Other Agriculture Study

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Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa, home to more than 1 billion people, half of whom will be under 25 years old by 2050, is a diverse ...

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  • Publication
    Zambia's Farmer Input Support Program and Recommendations for Re-designing the Program
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-21) World Bank
    This note provides recommendations for redesigning Zambia’s Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) in the context of international experience with other similar programs, especially those in Africa. The objective of this note is to provide recommendations that can help in improving the current programs providing subsidized inputs to farmers, through enhancing the efficiency of the program, targeting the right beneficiaries, value perceived by beneficiary farmers, and probably bringing in savings. The note is a key deliverable under the Advisory Services work carried out by the Bank on strategies for food security in Zambia and Zimbabwe. This note has three sections following the summary: (i) a brief review of the evidence generated on input subsidy programs; (ii) specific recommendations for Zambia’s Farmers Input Support Program, and (iii) recommendations on complementary investments.
  • Publication
    Angola Agriculture Support Policy Review: Realigning Agriculture Support Policies and Programs
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-20) World Bank
    This report assesses agriculture policy support estimates in Angola. These estimates represent the monetary value assigned to different agriculture support policies and programs using the OECD methodology for the years 2018–2019. The advantages of using the OECD methodology are that: (a) it provides a systematic and integrated view of agriculture support policies and programs (not limited to the more traditional public expenditure reviews or rate of protection); (b) given the large number of countries using this same methodology to measure support estimates, an immediate benchmarking is possible across a large set of comparators; and (c) the methodology is simple and can be integrated into the agriculture public policy analysis conducted by the Government and other stakeholders. The methodology also has some disadvantages and limitations, mainly: (a) while it quantifies the level of support provided to producers and consumers, it does not further disaggregate support received by type of agricultural producers (small-scale, large-scale; family farm, commercial) or consumers; (b) since the estimates are based on the monetary value of budget and price support, non-monetary support, like the quality of policies, is not captured (e.g., the methodology is able to identify how much policy/program support is invested in land administration efforts, but unable to qualify the impact (quality) of those policies/programs). This assessment aims to support the Angolan Government in reviewing its agriculture policies and programs, in particular to: (a) provide new estimates and a new approach to assess sector support for policy decision-making; (b) allow for benchmarking agriculture support policies with a large global database of countries using the same estimate methodology; and (c) help kickstart a policy dialogue on realigning agriculture policies and programs in Angola towards greater sector competitiveness and fast economic recovery from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, increased food security and nutrition outcomes, and climate sustainability through a build back better approach.
  • Publication
    Nigeria Transforming Agribusiness for Inclusive Recovery, Jobs Creation, and Poverty Reduction: Policy Reforms and Investment Priorities
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-30) Mghenyi, Elliot W.; Dankers, Cora; Thurlow, James; Anyiro, Chidozie
    Modern economic policy making in Nigeria has placed enormous emphasis on diversification of the economy to non-oil productive sectors. With the aim to restore economic growth following the 2015-16 recession and lay the foundations for long-term structural change, the economic growth and recovery plan (ERGP) recognized the need to diversify the economy to non-oil productive sectors such as agriculture and agro-allied industries, in order to build an economy that can generate inclusive growth and create jobs. This report aims to improve understanding of the potential of the agribusiness sector (primary agriculture plus off-farm agribusiness) to accelerate inclusive recovery from the 2020 recession, create jobs, and reduce poverty. A key early finding of the report is that the agribusiness sector is critical to accelerating inclusive recovery and creating jobs. The report builds on this evidence to identify the specific value chain groups that have most potential to create jobs, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition outcomes. Next, the report offers to highlight the complex set of factors that mediate the performance of agricultural value chains, distinguishing between issues that pertain to upstream primary agriculture, those that affect downstream off-farm agribusiness and cross-cutting challenges. The agribusiness enabling environment takes center stage in this part of the report, focusing on policy reforms around seed regulations, fertilizers quality control, warehouse receipts, and agricultural trade. Finally, the report takes deep dives to identify reforms to increase competitiveness in the value chains that were found to have the most potential to create jobs, reduce poverty, and improve nutrition outcomes.
  • Publication
    Lesotho Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Plan: Opportunities for Transitioning to More Productive, Climate-Resilient, and Low Carbon Agriculture
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-12-01) World Bank
    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).
  • Publication
    The Gambia: A Look at Agriculture
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-02) Mungai, Rose; Amouzou Agbe, Guy Morel Kossivi
    Agriculture is a vital sector in the Gambia. It accounts for about 17.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), ranking behind the services sector, which recorded 68.8 percent of GDP. Employment in agriculture appears to be mainly driven by women, who are more likely to engage than men. In general, more than two-thirds of Gambians reside in rural areas and derive their livelihoods from agriculture and related activities. Therefore, the sector is a prime area for investment to achieve poverty reduction as stated in the country’s vision 2020 document. Agriculture is an important source of income for households, behind wages and salaries and petty trading. The agriculture sector plays an important role in ending hunger, malnutrition, and extreme poverty. In rural areas, the agriculture sector’s role in poverty reduction and shared prosperity policies is particularly important.
  • Publication
    Zimbabwe Climate Smart Agriculture Investment Plan
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019) World Bank
    This report presents a climate smart investment plan (CSAIP) for Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector. The agricultural sector plays a critical role in the Zimbabwean economy, serving as a source of livelihood for approximately 70 percent of the population and contributing 15 to 20 percent to gross domestic product (GDP). In response, the Government of Zimbabwe, with the assistance of the World Bank, is supporting the development of this CSAIP. This CSAIP identifies and prioritizes packages of CSA investments and policy actions that will support improvement across three key CSA pillars, namely the achievement of a more productive, resilient, and low-emissions agricultural sector. It provides guidance on implementation mechanisms for these CSA interventions, discussing details such as investment costs and supporting institutional arrangements. It seeks to align goals and objectives across Zimbabwe’s existing agricultural policies and climate change strategies, which will contribute to the achievement of the country’s vision 2030, and the nationally determined contributions (NDCs), among others. Additionally, this CSAIP is intended to serve as an input to developing a new, climate resilient Zimbabwe AIP for the future. This report is structured as follows: chapter one gives introduction; chapter two presents relevant background information on climate change and Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector; chapter three describes the methodology of how the general CSAIP approach was applied to the specific case of Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector; chapter four presents some analytic results highlighting the challenges that will be faced by Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector under an uncertain future and provides evidence in support of the role of CSA in addressing these vulnerabilities; chapter five presents results of the process of producing prioritized packages of CSA investments and takes a detailed look at each of these recommended packages; and chapter six concludes with a summary, a set of recommendations and next steps.
  • Publication
    Productive Diversification of African Agriculture and Its Effects on Resilience and Nutrition
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06-25) World Bank
    The agriculture sector in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains the backbone of national economies, sustaining rural and urban livelihoods alike, and providing food and income for the majority of households. Recent agriculture growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has been solid and has supported improvements in nutrition outcomes and poverty rates.Despite some relative gains, food insecurity and malnutrition in absolute terms continue to be major public health challenges in most African countries south of the Sahara, and most recent data are cause for concern. Many countries are still highly reliant on the production of one crop for national food security, which largely determines the total caloric intake of the rural population. Farmers in Sub-Saharan African are vulnerable to market risks and weather-related risks and shocks. Decisions on whether to diversify or to specialize production impact resilience, and thus their capacity to cope with and adapt to these risks. Market- and climate-related risks to smallholders in SSA are compounded by predictions that both the suitability of crop area for staples such as maize, and crop nutrient content could be substantially lowered with rising average temperatures. This report highlights that there is no one-size-fits-all solution in fostering diversification and provides a selection of policies available to governments that can promote or constrain diversification.
  • Publication
    Closing the Potential-Performance Divide in Ugandan Agriculture
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06-19) World Bank Group
    Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of employment, overwhelmingly on small farms; occupies half of all land area, and provides half of all exports and one-quarter of GDP in Uganda. It is considered a leading sector for future economic growth and economic inclusion in the current National Development Plan. Yet despite having very favorable natural resource and climate conditions for production of a wide variety of crops and livestock, average Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth--the difference between aggregate output growth and the growth of all inputs and factors of production that produced it--in Ugandan agriculture has been negative for the last two decades. This suggests that on balance the country is now getting less for equal or greater effort. While drought and pest issues likely have played a harmful role, other plausible explanations are a combination of the following: weakening over time of the public institutional base for promoting agricultural productivity at the level of small farms, inefficiencies in agricultural public expenditures, inadequate agricultural regulation and policies, and a lack of collateralizable farm assets. National agricultural output has grown at only 2 percent per annum over the last five years, compared to agricultural output growth of 3 to 5 percent in other EAC members and 3.3 percent per annum growth in Uganda's population over the same period.
  • Publication
    Cereal Market Performance in Ethiopia: Policy Implications for Improving Investments in Maize and Wheat Value Chains
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-05-30) World Bank
    The objective of this study is to provide an updated overview on the performance of cereal markets in Ethiopia. Specifically, the study seeks to inform and guide project operations for the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) and the World Bank. First, it aims to inform the government about incentives concerning grain storage before the GoE makes more public investments in storage facilities at the cooperative and union levels. Second, both the GoE and the World Bank need a better understanding of cereal market performance, including the constraints for private sector investment in storage facilities. Further, to respond to increasing demand from the government for more food-based (nonmarket) interventions to provide access to food to the poor instead of market-based (cash or voucher transfers), the PSNP program will need to be better informed about the level and extent of cereal market integration. The report is organized as follows: section two provides an overview of the maize and wheat subsectors. It also summarizes key observations about maize and wheat value chain performance based on a field survey. Section three details the conceptual framework and the empirical strategy to assess the maize and wheat markets performance. Section three presents the empirical model. Section four discusses data and section five presents the empirical results. Finally, the conclusions and policy implications are discussed in section six.
  • Publication
    Hard Hit by El Nino: Experiences, Responses and Options for Malawi
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-05) Botha, Blessings Nyanjagha; Nkoka, Francis Samson; Mwumvaneza, Valens
    In Malawi, the impact of extreme weather events has significantly contributed to the recurrent crises of food insecurity. The extreme weather events have shifted the country’s focus from improving agricultural productivity and resilience to ensuring survival, with most resources devoted toward humanitarian assistance. The country is highly exposed to multiple hazards that cause widespread shocks. In recent years, the country faced successive and compounding climatic shocks: from the worst flood in 50 years in 2015, to the strongest El Niño event in 35 years in 2016. This prompted declaration of a state of disaster and left 39 percent of the country (6.7 million people) at risk of food insecurity during the 2016/17 consumption period. The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the most important driver of climatic variability in Malawi. Even though El Niño occurrences are predicted to increase in frequency, the Government of Malawi’s (GoM) actions are inadequate, as disaster management is largely reactive than proactive.The agriculture sector, which contributes 30 percent to Malawi’s gross domestic product (GDP), has been severely affected by the extreme weather events. This is amplified by the overreliance on single-season rainfed agricultural production, dominated by maize-based systems that are vulnerable to climatic shocks. The agriculture sector incurs huge losses when disaster strikes, amounting to approximately 89 percent of the total losses. In response to reduced production of most crops, average prices have generally increased, fueling inflation and reduced agricultural growth, and ultimately adversely impacting the economy at large. The Government of Malawi (GoM) has responded by putting in place various policies and coordinating institutions or structures to address extreme weather events, including increasing its responsibility for responding to the aftermath e.g. increasing support to maize purchases. However, its policies are fragmented, with inadequate resources to translate them into action, while capacity gaps further cripple increased coordination requirements. In view of this, efforts have not translated into sustained results when disasters recur, creating a vicious cycle of food insecurity and vulnerability. This analytical work was undertaken to assist the GoM to strengthen its efforts toward effectively responding to extreme weather-related events, especially El Niño and La Niña phenomena. Specifically, the study aims to provide a critical review of how the country has responded to recent extreme weather events, draw lessons for future response planning, and identify gaps and options to strengthen preparedness and response to El Niño, La Niña, and similar weather events. The study used a combination of primary and secondary data collected from July to September 2017. Primary data were collected through focus group discussions and key informant interviews in Malawi’s 15 disaster-prone districts. Secondary data included a review of various policies, research reports, and other documents.