IFAD’s 2016 Rural Development Report aims to shed light on this evolving rural landscape in order to inform the programmatic and policy choices of local, regional and global development practitioners, including IFAD. The Report examines rural development through the prism of the transformation of rural areas and the wider economy, yielding the following five main messages:
- Rural transformation does not happen in isolation, but as part of a broader process of structural transformation shaped by the interlinkages between agriculture, the rural non-farm economy, manufacturing and services. Rural transformation is essential for structural transformation.
- While rural transformation may generate both positive and negative effects for rural people, inclusive rural transformation must be made to happen; it will not happen automatically.
- Rapid rural or structural transformation, while necessary, do not automatically lead to a rapid reduction in rural poverty.
- Inclusive rural transformation hinges on agriculture, which retains its importance as the transformation unfolds, but requires that distinct agricultural policies be adopted at different stages of rural transformation.
- Rural development strategies for inclusive rural transformation are context-specific, but have a similar direction, with high-priority policy reforms, institutional innovations and investments dependent on the speed and inclusiveness of the transformation pathways to date.
Source: International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
