Poverty Reduction
Focus On Rural Development

By Jhabindra Bhandari

NEPAL is an agrarian country. Majority of the people live in rural areas and their livelihoods rely on subsistence agriculture. As a matter of fact, rural people lack basic services of education, health, water supply and sanitation, physical infrastructure and irrigation. Over the decades, increasing poverty is appearing as a major obstacle to sustainable human development in most of the poor developing countries.

Priority

Poverty reduction has always been a matter of priority in development planning. The process of planned economic development has commenced in Nepal since 1956 with the inception of the first Five Year Plan (1956-1961). The ninth plan (1997-2002) has set poverty alleviation as its main objective with a determination of bringing down the number of those below poverty line from 42 per cent to 32 per cent. The ninth plan aimed at improving the living standard of the people below poverty line, placing especial emphasis on uplifting the living standards of those lacking productive assets and income generating resources - thereby targeting the ultra poor or the poorest. The upcoming tenth plan has also envisioned poverty reduction as one of the key objectives for sustainable development.
Poverty is not only an economic issue, it is also related to human dignity. It needs to be viewed within a broader spectrum of socio-economic parameters. According to United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Nepal Human Development Report - 1998, poverty in general can be defined as "a state of economic, social and psychological deprivation occurring among people or countries lacking sufficient ownership, control or access to resource to maintain minimum standard of living. It implies poverty means more than low income.

Agricultural development should receive high priority as it has emerged as a potential strategy to economic progress in most developing countries. A rise in agricultural productivity significantly contributes to the economic development. It raises income levels of small farmers and meet the food requirements of the ever-increasing population. Thus, the agricultural sector occupies a predominant place in the country's economy for various reasons.

Rural poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. This has some distinct characteristics in our social and cultural context. The majority of the rural poor are small farmers with large families.   Poverty is more widespread among the landless farmers. These farmers lack access to land, irrigation and credit facilities. Similarly, the socially disadvantaged groups of scheduled castes and indigenous communities suffer from poverty due to inadequate infrastructural facilities and environmental deterioration. Therefore, the increasing emphasis on rural development in most developing countries is understandably clear.

Rural development particularly involves raising the socio-economic status of the rural population on a sustainable basis through optimum utilisation of local resources - both natural and human. There is no doubt that rural development can only be achieved when the rural people are empowered to participate actively in the development process. In the recent years, many integrated rural development programmes are focusing on people's participation in all phases - from needs assessment and planning to monitoring and evaluation.

Past experiences reveal that strategies for rural development should aim at not only ensuring economic benefits, but also social transformation for social change. Improvements in health, education, clean drinking water, health, sanitation, housing and attitudinal changes must be of priority issues in rural development. Besides, rural technology plays a vital role in rural development. However, the technology should consider local needs and rural culture in such a way that it can promote local resource mobilisation and generate new employment opportunities for rural poor and other disadvantaged sections of the society.

In this regard, the efforts of remote area development programme have been very effective in rural development. The integrated rural development programme in Gulmi - Arghakhanchi, Dhading, Gorkha, Lamjung districts and in Seti and Karnali zones has been milestone in improving the living standard of the rural poor through multi-sectoral approach. Small farmer development programme, production credit for rural women and rural development bank have been successful to improve the lives of the rural people. In addition to this, various national and international NGOs' community development programmes are also playing an important role in rural development. Emphasis has now also been placed on employment generation, food security, education, health and vocational training.
Decentralisation is key to rural development. In the present context, the enactment of Local Self-Governance Act (1999) has provided increased institutional and financial opportunities for the local bodies to lead, facilitate and manage local governance and participatory development processes. Village development programme of Participatory District Development Programme (PDDP) and Local Governance Programme (LGP) have been very effective as social mobilisation has been the key approach for them to fight rural poverty in the communities. The PDDP and LGP have been instrumental in supporting governance system and social empowerment process at the village level through the development of self-governing community institutions.

Holistic

Nepal has gained vast experience in the implementation of rural development programmes. The approaches to rural development and regional planning have also changed over a time. The ninth plan and the current tenth plan have particularly focused on poverty reduction strategies for sustainable development. The implementation of poverty reduction programmes have resulted in some reduction in the level of poverty rates in rural areas. The achievements are still inadequate, however. Therefore, investments are crucial in agriculture, education, health, water supply and sanitation, family planning, natural resource management and rural tourism to reach the goal of rural development in a holistic approach.

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