This report contains powerful stories, supported by data, of how World Bank Group projects have affected and transformed lives across East Asia and Pacific. There are also photographs that put a face on development statistics. The East Asia and Pacific region is home to more than two billion people. They live in more than 20 different countries; they speak more than 3,000 languages; they are farmers and fishermen, business men and women, students, workers, nomadic herders, all showing that a little can go a long way.
Poverty reduction is a long-standing development objective of many developing countries and their aid donors, including the World Bank. To achieve this goal, these countries and organizations have sought to improve smallholder agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as part of a broader rural development agenda aimed at providing a minimal basket of goods and services in rural areas to satisfy basic human needs. These goods and services include not only food, health care, and education, but also infrastructure.
The report builds on the 'towards a vision for agricultural innovation in Chile in 2030' report and is further based on a series of background papers and a consultation process that took place between December 2010 and May 2011. The current study is the third in a series of three that were agreed between the Government of Chile and the World Bank to support the development of a long-term agricultural innovation strategy. The first paper reviewed the functioning of the three main public technological institutes and recommended how their performance can be improved.
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.
The provision of basic market information is a service that aims to increase the efficiency of agricultural markets and contribute towards overcoming basic issues of market failure based on asymmetrical access to information. However, debate on the need for long-term support to a market information system (MIS) continues. A quantitative and qualitative survey was undertaken to provide a measure of accessibility, usefulness and utility of the current MIS, and to access how this type of service may be financed and improved in the future.
Innovations generally arise out of a network of actors and relationships and network structure determines how effective networks are at fostering innovation. This paper (Part II) presents work to develop a network diagnosis tool for stakeholders involved in agricultural supply chains in Bolivia. The prototype method used is based on social network analysis methodology. This paper concludes with a final section to identify lessons learnt and makes recommendations for future research.
Research, extension, and advisory services are some of the most knowledge-intensive elements of agricultural innovation systems. They are also among the heaviest users of information communication technologies (ICTs). This module introduces ICT developments in the wider innovation and knowledge systems as well as explores drivers of ICT use in research and extension.
Cassava is an important source of food and income in Uganda. However, it cannot be marketed over a long time and distance, thereby reducing incomes and food security to growers, consumers and traders. This in turn leads to less investments and hence low productivity. To address this challenge, the project of Extending the Shelf life of Fresh Cassava Roots for Increased Incomes and Postharvest Loss Reduction proposed to set up two packhouses in order to test their commercial viability.
Strengthening the capacity of farmer training centers (FTCs) in Ethiopia and enhancing FTC‐based training and knowledge services is important to leverage and optimize potential contributions of FTCs to facilitating market‐led and knowledge‐based agricultural transformation.
The Feed the Future Uganda Agricultural Inputs Activity is to increase the use of high quality agricultural inputs in Uganda by increasing availability of high quality inputs to farmers in Feed the Future focus districts, and decreasing the prevalence of counterfeit agricultural inputs.