Javier Escobal was a speaker at the FAO Online Conference “Reducing rural poverty: A transformative agenda post COVID-19”,
| Date | : | 20/08/2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Hour | : | 11:00 am |
| Location | : | Evento virtual |
| Area/s | : | Rural development and agriculture |
“Closing the digital gap, which helps the provision of other services such as telemedicine or greater financial inclusion, will allow governments to better position themselves to provide services or cash transfers to households. It can also open opportunities for income generation in rural territories, in sectors linked to telework that could appear in the post-pandemic scenario “. Javier Escobal, Senior Researcher at GRADE, was one of the speakers at the 17th FAO Online Conference Reducing Rural Poverty: A Transformative Post-COVID-19 Agenda, held by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Javier began his remarks explaining the impacts of COVID-19 on agriculture and rural poverty that he considered essential to better understand how to better deploy infrastructure investment in a post-pandemic scenario. First, there is a shock that has depressed aggregate demand and raised the logistics costs faced by rural producers. “This means lower prices, profit margins, non-agricultural rural incomes, and a greater need to increase efficiency and productivity”. Second, the fiscal space that Latin American countries have has been reduced and the demands for higher public spending are larger, so investments that show that they are more profitable and cost-effective can gain priority. He explained: “This provides opportunities for articulated infrastructure deployments that attract complementary private investment and generate efficiency gains.” At the same time, the increased pressure to invest in urban areas, impacted by the pandemic, will require greater political commitment to invest in poorer rural territories.
He mentioned that there are at least four factors that affect the structure of incentives that actors face when trying to deploy investment in infrastructure in an articulated manner. First, the opportunity cost of fiscal resources. Second, the existence of budgetary resources, in particular incentives, that explicitly promote articulated deployment. Third, the reduction of transaction costs that are incurred when articulating. Fourth, the effectiveness of the institutional arrangements and accountability systems that are established to align the incentives of the actors involved. Linked to this, a territorial planning system that makes it possible to clearly identify the needs and necessary interventions in infrastructure in different rural territories. Closing his presentation, he said: “Recent experience in Latin America shows us that it is only possible to successfully develop articulated deployment strategies if these four fronts are simultaneously faced.”
