There is a clear link between poverty, dependency and the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout the poorest parts of the World. Prevention and treatment programmes often focus on education and behavioural change, and advocate the use of antiretroviral drugs and a healthy diet and lifestyle, for those already infected. These measures are beyond the reach of most poor smallholder farmers in the developing World. Whilst the root causes of poverty still dominate the lives of those who are most vulnerable to the risk of HIV and AIDS, there will be little chance to reverse the spread of this pandemic.

For prevention and treatment programmes to be effective, the World’s poor need support to tackle the root causes of poverty and exclusion that contribute to their vulnerability. If people do not feel that they have a future worth living, they are unlikely to make positive changes to their behaviour and lifestyles; and if they are unable to access the treatments and healthy diet that they need, then no amount of education or awareness training is going to help them.

HIV/AIDS is not only tearing the heart out of families and communities in developing countries, it is also undoing much of the economic and social development being invested; it is typically the economically active who are most at risk of being affected by HIV/AIDS. Smallholder farmer communities may, in time, face the same potential problems. Many are run by (often older) dynamic, usually male, individuals. If a new younger, educated and business-minded generation of men and women does not emerge to replace these pioneers over time, then the long-term sustainability of smallholder groups will be at risk.

The Lorna Young Foundation wants to make sure that smallholder farmer groups get the support that they need to protect their businesses and their members from the risks posed by HIV/AIDS. We believe that if smallholder farmer groups can continue to develop their businesses and, in turn their livelihoods and lifestyles, through improved and equitable trade, then they will gain the strength, resources and political voice that they need to tackle this pandemic.

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