Globalization, according to its proponents, was supposed to be the
             panacea for the economic ills of the world. The results of opening up of
             economies' and free trade' during the past two decades[1], however, have
             at best been mixed. While the developed and rich countries have benefited
             from lowering of tariffs and trade liberalization, a majority of the
             poorest countries have suffered. Poverty levels among the rural population
             of the developing and the least developed countries, in particular, have
             risen in this period instead of going down. This paper, which is largely
             based on the Oxfam briefing paper, The Rural Poverty Trap, examines the
             reasons behind the increasing rural poverty in the least developed
             countries and outlines the steps that should be taken to remedy the
             What is Happening'
             Despite the fact that the Industrial Revolution started more than 200
             years ago, approximately half of the world's population still relies on the
             rural economy for its livelihood[2]. A large majority of these people
             remain mired in appalling poverty. What is worse, in most of the least
             developed countries, particularly the Sub-Saharan Africa, the living
             standards of the rural population have deteriorated in recent years. FAO
             statistics show that about 900 million people live on less than $ 1 a day
             in the rural areas of the developing world[3]. The main reasons for this
             are: falling commodity prices, dumping of competing goods from the
             developed countries at subsidized prices, and trade barriers in the rich
             countries that deny market access to the poorest countries. Inappropriate
             national policies that reflect a rural bias' and decreasing overseas
             development aid to poor countries in the recent past have exacerbated the
             The economies of the poorest countries in the world rely heavily on
             the export of primary commodities (food and raw material) to pa...