After twenty years, the World Bank dedicated its annual report on agriculture ¹. One of the reasons for this renewed, if belated, attention to agricultural issues is a double observation, apparently opposed, that despite several years of economic growth, rural poverty persists, but at the same time, agricultural development is a powerful tool to defeat it. "The recent decline in the poverty rate of those who subsist on $ 1 a day in developing countries (28% in 1993 to 22% in 2002) is mainly due to rural poverty reduction (37% 29%), while the urban poverty rate has remained almost constant ( 13%) "(p. 3). Earlier, a group of specialists of the same BM produced an interesting report on agriculture in Latin America ². It redefines the concept of rural and makes a new calculation the importance of national economies. The World Bank and adopted a definition of rural that it was conceived two decades ago and used for many purposes in the European Union.
This new definition of rural considers a variable demographic and other planning. Accordingly, the spaces are rural population densities below 150 inhabitants per km 2 and a distance of more than an hour's drive of urban areas. Based on these new criteria, the World Bank report finds that rural areas of Latin America and the Caribbean are much larger than indicated by official statistics, approximately two times the current size estimate. It therefore recommends the report, policymakers should pay more attention to rural development policies.
estimates by these experts suggest that the expansion of agricultural activities in Latin America and the Caribbean has a strong positive impact on income growth in the nonfarm sector. In contrast to these results, they found evidence of a significant impact of growth in nonagricultural sectors on agricultural activities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Interesting conclusion should give pause to those who believe that activities such as mining and quarrying have absolute priority on agricultural activities and rural development.
This recovery of agricultural agenda for the intergovernmental institutions deserve special attention the Final Declaration of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development convened by FAO in Porto Alegre in March 2006 and has been almost unknown in Peru, despite the official participation Peruvian government in that event. In its first paragraph, the declaration stresses the importance of "land reform and rural development in promoting sustainable development that includes, inter alia, the realization of human rights, food security, poverty eradication and strengthening social justice based on democratic principles of law "³. Other points of the statement could not be more contrary to the concepts on which current policies are based. Thus, the statement reiterates in paragraph 11: "The importance of traditional and family agriculture and other production systems on a small scale, like the role of traditional rural communities and indigenous groups in promoting food security and poverty eradication. "It is true that the statement, but was supported by the official representative of Peru, is not binding.
We can draw two conclusions from this renewed international attention to agricultural issues. First, that rural development is considered key - indeed, a priority - for the overall development of the economies of developing countries. Secondly, that falls to small farmers a strategic role in that development, particularly in the eradication of poverty.
While each country has specific characteristics and processes, little doubt about the relevance they have for the Peru information and important concepts in the aforementioned documents, which contrast sharply with the guidelines of the presidential show "Dog Syndrome del Hortelano "which, as readers will recall, assumes that only big business and save the large investment to Peru.
1. World Development Report 2008. Agriculture for development. World Bank, Washington. 2007. P.3. The 1982 report was on Agriculture and Economic Development.
2. Beyond the city. The Rural Contribution to Development. The World Bank, Washington. 2005.
3. Http://www.icarrd.org/es/news_down/C2006_Decl_es.pdf
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