(ii) Dignified standard of life 87. Eritrea expanded and strengthened its social sector strategy to promote dignified life for every citizen. This is an integrated paradigm that centers on the people and promotes human dignity, security and development. It hence focuses on food security, health security, water security, environment security and social security. The paradigm also underlines the decisive role of education as pre-requisite and condition for the all-round development in the political, economic, social and cultural life of our people. Food Security and Basic Rights 88. In the immediate years after Eritrea‟s independence, 75% of the population depended on food aid and the food and nutrition social indicators remained dismal. Indeed, agricultural challenges as in many parts of the Sub-Saharan Africa including the Horn of Africa region are huge being affected by recurrent drought. Eritrea‟s agriculture mostly remained archaic and traditional and rainfall is erratic. Poverty in Eritrea is thus closely associated with the agricultural, agro-pastoral and artisanal fisheries systems of production which, as noted above, is traditional. About 65-70% of the population depends on the rain-fed farms that hardly use modern agricultural inputs and productivity is low and inadequate to cover basic household needs. Food security and nutritional fulfillment are thus driven by the principle of self-reliance and avoidance of dependency on food aid and the rights to food is a priority. 89. The Macro Policy, the National Economic Policy Framework and Program (NEPFP) and other related plans and strategies hence serve as the basis for this effort. In addition, the National Agricultural Development Strategy and Policy guides the sector level effort in this respect. In spite of the challenges, effort has thus been made to promote structural transformation and raise agricultural productivity. Hence ensuring availability, accessibility and affordability of food has been a major task. In spite of certain gaps in end-of-period poverty data and demographic data that can be used to estimate the number and type of poor, the Government believes, that the country has made strides toward elimination of poverty and hunger. The following indicate the progress.  1 According to the World Bank‟s updated data, the Eritrean economy grew at the rate of 10.9% (1993-97) and by 9.0% (2011-12)1. Using a population estimate of 5.1 million, the World Bank estimated GDP per capita of approximately USD 544.00. The Government‟s estimate of the resident population is 3.65 million (2015) implying a higher per capita income at GDP of US$2.61 billion (current 2011 prices). Furthermore, the Bank builds a favorable scenario in the mid-term mainly driven by mining activities. Therefore, even though income and wealth distribution data are not readily available, the Bank‟s overview of the Eritrean economy suggests a significant macroeconomic improvement. Source: (http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/eritrea), Overview, updated Sept 22, 2015. Page 25 of 100