How to deal with rural poverty

Rural Madagascar suffers from chronic poverty. Le Quotidien quotes ? Numerous Malagasy attempts at economic reform since the mid ?90s have failed to put rural Madagascar on the road to economic improvement  Despite a promising macro-improvement at the end of the 90?s, rural living conditions continue to deteriorate and the separation between urban success and rural failure have deepened. Between 1997-1999 despite 4% growth, rural poverty actually increased from 76% to 77% while urban poverty decreased significantly from 63% to 52%. To deal with this continuing degradation of rural life,  a national conference has been called for this November with the expected participation of  all those who work and research in the field of combating rural poverty. The interchange of knowledge on the source causes of rural poverty will hopefully present some solutions to this persistent problem.