Progress in reducing rural poverty has stalled. In the 1990s, it fell to less than a third of the rate needed to meet the United Nation's commitment to halve the world poverty by 2015. Although three quarters of the world's 1.2 billion extremely poor people live and work in rural areas, aid toagriculture, their main source of income has fallen by two thirds.In its Rural Poverty Report 2001, the International Fund for Agricultural Development argues that, to be successful, poverty-reduction policies must focus on rural areas. To overcome disadvantages stemming from remoteness, lack of education and health care, insecure and unproductive jobs, highfertility, and (often) discrimination as women or ethnic minorities, the rural poor need; legally secure entitlement to assets (especially land and water); technology (above all for increasing the output and yield of food staples); access to markets; and access to microfinance. Such policies wouldpromote economic growth and help alleviate urban poverty as well. Sustainable reduction in poverty would need creation of a pro-poor policy environment, and allocation of a greater volume of resources targeted to the poor with greater effectiveness. This needs to be complemented by betterpartnership among the government, civil society, and the private sector so that the poor are empowered to take responsibility for their own development.