Cornell Leadership on Sustainable Global Poverty Reduction

1. Cornell Leadership on Sustainable Global Poverty Reduction Chris Barrett February 24, 2009 CALS Alumni Affairs, Development and Communications Staff briefing

2. The promise Extreme poverty has fallen rapidly in east Asia and worldwide, but only proportional gains in South Asia and none in Sub-Saharan Africa, where >50% still live on less than $1.25/day. Source: Chen and Ravallion (2008)

3. The challenge Ultra-poverty is especially persistent and prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa Ultra-poor (income per capita< 2005US$0.54/day) Source: IFPRI (2007)

4. A key driver Persistent poverty is closely tied to agricultural stagnation Cereal yields and extreme poverty move inversely. South Asian progress Sub-Saharan African stasis Source: World Bank (2007)

5. The consequence Agricultural stagnation is a key driver of poverty and undernutrition The WHO identifies undernutrition as the biggest risk factor for disease and death worldwide … and 30/47 SSA countries have macronutrient availability shortfalls .

6. Poverty traps Reinforcing feedback: Low productivity causes poverty. Poverty causes hunger and natural resource degradation. But hunger and degraded natural resources also cause poverty and low productivity. Hence the vicious cycle of poverty traps and resource degradation.

7. Cornell’s leadership Cornell has a capacity to do this work that no other university possesses.- Most persistent ultra poverty is rural.- Most of the ultra poor work in agriculture.- Human and natural resources are the main assets of the poor.- Problems are complex and multi-dimensional.Implication: need interdisciplinary teams of disciplinary experts, a significant field presence and strong local partners in both private and public sectors. Need to integrate agricultural sciences, environmental sciences and social sciences.Cornell has a capacity to do this that no other university in the world possesses. Led by CALS, CCSF and other units.

8. Example Example: Soil degradation poverty traps in Kenya Sub-Saharan Africa is losing ~$4bn/yr in soil nutrients … plus soil degradation feeds a Striga weed problem that costs another ~$7 bn/yr in yield losses, … and helps fuel mycotoxin contamination that poisons >25% of the food supply – and far more in tropical maize systems – leading to ill health as well as lost income.

9. Example • Cornell led research has helped to identify root causes of this problem and prospective solutions : • Marginal returns to fertilizer application low on degraded soils; and poorest farmers are on the most degraded soils • Need integrated (organic + inorganic) soil fertility management: role for biochar, crop-livestock integration; targeted fertilizer subsidies; agribusiness stimulus, etc. Above red line: fertilizer profitable Value of maize from 1 kg of nitrogen Cost of 1kg nitrogen Below red line: fertilizer unprofitable Kenyan rural poverty line

10. Example Cornell - Catholic Relief Services –University of Nairobi Program on Smallholder Market Engagement

11. Other Examples • New and proposed Cornell research on: • Identifying best entry points for combating aflatoxins • Modeling effects of climate change on disease, pathogen and pest pressures so as to be able to identify best bet interventions • Design and evaluation of new local and regional purchase options for emergency food assistance programs • Development of index insurance products to help transfer famine risk into international capital markets • Developing and evaluating improved agro-ecological approaches to boost farm productivity in low-income regions

12. Student Involvement IARD 694 Course: Smallholder Market Access … some students then did a summer internship in western Kenya

13. Thank you for your time, comments and support!