Other Agriculture Study
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Publication
Future Foodscapes: Re-imagining Agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-11)Agriculture and food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean Region (LAC) are rightfully recognized as among the most successful on the planet: they have fed a fast-growing population, facilitated economic development, enabled urbanization, generated substantial exports, and helped drive down global hunger and poverty. Yet despite these significant contributions, the public image of the region’s agriculture and food systems as dynamic, productive, and efficient reflectsonly part of a more complicated reality. The impressive achievements have come at the expense of significant environmental and health costs. LAC agriculture uses over one-third of the region’s land area, consumes nearly three-quarters of the region’s fresh water resources, and generates almost one-half of the region’s greenhouse gas emissions. And despite the consistent food production surpluses, millions of people in LAC regularly go hungry or suffer from malnutrition and related diseases. In short, the region’s successes in feeding the population and exporting food to the rest of the world are exacting high costs on people and on the environment. -
Publication
Building Aruba’s Food Security during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond
(Washington, DC, 2020)A strong agriculture sector and food security system can diversify the economy and systematically strengthen national capacities to better manage risk and recovery from exogenous and endogenous shocks and enhance climate resilience. The severity of the COVID19 shock has created an opportunity to rethink economic strategy in ways that not only help manage risk but can provide the stimulus to investing in new ways to create sustainable jobs. These jobs can improve livelihoods and quality of life, the environment, and national cultural identity. A sustainable food security strategy in Aruba can be grounded in two pillars: i) commercial-scale food and agriculture based on a particular set of business expansions or start-ups that can function as viable and profitable food and agricultural businesses in the resource conditions presented, and ii) widespread microscale residential producers that are highly efficient users of land and water, incorporating climate-smart techniques and devices, and applying proven production techniques. Each pillar must consider different factor endowments for optimal production, including land, water, growing medium, technology, energy, labor and know-how, capital, and financial requirements, as well as a market opportunity. Strategic guidelines can steer the development of each pillar and the overall resilience of the agriculture sector. These include a strategic public communication campaign to increase local production, enhancing demand for local produce, enhancing quality standards for local produce, incentivizing experimentation in production, involving youth, pioneering innovative technologies, leveraging access to global research and resources through international partnerships, and continued analysis and assessment of production to better understand results. -
Publication
Tapping the Potential of Bolivia's Agriculture and Food Systems to Support Inclusive and Sustainable Growth
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-06)Agriculture and the rural space will continue to demand the attention of policy makers in Bolivia for several reasons, even as urbanization gains momentum. First, agriculture is a proven engine of economic growth. Aside from showing its strength in decades past, in recent years agriculture shielded the Bolivian economy from the worst effects of the decline in other primary sectors, and in the future, healthy rates of agricultural growth will make the overall economy more diversified and more resilient. Second, a robust and dynamic agricultural sector will continue to curb dependence on the mining and gas sectors, while contributing significantly to inclusive growth, value addition, the creation of more and better jobs on and off of the farm, and better nutrition for all. Third, because agricultural growth in Bolivia has proven to be pro-poor, maintaining that growth is essential for continued reductions in poverty. Fourth, because climate and other shocks affecting agriculture can significantly disrupt steady gains in economic growth, poverty reduction, and food security, building a resilient agricultural sector is critical to sustain those gains. Finally, although policy makers will want to support agricultural growth, they will not want that growth to compromise the future for generations of Bolivians by squandering and degrading irreplaceable natural resources. -
Publication
Agriculture Productivity Growth in Brazil: Recent Trends and Future Prospects
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-09-24)This report explains about the agriculture productivity growth in Brazil.Agriculture has been an island of success in terms of productivity growth in the last decades compared to other sectors of the Brazilian economy and compared to other country’s agriculture sector.Agriculture productivity growth in recent decades in Brazil has been mainly driven by investments in agriculture innovation, facilitation of sector financing, and trade liberalization. Trade liberalization has shown to be an important factor in the growth of agriculture productivity in recent decades, which can serve as an important experience for other Brazilian economic sectors that remain relatively close to trade. Agriculture productivity has room to grow further, improving productivity of lagging mid-size farmers and regions, reforming agriculture policies towards agriculture financing, agrologistics, and research and development(R&D).Experience within Brazil shows that agriculture productivity can continue to grow without depleting natural capital nor further increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Unlike the structural economic transformation of other countries, Brazilian agriculture productivity growth has been a net job creator. Agriculture productivity growth in Brazil can therefore continue its positive upward trend, while being environmentally sustainable, creating jobs, and increasing incomes for the rural poor.The motivation for this report is to explore the evolution and source of the strong agriculture productivity growth that has occurred in Brazil in recent decades, identifying opportunities and challenges for future development of the sector. The goal is to look for opportunities to accelerate agriculture productivity growth, to have an increased impact on sector growth, jobs, environmental sustainability, and poverty reduction, as well as potentially to shed light on lessons that can contribute to efforts to boost productivity in other sectors within Brazil. The report is divided into five sections. Following this introduction, Section two describes the evolution and sources of agriculture productivity growth in recent years; Section three evaluates the contributions of different factors of production, such as natural, human and physical capital; Section four explores the opportunities for further maximizing agriculture growth in Brazil through increases in productivity; and Section five presents conclusions and policy recommendations on how to further maximize agriculture productivity in Brazil while having positive social (poverty reduction and jobs) and environmental impacts. -
Publication
Rapid and Integrated Agriculture Risk Management Review for Brazil: Towards an Integrated Vision
(World Bank, Brasilia, 2017)The agriculture sector of Brazil faces a large number of risks linked to the productive process, which has led to substantial losses to the country in the past years. An adequate and integrated management of those risks can leave farmer incomes less exposed to losses, benefiting the sector and the country as a whole. Therefore, given the always-present resource limitation, it is important to maximize the economic returns of agriculture risk management actions. Brazil built important agriculture risk management policies and programs, but there are several signs that it is possible to improve their efficiency of effectiveness with more coordination and a prioritization in the treatment of gaps and opportunities. The objective of this work was to undertake a rapid and integrated review of agriculture risk management in Brazil, identifying gaps and opportunities for improving current public policies and programs at the federal level in the short and long term. Beyond potential improvements in specific agriculture risk management policies and programs, an improved coordination and integration of current tools can reduce the risk profile of the sector. In this context, the World Bank, Brazilian Agriculture Research Company (Embrapa ) and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) put forward a rapid and integrated review of agriculture risk management in Brazil. This rapid review suggests that actions that seek the implementation of an integrated agriculture risk management vision are supported by society at large and by the public sector’s interest. Finally, planning requires the need for a stable institutional framework, which calls for a national plan and an agriculture law, with at least a five-year horizon and that must consider not only the agriculture risk management issues, but also rural development ones. -
Publication
Agriculture in Nicaragua: Performance, Challenges, and Options
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-11)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. So while trade policies are broadly on target, much can be done by focusing on the productivity of small family agriculture and improving competitiveness by reducing transaction costs (logistics) affecting small, medium, and large commercial farms. In the short to medium term, the household income of the rural poor will continue to depend largely on agriculture. Thus interventions will need to take into account the heterogeneity of smallholder agriculture while simultaneously increasing its resilience to climate risks through climate-smart agriculture. -
Publication
Agro-Logistics for Nutmeg and Cocoa Exports from Grenada : A Logistics Chain Approach
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06)This study is designed to build a link between the study and improvement of agriculture and that of logistics for agricultural exports, and complements the Grenada Small Farmer Vulnerability Reduction project. The objective of logistics chain analysis (LCA) is to understand product movement for two of Grenada's primary agricultural exports and identify opportunities to enhance competitiveness for these and other products by improving logistics. Logistics refers to the infrastructure, machinery, related services, and information systems that allow products to move from the original point of production to the final point of consumption. The analysis identifies where logistics inefficiencies, from the farm gate to the port of exit, increase logistics expenses, travel times, and uncertainty. A strategic plan to increase agricultural exports must involve coordinated public and private investments in the infrastructure, equipment and services necessary for exporters to load and unload products at their own warehouses. Further diagnostic work will be needed to identify the proper technical projects and investments, assess their potential costs and impacts for nutmeg and cocoa exports, as well as for agricultural exports in general. -
Publication
Impacts of Climate Change on Brazilian Agriculture
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013)This report evaluates the requirements for an assessment of climate change impacts on agriculture to guide policy makers on investment priorities and phasing. Because agriculture is vital for national food security and is a strong contributor to Brazil's GDP growth, there is growing concern that Brazilian agriculture is increasingly vulnerable to climate variability and change. To meet national development, food security, climate adaptation and mitigation, and trade goals over the next several decades, Brazil will need to significantly increase per area productivity of food and pasture systems while simultaneously reducing deforestation, rehabilitating millions of hectares of degraded land, and adapting to climate change. There is inadequate data to accurately model projected climate challenges facing Brazil. The report concludes that key integrated and linked interventions are needed in the short term to significantly improve currently available assessments of climate change impact on Brazilian agriculture and to guide policy makers with the priorities and phasing of needed investments. -
Publication
Chile’s Agricultural Innovation System : An Action Plan Towards 2030
(World Bank, 2011-06-10)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. The second study explored the future of Chile's agriculture towards 2030, using scenario planning and developing a vision for the future of its agricultural innovation system. This paper is based on the results of the former two studies, as well as a set of background documents and further consultations, and will outline the action plan required to achieve the aforementioned vision. The objective of this action plan is to enhance the capacity of Chile's agricultural innovation system in order to achieve the goals as laid out in the vision for the sector for the year 2030. It builds on the current strengths of the agricultural innovation system and elaborates on the main actions needed to address the priority topics. Five principles serve as the foundation of the plan: recognizing national and regional responsibilities; distinguishing public and private roles; diversity; excellence; and institutional integration. Most of the actions can be implemented between 2011 and 2015 and consolidated in the next five years. After 2020, plans and activities can be revised in the light of the progress obtained up to that moment. -
Publication
Towards a Vision for Agricultural Innovation in Chile in 2030
(World Bank, 2011-05-31)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. This paper therefore reports on a participatory process to explore the many uncertainties that surround Chile's agriculture and to derive possible implications and answers. This will then lead to a vision for the sector that should be realistic both in terms of Chile's agricultural ambitions and its surrounding uncertainties. Based on the vision, a series of topics that needs to be explored in the agricultural innovation system if Chile wishes to make its vision come true will be identified and briefly described. The current paper is the second one 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 made recommendations on how their performance can be improved. This second study explores the future of Chile's agriculture towards 2030, using a scenario planning methodology and developing a vision for the future of its agricultural innovation system. The third study will then outline a concrete action plan to make progress on the main topics that need to be addressed in order to achieve the vision.