Agriculture and investment policies should be coherent in order to maximize the benefits of rural migration on social and economic development, a major annual report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) urged on Monday.

Unveiled at the FAO headquarters here in the Italian capital, "The State of Food and Agriculture" (SOFA) report this year focused on rural areas and on the links between internal and international movement of people.

In its core messages, it recommended national policy-makers and global actors to think about tailored policies in order not to stem migration, but to "maximize its potential and minimize negatives."

In this way, the report highlighted, migration can be a choice, and not just a necessity.

"Our focus on rural migration allows us to say that we should not consider migration as a 'bad issue' -- as something not desirable -- nor as something that cannot be reversed," FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said in his opening remarks.

He recalled more than one billion people living in developing countries have moved internally, and some 80 percent of them have passed through, or have come from rural areas.

"Rural areas are part of this big picture that is international migration," the FAO chief stressed.

According to the level of development and to the goal of policy-makers, in many situations it would make sense to facilitate migration and help possible migrants overcome the difficulties they face, the UN agency highlighted.

At the same time, making the most of migration would also mean providing good alternatives to those who would not like to leave, "not least by promoting development in rural areas or in their proximity."

"Development policies and migration are strictly connected: the model of development of a country impacts on migration and vice-versa: it is a bidirectional path," Andrea Cattaneo, FAO senior economist and report leading author, told Xinhua in an interview.

In developing countries, tailored policies would mean for example investing to boost the agricultural value-chains, and providing jobs for rural communities close to where they live.

Yet, equally important -- especially in those countries at an intermediate level of development -- would be investing to improve infrastructures and services between rural areas and urban areas.

"If our goal is to make migration 'work for all', managing the movement of people (from and to rural areas) and avoiding extreme conditions become essential," Cattaneo stressed.

An example of extreme conditions was the massive movement of people from rural to urban areas in southern American countries in the 1950s, a strong urbanization that brought about benefits, but did not minimize its negative effects and left many inequalities untouched.

Yet, urbanization can be better managed, according to the FAO economist, provided that policies do not only focus on urban centers and neglect rural ones.

"The FAO suggests investing in rural areas, yet according to the changes already underway in a specific country or area," Cattaneo said.

He explained in many developing countries today the food demand was mainly satisfied by the domestic production. In these cases, urbanization was a big opportunity of development, but should be accompanied by policies helping rural areas benefit from this process, and especially by boosting connectivity.

"Something similar has happened in China, where (development) investments along the years have not just concerned the capital or the largest cities, but also medium-size centers across the country," Cattaneo noted.

Thanks to that, now more people have the chance to stay in their rural areas and commute to urban areas for work.

"Another example can be provided by some areas in India, where investments were made in roads and cold storages (systems allowing to store and refrigerate products)," the author further explained.

Such investments benefited potato producers in those areas, who were not anymore forced to sell their products to the local market in the short term; they had the opportunity to wait, reach a large market, and sell their potatoes at a better price.

"This is an example of an investment that can create an inclusive rural transformation, and this is what can make migration a choice," Cattaneo said.