Program Interventions for Food Security, Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development Suresh Babu October 26, 2011

Page 2 Concept of Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation  Growth for poverty reduction  Employment orientation  Landless laborers  Poor and vulnerable

Page 3 Green Revolution and Poverty  Food production increase – 250 m. tons  Real price of food goes down?  Extra resources for education/health

Page 4 Rural Growth Linkages  Input supplies  Marketing agents  Repairs & maintenance  Artisans & services  Post-harvest agroprocessing

Page 5 Food to Health  Macronutrients to Micronutrients  Iron – Anemia  Vitamin A deficiency  Child malnutrition remains high

Page 6 Technology Challenges  Technology – labor saving?  Getting out of agriculture  Rural nonfarm employment

Increasing productivity Page 7

Page 8 Institutional Challenges  Institutions to help the poor?  Who are the poor?  Where are they?  Why are they?  How to help?

Page 9 Rural Institutions  The Gram Panchayats  Linkages to service delivery  Linkages to government programs  Linkages to NGOs

Page 10 Policy Challenges  What policies are in place?  What programs are in place?  How they affect people?  How to influence policy?  How to monitor the impact?

Page 11 Program Interventions  Cash transfers  Food related programs  Price and tax subsidies  Fee waivers in health  Public works  Microcredit and informal insurance

Page 12 Cross-cutting Issues  Overview  Institutions  Targeting  Evaluation  Political Economy  Gender  Community Based Targeting

Page 13 Supplementary Feeding Programs  Economic Rationale for Supplementary Feeding Programs  Effectiveness of Supplementary Feeding Programs  Appropriate Circumstances for the Use of Supplementary Feeding programs  Program Design Issues  Criteria for Program Evaluation

Page 14 Characteristics of Selected School Feeding Programs Ration Days per year Cost per 1,000 calories/d ay over 365 days (US $) Number of beneficiaries Estimated annual cost (US$ millions) Tamil Nadu Mid- day meal n.a. Guatemala ,099, Gambia , Nepal 3718 mix of Maternal and child Health and Social Fund , Source: World Bank data

Page 15 Food for Work Programs  Economic Rationale for Food for Work  Program Design  Criteria for Program Evaluation

Page 16 Food Stamp Programs  Economic Rationale for Food Stamp Programs  Appropriate Circumstances for the Use of Food Stamps  Design Issues  Suitability for Adapting to a Crisis  Implementation of Food Stamp Programs  Criteria for Evaluating Programs

Page 17 Emergency Feeding  Rationale for World Bank Involvement with Emergency Feeding Programs  Purpose of Emergency Feeding  Timing the Transfer to Support Both Objectives  Program Types  Appropriate Conditions for Emergency Feeding

Page 18 An International Comparison of Leakage from Food Subsidy Programs Type of programCountryLeakage to Non- needy Untargeted Food SubsidiesEgypt (early 1980s)High (60-80%) Untargeted Food SubsidesBrazilHigh (81%) Untargeted Food Rations (I.e., ratio shops) India, PakistanHigh (50-60%) Self-targeting Food RationsBangladesh (sorghum), Pakistan Low (10-20%) Food Stamps- Targeted by Income Colombia, Sri Lanka (post- 1979), United States Low-Moderate (10-30%) Supplementation Schemes- On- site, most Vulnerable Group Targeting India, Tamil NaduLow (3-10%) Targeted Food for Education program (free ration for school enrollment of children BangladeshLow (8-14%)

Page 19 Key Design Features of a Good Public Works Program  The wage rate should be set at a level  Restrictions on eligibility should be avoided  If rationing is required, program should be targeted to poor areas  The labor intensity should be as high as possible  Public works should be synchronized to the timing of agricultural slack seasons  Provision of childcare or preschool services can improve participation by women  Transaction costs to the poor are kept low  The program should include an asset maintenance component

Page 20 Targeting: An overview  The benefits of targeting  The costs of Targeting  Measuring targeting performance  Classifying targeting methods

Page 21 The International evidence on targeting outcomes  Database Construction  Programs Identified  Indicators of targeting performance  Descriptive analysis  Regression analysis  Caveats and limitations  Summary

Page 22 Implementing targeting methods  Mean tests  Proxy means tests  Community based targeting  Geographic targeting  Demographic targeting  Self-targeting  Some generic issues

Page 23 Several possible roles for safety nets in very poor countries  To fill in the deepest part of the poverty gap  To bring all (or many) of the poor up to an acceptable consumption level  To smooth consumption (e.g., seasonally)  To protect against major shocks  To insure against individual risks, either idiosyncratic ones such as income loss, or those that allow the poor to take on riskier, but higher return, activities  As an investment (to avoid decapitalization and to keep children in school)

Page 24 Global Hunger Index -2010

Page 25 Capacity Development?  Translate policies and programs into action  Build capacity for local governance  Empowering rural youth  Ride the new wave of high Value agriculture  Public-Private partnership

Page 26 Thank you…..