In light of such constraints as a limited supply of agricultural land and the declining potential for agriculture to employ a growing rural population, it has often been argued that farming and the agrarian economy alone will not be able to provide a way out of poverty for a significant proportion of the rural poor (IFAD, 2010, Brooks, Cervantes-Godoy and Jonasson, 2009). This represents the central tenet of the OECD’s “New Rural Paradigm” (2006), as outlined in Table 1.2. The New Rural Paradigm, endorsed in 2006 by OECD member countries, proposed a conceptual framework that positioned rural policy as an investment strategy to promote competitiveness in rural territories. This represented a radical change from the typical subsidy programmes of the past aimed at specific sectors.