Report on a seminar held jointly by the Asian Development Bank, The Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific and the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank.

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Foreword -- 1. Introduction and overview -- 2. Review of Asian experience in poverty alleviation -- 3. Macroeconomic policies and poverty -- 4. Agricultural planning and sector policies -- 5. Poverty and access to resources -- 6. Gender and rural poverty -- 7. Beneficiary participation: involving the poor in project design and implementation -- 8. Replication of successful projects -- 9. Seminar conclusions and recommendations -- Bibliography -- Annexes: A. List of participants, resource persons -- B. Seminar program -- C. Participants' action plans

Of the estimated 1 billion people in the developing world who survive in conditions of extreme poverty, 70 percent live in Asia. The majority of these people live in rural areas and agriculture is their main occupation. Most of the rural poor are small and marginal farmers, landless agricultural workers, fisherfolk, artisans, female headed households, the aged and infirm, and children. The incidence of poverty is highest among female heads of households and children. The seminar on " Poverty Alleviation through Agricultural Projects " provided thirty development practitioners with an opportunity to consider strategies, policies, and practices that help alleviate rural poverty. The seminar discussed four key issues of relevance to policy makers: (1) poverty cannot be measured by income alone; (2) poverty cannot be alleviated through a short-term, piecemeal approach; (3) agricultural projects constitute one of the many means available to governments for alleviating rural poverty; and (4) the role of public sector in poverty alleviation needs to be reconsidered.