All developing members will be covered by the final component, which will focus on strengthening the capacity of ADB to coordinate, supervise, monitor and evaluate agriculture and natural resources activities.
The assistance provided by ADB to support its agriculture and natural resources research policy, which was adopted in 1995, has played an integral role in addressing the bank's overall objective of poverty reduction and related priorities such as regional cooperation and sustainable environmental management.
Despite recent economic progress in the Asian and Pacific region, it remains home to two-thirds of the world's poor. Some 600 million people in the region live on less than 1 dollar a day. Given that majority of poor people live in rural areas and rely on agriculture, and that agriculture paves the way for economic growth in poorer nations, the sector continues to determine the extent in which progress can be made in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, said the bank.
The Millennium Development Goals serve as blue print for nations and development institutions in fighting poverty and improving lives. The first goal seeks to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by reducing to half, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people living on less than 1 dollar a day and of people suffering from hunger.
