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Focusing on agricultural growth, particularly that of smallholder farmers, can help countries in Africa south of the Sahara achieve broader economic and development objectives, including poverty reduction, says a new open-access book prepared by the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) and published by Oxford Press.

The year 2015 saw the world’s focus transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals. According to a new World Bank report , the year is also predicted to see a significant drop in extreme poverty (defined as living with less than $1.90 per day according to the updated international poverty line), from 902 million people worldwide in 2012 to 702 million people in 2015, or 9.6 percent of the global population. This marks the first time that the percentage of global extreme poverty will fall to single-digit levels.