Working Out the Solution to Rural Poverty
Ideas about poverty and poverty reduction policy are clouded by misleading measures and unreliable evidence. National statistical organizations (NSOs) are under-resourced and the collection and dissemination of data are compromised by political pressures. Allegedly pro-poor policies have had an inegalitarian impact in rural Africa. Conventional views expecting that support spread across smallholder farmers will reduce poverty are based on skewed evidence and ideology. Large farms have a bigger effect on poverty reduction through labour markets. ‘Gold standard’ poverty measures based on consumption surveys are unreliable and misleading. Composite indices are even less useful. There are better ways to assess deprivation. The poorest typically live in small households with few men in them. Women and children in these households suffer the risks of teenage pregnancy; they risk undernutrition because of a monotonous and undiversified diet; they can acquire hardly any basic consumer wage goods; they depend on access to wage employment opportunities.