Rural growth is the key to poverty reduction and food security among developing countries of Southeast Asia. The development, progress, and resilience of rural economy are greatly anchored on their abilities to produce products and services that meet market requirements.
Oftentimes these abilities are compromised by inadequacies in policies and support systems and institutional development. The situation therefore calls for a multidimensional approach that would strengthen policies and institutions that deal with rural poverty, facilitate and enhance access to social and economic infrastructure, ensure effective governance, and ensure the participation and empowerment of the rural sector. The focal concerns identified to have significant bearing on agricultural and rural growth are:
Policies and Support Systems - Differences in access to resources - natural, social, and economic - have also resulted in differences in the rate and level of economic growth. Inherent to stimulation of productivity and income growth would be ensuring the availability or delivery of support services. To facilitate agricultural growth and competitiveness, technology, infrastructure and financial support services have to be made available. Thus, priority will be given to researches on resource access and rural economic growth, agricultural policies and trade regimes (i.e. globalization, WTO), and agricultural support services.
Institutions and Governance - Institutions dealing with rural poverty have to be strengthened to address issues and opportunities that could stimulate productivity growth. The citizenry has to be considered a partner in development. The people's capacity has to be strengthened for them to become meaningful players in matters that affect the quality of their lives. Moreover, issues and matters dealing with participation and community empowerment, institutional capacity, local governance and agricultural services delivery will be given utmost priority.
