Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes
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Publication
Combating Malnutrition: Can Group Procurement be Equitable? Results from a Food Security Program in Rural Bihar
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-10)India has among the highest rates of child malnutrition worldwide, with Bihar one of the worst affected states. With the intent of combating food insecurity, the Government of India (GoI) and the state Government of Bihar (GoB) offer a Food Security Fund (FSF) via the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society. The program has proved successful in giving rural women agency to ensure food security for themselves and their families. The scheme is most effective in reaching the poorest households when local committees procure the most affordable grains. -
Publication
Innovations and Tools in Child Growth Measurement and Data Visualization
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06-30)Despite global efforts to address malnutrition, the numbers of children under five who are not growing properly are alarming: 150.8 million (22.2 percent) are stunted (too short for their age), 50.5 million (7.5 percent) are wasted (too thin for their height), and 38.3 million (5.6 percent) are overweight (too heavy for their height). Children living in lower-middle income countries (LMIC) are particularly affected. At these rates, the world is off course to reach the World Health Assembly targets for 2025 and the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. -
Publication
Who Wins and Who Loses from Staple Food Price Spikes?: Welfare Implications for Mozambique
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06)Changes in food prices – triggered frequently by natural disasters, macroeconomic shocks or regional market disruptions– can lead to large household welfare effects. At over 60 and 40 percent, food budget shares remain high in rural and urban Mozambique, respectively. Furthermore, nearly 70 percent of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods. To determine the net impact of food price changes on consumption and poverty, we performed incidence analysis combining household and farmer survey data with disaggregated, market-level price data on major staples (maize, rice, and cassava). Overall, we find evidence for a large net negative welfare effect of price rises in rural areas, and a small, negative effect in the urban areas. For instance, A 10 percent increase in maize prices is associated with an average reduction of 1.2 percent in consumption per capita in rural areas and 0.2 percent in urban areas. Not all households are affected equally. Overall, the negative impacts are larger for the bottom half of the distribution. As a result, the sharp food price spike observed in 2016–17 may have translated into a poverty increase of 4-6 percentage points, with some of the poorest provinces bearing much of the brunt. These findings underscore the importance of improving the functioning of agricultural input and output markets, developing early food security warning systems, and increasing the availability of rapidly scalable safety nets. -
Publication
Extreme Weather and Poverty Risk: Evidence from Multiple Shocks in Mozambique
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-03)Thanks to strong economic growth over the last two decades, poverty in Mozambique has decreased and the average household is now more likely to access basic education, health, and housing. Yet, the country is still ravaged by intense and frequent weather disasters. To determine the scale and nature of the impacts of these shocks, this paper analyzes the vulnerability of rural livelihoods across three different extreme weather events: droughts, floods and cyclones. The study finds that per capita food and non-food consumption and asset ownership are reduced among households affected by any of the three weather shocks. Their children are less likely to attend school, have a higher probability of falling sick and show higher engagement in paid and unpaid work. What’s more, staple food prices are disrupted and remain affected nearly a year after the disaster. Helping households confront these events requires comprehensive risk management policies, including making agriculture more resilient to weather, improving the functioning of credit and insurance markets, facilitating economic diversification and market access, and increasing the availability of flexible safety nets – all before the shocks occur. -
Publication
Pesticides
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03-23)Agriculture’s heavy and growing dependence on pesticides across large parts of the world, though partly fueled by pesticides’ own effectiveness, is placing an ever-rising burden on human health, biodiversity, and even the agro-food sector. Pesticides are central to the mix of Green Revolution technologies that, by enabling agricultural intensification, have boosted agricultural productivity and output since the Second World War. When used correctly, pesticides are a labor-saving technology that can contain pest populations and improve crop yields, quality, and storability, at least in the short run. -
Publication
Relocation and Resettlement
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)This note provides guidance on approaches to relocation and resettlement of people. Although resettlement is ideally avoided, the complexities of unclear, unrecognized, informal, and overlapping land claims in many areas means that it is an issue that investors and governments often need to address. Field research suggests room for improvement in processes and outcomes where resettlement had been undertaken. Critical factors for success included how resettled people perceived that their living situations had changed after resettlement, which includes compensation, access to livelihood opportunities, and social services. Also important was the extent to which people were consulted, where involved in decision making, and had access to grievance mechanisms. -
Publication
Monitoring Investments
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)This note provides guidance on how to monitor the performance and impact of agricultural investments, and on which aspects to observe. Ongoing monitoring of investments is a key way to hold investors accountable for contractual commitments and deliver the expected benefits to the country and surrounding communities. It also facilitates early identification of emerging negative impacts or of failing investments, enabling remedial actions. Monitoring is often deficient because of a lack of resources and systematic procedures, which allows negative impacts to escalate beyond what will otherwise be the case. Internal monitoring is likewise good practice for investors and their financiers, though the field research indicated room for improvement. -
Publication
Outgrower Schemes
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)This note provides guidance on the design and implementation of outgrower schemes to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes for investors and smallholders. Outgrower schemes have gained prominence as a business model that can benefit both smallholders and investors. Such schemes can improve smallholders’ access to markets, finance, infrastructure, and improved growing techniques; can enhance investors’ access to land, labor, and quality produce; and can improve investor-community relations. Associated risks include overdependency, exploitation of power differences, entrenchment of inequalities, lower-than-expected production, and side-selling. Achieving the potential benefits and minimizing the associated risks requires careful design and implementation. -
Publication
Screening Prospective Investors
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)This note provides guidance to governments on how to screen and select prospective investment projects to ensure they maximize the social, economic, and environmental benefits while minimizing the risks. It provides investors information on what can be expected in cases of good screening practice. The acceptance of investors that later fail financially or have poor social and environmental outcomes has had damaging impacts on many countries as well as communities. Screening investors is a critical component of a country’s policy framework to mitigate those risks and to improve the likelihood that investments will have a positive effect on sustainable development priorities. This note summarizes available resources on how to screen agricultural investments and calls on donors, international organizations, and civil society to develop more. It is complemented by note 7: tools for screening investors, which provides a detailed toolkit that can be adapted to host countries’ individual circumstances. -
Publication
Investment Contracts
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)This note provides guidance on the form and content of contracts between investors and governments pertaining to agricultural investments. The best guarantee of positive benefits from foreign investment is a solid foundation of domestic laws that are properly enforced. In many developing countries, however, the necessary domestic laws may not be in place or may not be sufficiently detailed. Even when they are in place, they may not be implemented or enforced. Contracts can help fill the gaps in domestic laws by providing more detailed guidance on what should be contained in the assessments, and using international standards and best practice as the reference points. However, contracts need to be drafted carefully to maximize benefits and reduce risks.