Rural incomes
“Why do the families who grow the world's food remain its poorest?”
Root causes (expand to see solutions)
Farming feeds the world but rarely pays those who do it. The households that grow our food make up a large share of the people still in extreme poverty.
What's at stake
Young people increasingly leave the land for the cities in search of steadier income, swelling urban slums and leaving an ageing population to farm. As the climate warms, worsening droughts and floods push marginal farms past the point of survival, driving desperate farmers into debt traps; in India especially, this has fuelled waves of farmer suicides.
The global picture
Sub-Saharan Africa
High severity
Tiny plots and no access to markets keep farm incomes desperately low.
These are the most acute regions and notable examples; the problem reaches many other countries too.