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World Bank plots rural strategy here

by Eric Jackson

On April 3 and 4 the City of Knowledge's International Rural Development Center (CIDER) hosted World Bank workshops and strategy sessions for about three dozen experts, academics, entrepreneurs and rural community leaders, all part of a plan to develop the bank's rural development strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean. The conference was not about specific projects, but about general directions.

At a press conference before the meeting, the bank called for a "holistic, interdisciplinary and multidimensional" rural development plan, which gets beyond a narrow focus on agriculture. Robert L. Thompson, the bank's rural development director, noted that in the Third World all rural development strategies attempted so far have fallen short of their goals, and that developed countries also have their farm sector woes. One of the reasons for past failures, he opined, is that agricultural aid was the only focus while things like education, health care and transportation are also important unmet needs for most rural communities. "The bank has not done a great deal in non-farm rural employment," he noted, adding that he expect that to change.

Thompson said that he expects the world's need for food to double over the next 50 years, with about half of the extra need coming from population increase and the rest from increased demand resulting from increased buying power that comes with successful development. He predicted that water will become the central agricultural problem for most of the world, as it already is in many regions.

Nowadays, Thompson said, the World Bank considers transparency in the projects it funds "a principle point." After many scandals over many years, he noted, "the bank is becoming more involved in issues of transparency and corruption, to make sure that the aid gets to the people whom it is intended to help."

Noting protectionist policies in the United States and other major food exporting countries and a 100-year decline in world grain prices, Thompson said that the bank is "very concerned about every country that is dependent on one or two commodities" and added that there is a lot of thought going into providing crop price insurance for small holders in Third World countries.

The bank executive also deplored a decline in public-funded agricultural research. In the developed countries, he noted, large corporations do a lot of research, but this is mostly for the benefit of highly mechanized, chemical intensive farming in the rich countries, something that most of Latin America and the Caribbean can't afford. "We have got to rebuild public sector commitment," he concluded. "A strong science pillar is critical for a good strategy."

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