - both these measures will improve agricultural productivity thereby improving farmers' income levels.

Stella Okello: While procurement of agricultural output to stabilize prices is one way to protect the farmers, it has not always been without hassles. Indian experiences have not been very encouraging. If proper storage infrastructure is not in place to store the procured grains, a lot of unwanted wastage occur which do not help the cause of poverty alleviation along with a sound public distribution system in place.

Sekhar I agree with you but along with rural poverty there are also urban poor who do not have agriculture as a vocation, with ever increasing migration of rural poor to urban areas is a problem we all have to find answers.

Singh, Indeed every approach if not handled in a proper and effective manner causes a problem. So for every solution/approach, there must be honesty, committment and hardwork for our developing countries to achieve success.

There are two initial steps to reduce poverty in developing countries:

1.Birth control or diminishing the birth rate

2 Education or teaching especially female gender to read and write

You can see a more detailed answer in my website https://sites.google.com/site/economicdevelopmentsite/Home

or send me your mail and I will send you back more detailed solution I developed for African poor countries ( my mail:[email protected])

Moshe Arieli: I fully agree that population explosion in one of the most serious challenges which developing countries are facing along with lack of education. Any governmental initiative fall flat, because of these two. While controlling population is quite difficult, considering the religious and social issues involved, I feel educating the masses in general and women in particular would in long run facilitate population control in a big way, but the efforts must be made honestly and sincerely. Unfortunately, while at policy level such things are often talked about, but their implements always leaves much to be desired.

In India, government initiatives such as Krishi darshan and advice on phone is very useful for the farmers.Along with the subsidies in seeds, fertilizers, etc crop insurance is very important.In India, crops are mostly dependents on rains. Farmers in drought or flood prone areas will be highly benefited with insurance. Yes, storage infrastructure is also very important as the grains/crops can be stored and when the market prices are good, farmers can sell them and earn good money.It will make them economically empowered.

Sunita Sanguri: All or some of the points you raised are all in place, still there are poor in every developing country but reducing poverty is one of biggest challenges these countries face. Take India as an example, all initiatives are there at policy level, but there implementation remains a Herculean task, why?

I feel that more attention should now be placed on monitoring the implementation of various governmental programs, mere allocating money would not help any more.

Developing countries, particularly the Sub-Saharan countries seem to make poverty reduction look ,like a mirage. But in my opinion, the problem can be tackled. The lack of political will, the bureaucratic procedures, poverty, ignorance of the population are critical concerns. The political elite feed big on the ignorance of the poor. Irrelevant issues take center stage and economic issues are neglected in favor of politics. These are but some of the main issues. But when it comes to development cooperation and utilization of donor funds for development activities, certainly there must be measures for accountability. When roads are constructed and after a year or two they develop pot-holes, somebody must answer.

Mr.K. Singh,I totally agree with you.There is no dearth of government financial interventions to alleviate poverty or to empower the poor/marginalised people.What lacks is the implementation strategy. Corruption,lack of education and ignorance are the most critical factors in the failure of the govt. schemes. There are number of cases where if the participants are educated and well-trained, they have become self-sufficient and their standard of living is improved.One such example is SEWA bank in Gujrat.There are many such cases.

Yes, mere allocating money would not help.Proper implementation and the most importantly the follow up of the project is required.

Ms. Sunita Sanguri, I couldn't agree more with you, almost all the governmental programmes are marred with faulty planning and implementation. The SEWA case is surely a good example for others to follow for removing acute poverty. My own assessment of group approach has been very encouraging and think, this might work in India provided some deft hand holding support is provided to these groups.

I have uploaded two books (Water resource and agriculture development strategy,

Post conflict development strategy) in RG this will be very useful for this discussion

All above answers are very valid responses to the question. However, I feel they all address structural issues. As such, the issue of transactions is equally important, if not more. A persistent fact in poverty is that the poor have very little clout to transact, as a colleague once remarked to me. As transactions occur in markets, what may be essential to reduce poverty is the provision of market literacy to the poor, so that they gain confidence to transact, and over time, the clout to transact.

I couldn't agree more with you Srinivas Sridharan. Markets are the key if we are to address the poverty in a serious manner. Market literacy, market access and ability to tackle the marketing related issues in a effective way would go a long way in addressing the poverty.

Unfortunately in most developing countries are providing support in either cash or kind in the name of social welfare support and this has been the major policy tool adopted. I strongly feel that this makes the populace complacent. We should instead advocate making effective use of the poor by involving them more effectively in productive manner so that they may be used in nation building and thus able to access the markets more effectively and efficiently

Great comments, Sridharan and Singh. Markets are the key if we are to address the poverty in a serious manner !!!. Market literacy, market access and ability to tackle the marketing related issues in an effective way would go a long way in addressing the poverty. "As transactions occur in markets, what may be essential to reduce poverty is the provision of market literacy to the poor, so that they gain confidence to transact, and over time, the clout to transact." Excellent points to ponder and carry forward to the round-table when the opportunity next comes. Lets continue the policy discussion because it is pathetic to see such poor folks try to eke out a living..

Public Sector investment in developing Support Systems to provide technical and social guidance to the poor to unleash their productive potential. This investment does not have to be made necessarily through government agencies. It can be made by government and intergovernmental agencies through outsourcing this job to non profit sector, academia, professional networks and private sector.

e-choupal is a good initiative by ITC which can tackle the issues such as market literacy, market access and related issues.

Poverty reduction is obviously an elusive endeavour. Did any of the respondents see poverty reduction based on agricultural development? Not me. However, I did look out for such developments in many countries. My next experience was working at a major multi-lateral player in poverty reduction (`alleviation` at the time). After three months, my question to senior management was to provide me with reports on the three most successful investment projects for poverty reduction. None showed any evidence for the declared aim of poverty reduction. My next observation is that even in countries seemingly with abundant private capital and generous government spending, poverty remains stubbornly persistent over the decades in peripheral areas (e.g. Botswana in sub-Saharan Africa; southern Italy). The response of the poor: emigration.

Dear Dr.K.M. In broad sense, a developing country should promote inclusive development and growth with a focus on pro-poor policy. This can be done through sustainable rural and urban development.Specific measures for the poor should include equal access to finance, natural resources, infrastructure, housing, and social services,etc.

@ Hein Gils: While it is true that agricultural development is not alone sufficient to bring people out of poverty trap, but yes, it does help those who are solely dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. But a host of other issues are also needed to bring people out of poverty, like good policy support for pro-poor programs, good infrastructure facilities along with a helping bureaucracy which can help prevent the pilferage from the welfare activities. Strong political will is equally important particularly in developing countries.

@ Choen Krainara, I couldn't agree more with you on the issue, inclusive development with focus on poor is most essentially needed in developing countries, but at the same time sound economic policies are also needed to ensure that the funds are readily available for welfare activities, which most of the time face funds crunch.

I do have totally different thoughts. Let me say, very nice policies regarding education, health, agriculture etc exist in almost every developing country. The problem is implementation of these policies. However, policies should be focused on bring/electing sincere and dedicated leadership first of all.

@ Asmat Ali, I fully agree with your views, that it is the implementation of the policies which need greater attention particularly in developing countries, but the issue is how to do this. A responsive and committed leadership can really make the difference, but often things are not in the hand of the real target groups. There are also issues related to type of governments they have, a democratically elected government would be more caring as they will have to face the electorate periodically, but in other cases, things are at a dead end. But sooner or later the authorities must address the poverty issues, must ensure inclusive growth, if they are to survive as a nation.

Access to knowledge and voices of the poor being heard are important.

Delivering fit policies across the socio-economic landscape is a huge challenge indeed.  At the first link below I describe a "communications" perspective on "policy" initiative management "under" multi-stakeholder accountability systems and theatres.

This has been inspiring my (individual) writing efforts for the past years.

The second link is to a "proof of concept" "social capital wiki" for India.

http://www.wikiworx.info/initiative-management

http://india.actor-atlas.info/

Respected @K. M. Singh,

Thanks for your feedback/comments on my reply. You are right to ask the question, "how to do this".Also you have mentioned correctly, a democratically elected government would be more caring as they will have to face the electorate periodically.

I believe poverty in developing countries can't be eradicated without involving "the poor" in policy formulation as well as it's implementation.  Therefore, talking about poverty elimination without taking on board  poor, itself may be a poor idea.

Dear Dr KM Singh ji, In country like India only policy is required to initiate the implementing of already launched policies on this issue. In fact at this vary moment very effective policies are available with the government but implementation of these is a real cause of concern. Thanks

Dear colleague (Sekhar)

I can only agree when I see hard evidence; can you provide some figures?

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I can elaborate on my article on commoners in Tyrol; farmers were dirt poor only half a century ago, to the extent that they send their children to farms in a neighbouring country for lack of food; today farmers are effluent; in two generations; how come? Tourism was developed over the decades with village capital (accumulated from cattle sales; renting bedrooms as B&B; tour guide revenues; savings from construction labour beyond the valleys); earnings were reinvested in tourist facilities and their farms. My take is that savings from local earnings from outside the farm sector and/or farm produce sales, are essential for investment beyond the farm sector as employment of all villagers seems very difficult in farming alone; anyhow in "my" Tyrolean villages substantial numbers of immigrants are employed these days.

I look at the problem from a broader comparative and historiographical perspective, and the critical issue is political.  Democratic nations, and I mean really democratic states, those in which elections are meaningful, not stage-managed shows to rubber-stamp the rule of a military dictatorship or police state, not only alleviate poverty, they control the dangerous accumulation of wealth and power by the dominant classes and promote broad landownership and property holding.  Sismondi's analysis of the intellectual bankruptcy of the 19th century British radical capitalist ideology and the society which spawned it, advocating a Swiss or Dutch style democratic society based on small farmers, manufacturers and merchants, is ultimately a far better model, and has historically has consistently promoted social welfare spending to reduce social inequality to a much greater extent than the inegalitarian, but repressive and unstable, societies which so desperately need it.  The experience of the United States over the last century since the violent overthrow of Reconstruction and the disenfranchisement of the African American population in the South offers an interesting illustration of these two competing visions of society side by side and has clearly demonstrated the superiority of social democracy for economic development, as do comparative studies showing high living standards consistently existing in more egalitarian and democratic societies.  Californian agriculture today, is in many ways as brutally inegalitarian as England in the dark days of the mid-19th century, with so much of the agricultural work done, as it was in the 1930s world of labour camps described in the Grapes of Wrath, by migrant labour stripped by their 'illegal' status of any right to organize or win even a wage above the most basic subsistence.  Children as young as 12 are working the fields and exposed to pesticides and brutal labour conditions, and there is a long and grim history of vigilante violence and legislative and police repression to prevent unionization for the labour force cultivating these vast estates.  Of course, the possibility that these farm workers should become small farm owners themselves, is something which is not even contemplated in the present political climate, and when the Japanese were able to build a small farm economy in California after years of exploitation as labourers, their hard won farms were confiscated when they were sent into internment camps during World War II.  I am less familiar with the situation in India, but Alessandro Stanziani's book Bondage, and Lakshmidhar Mishra's 2011 book, Human Bondage: Tracing its Roots in India, seem to document that caste prejudices and the legacy of British colonialism create a situation in which the potential for real gains from labour rights and land reform are severely limited and governance is increasingly corrupt and undemocratic, dominated by the incredibly rich new Indian plutocracy, with heavy lobbying and support from American multi-nationals, who have a long history of seeking cheap semi-slave labour and promoting plantation-style 'capitalistic' and 'efficient' agriculture in Guatemala, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines, just as Padmore describes the British doing in Africa.  I would be very interested to hear from my Indian colleagues how the looming TTP US-India trade deal is being covered in India.  It is incredibly frustrating to see how economists again and again suggest that developing countries should pursue the opposite policies from those which have been successful in making Europe, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia wealthy and egalitarian - and had done the same for parts of the U.S. until 1980.  Under the leadership of Friedmanite ideologues the IMF punishes nations for nationalizing the assets of exploitative U.S. corporate criminals like United Fruit company or Anaconda copper, or for spending on social welfare or addressing social injustice.  I am attaching a report showing how Jamaica has had its incomes stagnate for 20 years under a political regime dictated by the IMF, and is now paying 7.5% of its GNP annually to service its debt to that august body, supposedly devoted to promoting economic growth - maybe for CitiCorp and Chiquita Banana, certainly not for Jamaicans, and especially not poor Jamaicans.

I have a few articles showing how highly developed and wealthy ancient Greek and Roman direct democracies were millenia ago, and how they helped inspire the democratic revival of the French and American Revolutions, and am presently looking into the issue of the social values of the slave owning ruling class of the American South and how they still influence the U.S. in its foreign policy and internal repression and exploitation of dependent labour, both African Americans and Mexican and Puerto Rican Americans, as well as refugees from the military and police terror in the plantation economies of Central America.  I have an older version, which needs to be updated, posted on my ResearchGate profile, but encourage you do contact me for the latest version.

After five years, where is this debate? Look, the most powerful tool of any society is self-belief. They have to trust their ability to think. Hark back six decades. Africa came from a high of the independence time to the chaos of state control in the sixties and seventies, and now - Africa is steadying along the path of self-belief. Every strand of policy should hinge on that cord. We can then look at the dynamics of education, health, agriculture, infrastructure and any other strand.