The agriculture systems in Bangladesh face a growing number of climate-related vulnerabilities. Climate has become increasingly variable over the past few decades, with droughts, seasonal and flash flooding, and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently and the sea level rising. Going forward, it will be critical to have an understanding of how best to address the trade-offs and synergies between achieving agricultural and economic goals on one hand and preparing for emerging climate challenges on the other. The use of evidenced-based decision making is a key part of this process.
As a key pillar of the Ugandan economy, the agriculture sector is a critical driver of economic growth and poverty alleviation. Uganda's agricultural sector is dominated by smallholders with low levels of productivity. The agriculture sector is highly exposed to co-variant risks, which include weather, biological, infrastructure (post-harvest loss), price, and market risks. This plethora of risks suppresses appetite for investment in the sector. Despite the sector's contribution to the economy, farmers' access to finance remains a major constraint.
Lesotho's agricultural system faces a growing number of climate-related vulnerabilities with droughts, floods, pests, and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. In response, the Government of Lesotho is collaborating with the World Bank to integrate climate change into the country’s agriculture policy agenda through the Lesotho Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Plan (CSAIP).
This technical report covers the rapid assessment of agriculture finance and its recommendations, the findings of the situation and gap analysis of the Uganda Agricultural Insurance Scheme (UAIS), and where appropriate, presents the WBG’s recommendations for strengthening the scheme; it also includes a proposal for two additional insurance programs, one for crop and one for livestock, targeted at small-scale farmers.
The impulse towards a larger introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the agricultural field is currently experiencing its momentum, as digitisation has large potentialities to provide benefits for both producers and consumers; on the other hand, pushing technological solutions into a rural context encounters several challenges.
China has put in place a series of policies to support private companies to engage in biotechnology research. This study uses data from a survey of 103 major agribusiness firms in the agricultural chemical and seed industries in China to evaluate the impact of government policies on private R&D investment in biotechnology. The results show that firms with positive profit expectation, public R&D subsidies, R&D collaboration with universities/research institutes or state-owned enterprises are more likely to embark on biotechnology research activities.
The aim of this paper is to identify opportunities to strengthen food system policy for nutrition, through an analysis of the policies relevant to the external food environment for fruit and vegetables in India. We conducted interviews based on policy theory with 55 stakeholders from national and state level, from within government, research, private sector and non-government agencies, and from health, agriculture and economic sectors.
The paper documents the institutional logics of three case studies. The first case study focuses on farmer cooperatives and analyses the rules and routines enforced by new national legislation in replacement of traditional village associations. The argument behind this new arrangement was to better facilitate members’ access to agricultural inputs and services to enhance food production. The second case is about the institutional arrangement of seed systems in Mali. The new agricultural development framework includes a Seed Law aimed at facilitating farmers’ access to high quality seed.
While livestock constitute a strategic sector to reduce poverty and enhance growth in developing countries, decision makers often lack data reflecting the diversity of livestock functions and systems. The authors therefore mobilised the Livestock Sector Investment Policy Toolkit to assess the economic contributions of livestock in Zambia. Valuing their plural contributions by system, we found that mixed rainfed systems were the main contributors to added value, even if specialised intensive systems provided around 45% of meat and milk production.
El establecimiento de prioridades de investigación e innovación es una preocupación permanente en la gobernanza de la ciencia y la tecnología, debido a que permea la definición de los objetos de estudio, la asignación de recursos por parte del Estado y la apropiación social de los resultados. Este artículo analiza las Agendas Estatales de Innovación en México, un programa impulsado por el gobierno mexicano para definir prioridades de innovación en la escala estatal.