Urban agriculture contributes to local economic development, poverty alleviation, the social inclusion of the urban poor and women, as well as to the greening of the city and the productive reuse of urban wastes. Urban agriculture encompasses a wide variety of production systems in both urban as well as peri-urban areas. This study examines the contribution of urban agriculture to livelihoods, food security, health, and the urban environment through an assessment of existing urban agriculture activities among poor households in four selected cities.
Poverty, environment, social development, and gender are important cross-cutting themes of the World Bank and government investment programs, especially within the Sustainable Development Network (SDN). For developing sectoral strategies and programs, economic, environment and social assessments are undertaken, however, these are usually done separately, and most often gender issues are not included.
This report highlights the great potential of the agribusiness sector in Africa by drawing on experience in Africa as well as other regions. The evidence demonstrates that good policies, a conducive business environment, and strategic support from governments can help agribusiness reach its potential. Africa is now at a crossroads, from which it can take concrete steps to realize its potential or continue to lose competitiveness, missing a major opportunity for increased growth, employment, and food security. The report pursues several lines of analysis.
The sector review includes seven chapters and one annex. This first chapter is an overview of agriculture, irrigation and the purpose and content of this report. The second chapter provides a review of the Bank s own strategy and priorities for irrigation and drainage within its portfolio of investments, from the time of its 2004 Strategy until the present. It also includes a short summary of key lessons learned in this sector.
This policy note examines the policy and investment framework between 2003 and 2010, resulting sector performance and the priorities for future development. It draws attention to the need to refocus on completing the fundamental reforms and investments on which Kyrgyzstan's early successes were built.
This policy note examines the policy and investment framework between 2003 and 2010, resulting sector performance and the priorities for future development. It draws attention to the need to refocus on completing the fundamental reforms and investments on which Kyrgyzstan's early successes were built.
The aim of this discussion paper is to ascertain the government of Lao's (GoL) current practices in negotiating, awarding, and managing land concessions; enhance GoL understanding and commitments to develop national capacities targeting improved land management, that will generate revenues for GoL, and ensure sustainable development as an urgent priority; and provide a basis for dialogue within the government to enable its determination of priorities to better address land development issues in Laos, to enable the achievement of sustainable, responsible economic development.
This report presents the outcome of the World Bank's analytical and advisory work to assess the status of water resources development and the key water issues and challenges facing the country. The Bank has also reviewed its history of cooperation with the Government of China in recent decades, and notes the remarkable achievements China has made in developing the water sector. The report proposes solutions for tackling the enormous challenges facing China in the sector.
In the past 50 years, Indian agriculture has undergone a major transformation, from dependence on food aid to becoming a consistent net food exporter. The gradual reforms in the agricultural sector (following the broader macro-reforms of the early 1990s) spurred some unprecedented innovations and changes in the food sector driven by private investment. These impressive achievements must now be viewed in light of the policy and investment imperatives that lie ahead.
The issue of regional differences in development has moved to the center of the development debate in Sri Lanka, partly after the release of regional poverty data. For the past many years, there have been significant and increasing differences between the Western province and the rest of the country in terms of per capita income levels, growth rates of per capita income, poverty rates, and the structure of provincial economies. The structure of the report is as follows: chapter two looks at the poverty/growth/agriculture nexus in the poorest regions of Sri Lanka.