This study, competitiveness of the value chain of the agricultural sector in Cameroon, aims to help the Government achieve its objectives for the rural sector. The main objective of this study was to provide information on the potentials, investment and growth policies of commercial agriculture in Cameroon. It gives an overview of the constraints and analyzes the national, regional or international competitiveness of six value chains of the agricultural sector. This paper examines family and large agro-industrial farms from different regions of Cameroon.
This report summarizes the findings of the Nigeria Agriculture Public Expenditure Review (NAGPER). The NAGPER was undertaken to achieve four main objectives: (i) establish a robust data base on public expenditure in the agricultural sector; (ii) diagnose the level and composition of agricultural spending in the recent past; (iii) understand the budget processes that determine resource allocation in the sector; and (iv) draw preliminary policy recommendations for agriculture. These objectives are admittedly modest.
This report demonstrates that financial cooperatives can be sustainable providers of financial services in rural areas and development assistance needs to consider supporting them as a means to enhance access to rural finance. It does not suggest that financial cooperatives are the only providers or the preferred channel in all circumstances. For financial cooperatives to function as sustainable institutions, governments need to provide an enabling environment, not exercise excessive control that restricts growth and consolidation, and not use them as channels to provide subsidized credit.
This report focuses on the potential and opportunities for smallholder commercialization in Zambia. The paper discusses the framework for Zambia's smallholder commercialization strategy, the current state of smallholder agriculture in Zambia, key issues, support from agribusiness to smallholders, and development of potential and opportunities for smallholder commercialization. The paper concludes with three strategy areas: how to strengthen existing market mechanisms, reform of sectoral policies, and investments in public infrastructure.
Despite its vast agriculture potential, Africa is increasingly dependent on food imports from the rest of the world to satisfy its consumption needs. Food output has not kept pace with population growth, and more than 80 percent of production gains since 1980 have come from the expansion of cropped areas rather than from greater productivity of areas already cultivated. This paper looks at the current requirements for seed trade in Africa, the obstacles, status of ongoing plans for regional harmonization, challenges of harmonization, and opportunities for near-term improvement.
This report summarizes and consolidates the findings of three Bank studies on poverty issues in Mexico, written as part of the second phase of this work: Urban Poverty, Rural Poverty, and Social Protection. It also expands on how Mexico will seek to use social protection policy as a vehicle for redistribution. Discussed in Chapter 1, the state has a clear role in providing risk-pooling mechanisms where private insurance markets fail (e.g., old age and health insurance), but the role of social protection policy in promoting redistribution is more an issue of national choice.
This report presents the impact and lessons learned from the Andhra Pradesh Drought Adaptation Initiative (APDAI). The APDAI was implemented as a package of pilot activities in two dryland districts in Andhra Pradesh (Anantapur and Mahbubnagar) with the aim of developing and testing approaches for natural resource-based economic activities to better respond to current climate variability and long-term consequences of climate change. The report discusses how innovations are being scaled up through integration into regular government programs for greater outreach.
This paper aims to develop a vision statement for the agricultural sector that may then guide the future investments in Chile's agricultural innovation system, A joint and shared perspective on how the sector might look and what role agricultural innovation should play in getting there is a prerequisite for any effective strategy. But developing such a vision is not only a function of what the country wants: it also depends on the context in which Chile's agricultural sector will find itself.
Over the past 25 years, Uganda has experienced sustained economic growth, supported by a prudent macroeconomic framework and propelled by consistent policy reforms. Annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth averaged 7.4 percent in the 2000s, compared with 6.5 in the 1990s. Economic growth has enabled substantial poverty reduction, with the proportion of people living in poverty more than halving from 56 percent in the 1992 to 23.3 percent in 2009. However, welfare improvements have not been shared equally; there is increasing urban rural inequality and inequality between regions.
In order for agricultural development to fulfill its potential role as a source of growth and reducer of poverty, it must be constantly renewed through knowledge and innovation. Getting resources into the hands of innovators and providing incentives for producers, agricultural service providers, and entrepreneurs to collaborate in developing and applying new methods and technologies is a priority among institutions concerned with agricultural knowledge.