LESSONS LEARNED - Science for Agriculture and Rural Development in Low-income Countries - page 110

as reflected in taxes and relative prices and on the impact that the internationalization
of agricultural enterprises can be expected to have on 'rural economic structures'.
Possible implications of expected population growth and dietary changes for
increased food and fodder production and associated claims on resources (such as
arable land) should be assessed in relation to claims for non-food or non-agricultural
use of resources. The demand for biofuels may in the near future become an
important factor leading to fiercer competition for scarce resources.
Agriculture as a provider of environmental services
Most interesting perhaps, are the emerging opportunities to provide clean water and
sequester carbon as environmental services through creating markets for such
services (Perez et al. 2007). These new options go beyond the traditional approaches
of conservation and the environmentally sound use of natural resources. Whereas the
price of clean water can be negotiated between various stakeholders, specific insti-
tutional arrangements as well as political will are needed to turn a public good into a
private, tradable good - such as in the case of creating a carbon market. Whether
and how other services, such as soil protection, the conservation of biodiversity and
landscapes and the encouragement of tourism can contribute to sustainable
development pathways under different settings needs to be further investigated. Not
much research has been done so far into the topic of which specific institutional
arrangements are required to establish markets for environmental services. This also
suggests that the scope of research needs to be widened to include important rural
development issues rather than being restricted to agriculture.
Integrated rural development as the main stake
Research should aim to assess the future roles and potential of agriculture, forestry
and other rural activities, as well as human capital in the sustainable development of
rural areas. Such analyses should cover representative rural areas of the focal
regions of the policy-support international research programme of the Ministry of
LNV (BO Cluster International): in Sub-Saharan Africa, East and South-east Asia.
Relations between rural activities and ways to promote diversification, innovation
and production of value-added products and (other industrial/urban) services should
be explored.
Eventually, results from science for agriculture and development need to be
integrated with those from non-agricultural disciplines. It is necessary to look at the
role of health standards, educational standards by age and gender, and vocational
training systems which are all important to the development of rural areas.
CONTOURS OF A NEW PROGRAMME ON RDSA
In the course of the review process of the second phase (2001-2005) of DLO-IC,
various elements and contours for a new programme came to the fore. The Ministry
of Agriculture, Nature Management and Food Quality has formulated a vision on