Approaches, policies, & strategies

Rural poverty approaches, policies and strategies in Sri Lanka

The government's current agricultural policies have the objective of improving productivity, raising farm incomes and achieving family food security by transforming traditional agriculture into a commercially viable enterprise. At the same time, government policies recognize the importance of small-scale agriculture as a means of reducing poverty in rural areas. Working toward its agricultural development goals, the government plans to:

improve land markets and tenure arrangements
upgrade extension services and marketing channels
provide more effective rural financial services
promote decentralization
target welfare programmes more efficiently

Under its strategy for poverty reduction and economic growth, the Government has committed itself to broader and deeper economic reforms. It focuses in particular on promoting a gradual shift from subsistence agriculture to commercially oriented agriculture. The challenge is to ensure that rural poor people obtain their share of the expected benefits of growth.

The government's overall poverty reduction strategy includes six main points:

building a supportive macroeconomic environment and boosting private-sector investment
reducing conflict-related poverty
creating opportunities for participation of poor and marginalized communities in economic growth, through investments in infrastructure and changes in production systems
investing in human resources by improving access to social services
empowering poor people and strengthening governance
effectively monitoring and evaluating progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals

Source: IFAD

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