COVID-19 and Rural Poverty: Supporting and protecting the rural poor in times of pandemic

Most of the world’s poor and food insecure live in rural areas. Out of the 734 million people living in extreme poverty prior to COVID-19, 80 percent live in rural areas. Evidence from past recessions has shown that it has direct impacts on poverty, especially rural poverty. School feeding is one of the most common social protection instruments in rural areas. This, however, has been curtailed, leaving hundreds of millions of school children without their daily school meal. 

This brief presents key messages and recommendations on COVID-19 and rural poverty.