Rural poverty and employment creation

This column was written at the ILO Conference in June 2008 regarding the agenda item "Rural Poverty and Employment Creation" I make the point that:

"Rural farmers and fisher folk cannot bring their villages out of poverty, especially if they have to depend on inoperable margins. Their prices cannot be linked, as they are now, to their desperation to get the crop or catch off their hands because they lack storage or because they lack the time, expertise or sophistication to market their produce.

Instead of being asked to settle for prices at the edge of the fields and on the beach, farmers, fisher folk and rural entrepreneurs must be given a modern view of commodity pricing and “net backs” and they must be allowed to participate more equitably in the mark-up to the end-user."