The IFAD study, “Agriculture – Pathways to Prosperity in Asia and the Pacific”, provides an Asia and Pacific regional perspective, highlighting the fact that the overall rate of extreme poverty in rural areas of developing countries has dropped from 48 per cent to 34 per cent over the past decade. The study points to key challenges facing rural people worldwide – including increasingly volatile food prices, the uncertainties and effects of climate change, and a range of natural resource constraints. At the same time, profound changes in agricultural markets are giving rise to new and promising opportunities for the developing world’s smallholder farmers to significantly boost their productivity. Making use of these opportunities will be key to ensuring enough food for an increasingly urbanized global population estimated to reach at least nine billion by 2050.