IFAD urges govt and donors to focus aid on rural poor
IFAD urges govt and donors to focus aid on rural poor
JAKARTA (JP): The International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD) has urged the government and international
donors to focus their assistance on Indonesia's rural poor.
IFAD Country Portfolio Manager for Indonesia Mattia Prayer
Galletti said on Monday that the economic crisis had shown that
the country's rural poor was more adaptive to economic change
than the destitute living in urban areas.
"The rural poor can, and should, be considered as credible
partners in development work. The government and foreign donors
should focus more on the development of rural areas," he told The
Jakarta Post.
The majority of international financial assistance provided to
Indonesia, including in the form of food subsidies, credit for
income-generating activities and public works programs, benefits
mainly the urban poor.
IFAD fears the government has made drastic cuts in its
spending on rural infrastructure as part of its budget
adjustments during the crisis.
Galletti said IFAD, which could arrange additional funds for
Indonesia, wanted the lion's share of the aid to be directed to
develop infrastructure in rural areas to create more job
opportunities.
"The real challenge is to ensure that a substantial part of
these funds is allocated to the rural sector and that the rural
poor benefit through employment generation in rural areas," he
said.
He said the government should realize the country's remote
areas were in need of greater assistance.
Rural areas have not only been affected by the financial
crisis but have also borne the brunt of a drought and massive
forest fires.
"The incidence of poverty is greater in these areas, which are
mostly inhabited by indigenous people. This includes parts of
Kalimantan, Irian Jaya, East and West Nusa Tenggara and Maluku.
We should pay more attention to these areas," he said.
Ministry of Agriculture Secretary-General Syarifuddin Karama
said the government had made rural development its long-term
focus.
"The economic crisis has created much unemployment for city
dwellers, migrants and temporary workers who are being forced
back to rural areas," he said.
"With limited land and technology, this reverse worker
migrational flow will be a great burden to rural areas. We should
create jobs for them through infrastructure development," he said
in a speech at an agricultural development workshop.
The three-day workshop, which opened on Monday, is being
jointly held by IFAD and the Ministry of Agriculture to identify
the effects of the monetary crisis on agricultural development
and the projects needed to be financed in the future.
IFAD, a Rome-based agency under the United Nations, began its
operations in Indonesia in 1981. To date, the agency has provided
US$219 million in soft loans to finance 10 agricultural projects.
It is currently involved in five ongoing projects.
IFAD assistant president Klemens van de Sand said the agency
was interested in fostering a more targeted, innovative and
community led resilience-building program in the future.
He said IFAD was currently formulating a special program
concentrated on the rehabilitation of rural infrastructures
through irrigation networks, access roads in remote and hilly
areas and the building of small-scale water control schemes.
(gis)