"a problem throughout latin america is widespread poverty. what can those countries improve? the higher the literacy rate" or "education, the lower the rate of poverty".
although the majority of the total population and the population poor in latin america and the caribbean is in the centers urban areas, in relative terms poverty remains a rural phenomenon in the region. the incidence of poverty and extreme poverty is much greater in rural areas than in urban areas without going further, in 1997 more than half of the rural households lived in poverty and about a third in situation of extreme poverty. in addition, the difficult economic situation of most of the countries in the region in the past two years has surely deteriorated those figures. to the poor of the rural areas of the region are raised at least three basic problems: i); insufficient nutrition, poor health and poor educational services; ii); scarce opportunities productive employment in agriculture and non-agricultural activities; and iii); low degree of organization to effectively promote the rural interests. the number and variety of circumstances that cause rural poverty, as well as heterogeneity of conditions in which it occurs in different countries and regions hinder the search for effective solutions and efficient to raise the welfare of the rural population.
the mechanisms to reduce poverty are focuses on three types of important action possibilities and complementary to generate or raise the income of the poor of rural areas: one that is based on the growth of agricultural sector; another that aims at sustainable use and conservation of natural resources, and the last based on the importance growing rural economic activities that they develop outside the agricultural land. there are at least other two possibilities for reducing rural poverty: the traditional migration to urban areas and assistance to people who need income transfers to overcome the poverty threshold or to have a minimum access to social safety nets.
