This report assesses the impact of participation in farmer organizations (FOs) on food security of rural households in Cambodia. The study is particularly set out to following: (1) examine FOs’ roles and operation and challenges for improving household’s food security; (2) analyze household’s characteristics that determine participation in FOs; (3) assess the impact of FOs on food security and livelihood of the rural poor; and (4) provide specific recommendations for changes in relevant legal acts and regulatory frameworks associated with FOs.
Extension services are a keystone of information diffusion in agriculture. This paper exploits a large randomized controlled trial to track diffusion of a new technique in the classic Training and Visit (T&V) extension model, relative to a more direct training model. In both control and treatment communities, contact farmers (CFs) serve as points-of-contacts between agents and other farmers. The intervention (Treatment) aims to address two pitfalls of the T&V model: i) infrequent extension agent visits, and ii) poor quality information.
Interest in farmland is rising. And, given commodity price volatility, growing human and environmental pressures, and worries about food security, this interest will increase, especially in the developing world. One of the highest development priorities in the world must be to improve smallholder agricultural productivity, especially in Africa. Smallholder productivity is essential for reducing poverty and hunger, and more and better investment in agricultural technology, infrastructure, and market access for poor farmers is urgently needed.
Although Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the worst nutrition indicators in the world, nutrition remains a low priority on the policy agendas of many African governments. This despite the fact that proven interventions are known and available and that investment in them is considered a cost-effective strategy for poverty reduction. This case study is one in a series seeking to understand (1) what keeps African governments from committing fully to reducing malnutrition, and (2) what is required for full commitment.
This report is the result of a World Bank mission that visited Paraguay in June 2013 at the request of the Government of Paraguay. The mission’s objective was to identify, quantify, and prioritize agriculture risks that determine the volatility of agriculture gross domestic product (GDP), based on a methodology to assess sector risks developed by the World Bank. The methodology stipulates a two-phase process.
This work summarizes background papers prepared for the World Bank Group with significant input from government counterparts and other development partners. It takes stock of major recent developments and argues that a lot has been achieved in the last decade in terms of production of commodities for export and food consumption, with favorable impact on rural poverty reduction. It also argues that the two factors driving the recent agricultural performance, namely favorable international prices and expansion of the agricultural frontier, have reached their limits.
The purpose of this paper is to provide forward-looking recommendations for linking agriculture and nutrition by looking back over the 40 years since both nutrition and rural development began at the Bank in 1973. This paper sets out to explore whether what is currently being suggested has been attempted in the past; in what circumstances, with what sort of support or commitment, by what actors, and with what results.
Economic growth, job creation, and development are central to the decade of transformation (2015-25) and long-term security for the people of Afghanistan. The Bank and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA) recognize that agriculture and rural development are a key to inclusive growth, and hence need renewed vigor and strategic long-term investments. Further, the Bank and the GoIRA acknowledge that increases in agricultural productivity and market access for smallholders are critical for rural development, job creation, and food security in Afghanistan.
This Policy Memorandum provides policy advice to the government of Liberia (GOL) in an effort to mainstream gender issues in policies, programs, and projects supporting agricultural production and value-chain development. It is organized as follows. Section I reviews women's roles in Liberian agriculture and agricultural value chains, drawing on a variety of data sources, including the 2007 Core Welfare Indicator Questionnaire Survey (CWIQ) and the two rounds of the Comprehensive Food Security and Nutrition Survey (CFSNS, 2006 and 2008).
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.