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) Christian, P.
    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
    Drought-Proofing through Groundwater Recharge: Lessons from Chief Ministers’ Initiatives in Four Indian States
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06-10) Verma, Shilp; Shah, Manisha
    Indian agricultural communities are facing a crisis driven by, among other things, skewed terms of trade and farmers’ inability to deal with increasingly adverse climatic conditions. Because agriculture continues to be the primary source of livelihood for most of India’s population, governments at all levels are under pressure to find ways to help farmers. In western and peninsular India, where droughts are common, several state governments have vowed to make farming “droughtproof” through ambitious flagship programs. This case study reviews the experience of four such programs in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Rajasthan. Although the programs differ in approach, implementation style, and duration, all of them aim to shield farmers, particularly smallholders, from the misery imposed by droughts. Among these states, efforts in Gujarat appear to be the most mature; however, concerns regarding sustaining momentum, capacity building of communities, demand management, and establishing functional local governance remain. We use evidence gathered through field studies to draw lessons for designing effective drought mitigation strategies through improved management of groundwater resources.
  • Publication
    Who Wins and Who Loses from Staple Food Price Spikes?: Welfare Implications for Mozambique
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06) Baez, Javier E.; Caruso, German; Pullabhotla, Hemant
    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) Baez, Javier E.; Caruso, German; Niu, Chiyu
    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
    Plastics
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03-23) Cassou, Emilie
    Although the agricultural sector is not the largest user of plastics, their rapid appearance on farms the world over is quietly turning into a substantial pollution concern. Versatile and economical as they are, plastics are found all over farms. From machines to mulches, they are the stuff of bags and tubs, of tubes and tools, of tags and trays, and of pots and twine. Plastic films are used to cover greenhouses and hug plants around the root zone. Other kinds of plastics are used as ingredients in chemicals. Farms use millions of tons of plastics each year, costing them billions of dollars, a testament to how useful they are. To the extent that they can help to save water, dissuade pests, suppress weeds with less reliance on chemicals or fire, and save fuelby lightening equipment and containers, some of their wide-ranging benefits include ecological ones. Yet more than unsightly, discarded plastics can damage farmland and cause harm to humans and wildlife alike, making their celebrated durability a long-term pollution and public health worry.
  • Publication
    Pesticides
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03-23) Cassou, Emilie
    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
    Field Burning
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03-23) Cassou, Emilie
    The practice of burning unwanted vegetation to prepare land for sowing crops or other farming activities is a worldwide and long-standing practice. Its tenacity, despite its harmful consequences for air quality, soil health, and the climate is a testament to its convenience and acceptance among farmers across a wide range of farming systems and agroclimatic zones. Burning is so broadly perceived as being natural that even its immediate toxicity is generally overlooked. Overall, there is no greater source of primary fine carbonaceous particles than biomass burning, and it is the second largest source of trace gases in the atmosphere. Yet while the polluting effects of burning are seldom a concern of agricultural producers, the act of burning often defies farmers’ own understanding of the multiple benefits of biomass residues, which include nourishing and improving soils. That said, the embrace in the past two decades of alternatives such as no-till farming on a fairly wide scale in parts of Europe, Asia, and especially the Americas, demonstrates that change is possible with the right mix of public sector support and regulation.
  • Publication
    Aquaculture
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03-23) Cassou, Emilie
    Global fisheries production has risen rapidly over the past 60 years at over two and a half times the rate of world population growth, and aquaculture today is among the fastest-growing food sectors. The rapid growth in fisheries products, and the rise in aquaculture in particular, enabled per capita fish consumption to nearly double globally between the 1960s and 2010, and more than triple in developing countries. While fisheries worldwide, like other agricultural systems, have long been affected by water pollution, the sector’s rapid growth and intensification are increasingly contributing to that problem. This is not only damaging to aquatic ecosystems and water users at large, but also harmful to the fishing industry itself. A historic opportunity presents itself to tackle aquaculture pollution in step with industry growth, and to shape amore sustainable source of animal protein as demand for it grows.
  • Publication
    Livestock Wastes
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03-23) Cassou, Emilie
    The livestock sector is a major and growing source of pollution across the world as rising global demand for animal products including beef, pork, poultry, and dairy products is leading livestock operations to not only expand their output, but also to concentrate spatially, intensify, and separate from plant agriculture. Although livestock system outputs are growing faster than their spatial footprint—as managed grazing is giving way to confined, grain-based feeding—this pattern of development has major drawbacks and this note focuses on those related to animal wastes.1 In parts of both the developed and developing world, animal wastes have become a leading source of surface and ground water pollution as they are a major vector of unwanted nutrients, and alsocarry pathogens, antibiotics, hormones, heavy metals, other minerals, and pesticides. Through the release of particulate matter and other air pollutants, they are also a cause of foul odors, haze, acid rain, a loss of soil fertility, and air quality-related disease, while their potent greenhousegas emissions contribute to climate change.
  • Publication
    Fertilizer
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03-23) Cassou, Emilie
    Over the past 50–60 years, unbridled growth in global fertilizer use to boost and maintain crop yields has polluted natural and agricultural systems, leading to a range of harmful outcomes. The abundant and inefficient application of fertilizer is a leading cause of water pollution, as well as a contributor to greenhouse gases and the deterioration of air and soil quality. This, in turn, has adverse consequences for public health, the climate, wildlife, and business—including tourism, agribusiness, commercial fishing, and farming. Although its use, in combination with other Green Revolution technologies, is credited for feeding the world and averting a more dramatic expansion of agriculture into natural landscapes, today’s fertilizer use is considered to be pushing the planet’s biogeochemical boundaries.