The MDGs were focal points in country plans developed at the embassies for Dutch Development Cooperation. The MDGs provided a necessary focus on poverty reduction, eradicating hunger and protecting the environment. The overall goal was to improve living conditions in the Global South. Agricultural development was not specifically mentioned in the MDGs.
1980-2000 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): Focus on combatting hunger and poverty
The Millennium Development Goals that were adopted by the UN in 2000 set the stage for increased international (and Dutch) collaboration to eradicate poverty and hunger. However, according to critics, these goals were more a statement of global targets by international structures than a summary of expressed needs and plans at the local level in developing countries . Although reducing poverty and hunger was an explicit MDG, the goal itself did not take local conditions into account nor did it provide a roadmap to achieve the goal.