When the majority of people live in rural areas, as they do in most developing countries, governments should give high priority to agriculture as the backbone of economic development. Governments should also meet the basic needs of the people, particularly in the area of food and nutrition. We have proven in Indonesia that to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, the government must be committed to both economic growth and poverty alleviation at the same time. Last, for nutrition programs to be of interest to policymakers and to play a role in poverty alleviation, they must have wider objectives. They must, for example, not just alleviate malnutrition per se, but empower people, especially women, and spur economic development by linking many sectors of the rural economy.
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