Other Agriculture Study
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Publication
Towards Improved Farm Structures and Rural Land Market Functioning: Policy Options Based on Lessons from European Experience
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-07-14)Most transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe face enormous challenges in developing a viable land structure. Due to restitution processes and socially engaged policies of privatization, wide spread land fragmentation is present. The situation in Armenia is comparable with many other countries in the region. Privatization was mainly done in the 1990s but continues until now as state and public land still represent a relatively large share of agricultural land. Figures of Armenia over the last 20 years illustrate minimal change in average farm and plot size. This outline is based on review and analysis of available data and a visit to Armenia in June 2017. It aims to contribute to selecting the policy options and setting the preconditions in Armenia needed to get a well-functioning rural land market to enlarge farms and to reduce fragmentation. As shown in this report, experience in the region is still limited which made it necessary and relevant to refer to experience in Western European countries. Options are not limited to land consolidation but include improved management of state land, land banking, agricultural lease regulation and some other supporting measures. The analysis conducted for this report draws on data collected from the Agricultural Census data of 2014 and data from the Real property cadastre. Qualitative data are based on several reports, presentations and interviews with experts and policy makers listed in the annex. Although further analysis is needed, it is clear that the current situation provides a serious risk for the agricultural sector which jeopardises the impact of any support to the sector. While Western European countries could organically adapt and support the sector to changing market conditions since the 1950s, the situation in Armenia (and other countries in the region) requires a set of measures which is unprecedented in its scale and intensity to speed up this process. -
Publication
Agriculture for Jobs and Growth in the Western Balkans: A Regional Report
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-06)The agri-food industry, comprising agricultural inputs, primary agricultural production, off-farm food processing, food distribution, food retail and consumption, and other food-related services, is one of the most important industries in the Western Balkans in terms of turnover, jobs and geographic scale. Average turnover of the agri-food industry accounts for 24 percent of total manufacturing turnover in the Western Balkan (WB) region compared to the European Union (EU) average of 15 percent (in 2011) and it is more evenly distributed geographically than other industries. Global evidence suggests that agribusiness has the highest short-term indirect employment impact, where creating one job generates more than double the number of jobs in the rest of the economy. The sector’s broad geographic footprint, multiple functions and cross-sector linkages could transform the industry into a powerful driver of value addition, income diversification and innovation in rural areas. The objective of this regional study is to examine how further investment, modernization and transformation of the agriculture and rural economy can contribute to job creation and economic growth in the Western Balkans, while highlighting how better public policies and deeper European integration can help take this process forward. The study aims to better understand the features of agri-food employment in the region, including its potential to generate more, better and more inclusive jobs and to identify transformative (policy) actions that could trigger a structural change towards a more productive use of human and other resources in agriculture. -
Publication
Sustainable, Inclusive Agriculture Sector Growth in Armenia: Lessons from Recent Experience of Growth and Contraction
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-05)This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) for Armenia has been prepared with the aim to identify key challenges and opportunities to advance the twin goals of ending absolute poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The review of Armenia’s agriculture sector forms part of this background material. Following an overview of the sector’s major characteristics, the study analyses the determinants of agriculture sector growth from 2004-2015, a period characterized by both expansion and contraction. The links between this growth and employment creation are then considered, followed by review of the inclusiveness of observed sector growth. Agriculture sector resilience to exogenous shocks is also examined, at both sector and household level. The study concludes by assessing the implications of the analysis for the four original hypotheses -
Publication
Modernization and Commercialization of Armenian Agriculture: Priorities for Sector Reform and Investment
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06-09)The study focuses on themes and areas that have been identified as highly relevant for the modernization and commercialization of the agriculture sector. The study originally aimed to review: agricultural marketing, processing and exports; food safety; agricultural “cooperation,” including farmers’ groups; agricultural extension and agricultural insurance. This coverage was subsequently modified to: (i) avoid repetition of existing work; (ii) draw more extensively on WBG experience in other countries; (iii) address relevant long-term issues more directly; and (iv) to inform discussion of relevant issues on which little information was available. The proposed review of marketing, processing and exports, an area that has already been well studied – was thus replaced with a review of global experience in developing successful export-led agricultural industries. Similarly, the study of agricultural ‘cooperation,’ an area also widely studied, was replaced with an analysis of agricultural land markets. Both “cooperation” and land markets are highly pertinent to the need to increase farm size to improve competitiveness. Land markets offer a more structural, long-term response to this problem, however, a response that so far has received little attention. Finally, an analysis of public expenditure on agriculture was added to provide insight into public expenditure on long-term versus short-term sector objectives. The review outlines the elements of a long-term framework based on building a cluster-based, institutional framework for horticultural exports, and suggests the need to prioritize associated development of agricultural extension, food safety, agricultural land markets and agricultural risk management. Horticulture is viewed as a vector for modernization and commercialization, due to its demonstrated potential for exports. The proposed framework would drive growth and change throughout the sector, however, due to the sector-wide impact of support for extension, food safety, land markets and risk management. -
Publication
Kazakhstan Agricultural Sector Risk Assessment
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-02)Agriculture is among the most risk-prone sectors in the economies of Central Asia. Production shocks from weather, pests and diseases and adverse movements in agricultural product and input prices not only impact farmers and agri-business firms, but can also strain government finances. Some of these risks are small and localized and can be managed by producers. Others are the result of more severe, exogenous shocks outside agriculture that require a broader response. Failure to respond adequately to these more severe risks leads to a perpetual cycle of ‘shock-recovery-shock’ which reinforces poverty traps and compromises long-term growth. A broad-based program to improve livestock productivity is recommended to strengthen the resilience of livestock production systems and rangeland use in Kazakhstan. Proposed interventions include measures to: (i) reverse degradation of water, soil and vegetation cover; (ii) safeguard the long-term viability of rangeland ecosystems, while ensuring sustainable access to grazing land; and (iii) strengthen livestock services (veterinary, animal health, feed and fodder supply, destocking, water and grazing access, and weather and market information). These measures will enable farmers to manage their resources better, to respond to climate and market signals and to protect their resource base in times of drought. The recommendations developed under these three solution areas continue the underlying emphasis on mitigation as the foundation for risk management. They also highlight the mutually reinforcing benefits of measures to improve crop and livestock productivity for both risk management and sector growth. -
Publication
Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of : Analysis of the Agricultural Support Programs
(Washington, DC, 2013-10)The report is structured to allow readers familiar with Macedonia s agriculture sector to quickly grasp the essentials needed to improve the sector, as well as to inform a general audience on how to address the challenges of a modern European Union (EU)-aspiring state. Chapter two provides an in-depth analysis of the sectoral background, illustrating the main characteristics and challenges of Macedonia s agriculture sector. The illustration takes an integrated approach to the sector, covering a vast range of inter-related topics including the prominence of the sector not only in terms of its economic and social contribution but also its implications for trade, the urban-rural poverty gap and shared prosperity, farm structure, climate adaptation, and capacity building. Chapter three draws on lessons from the European Union (EU) and provides a framework to analyze Macedonia s agricultural support programs. Further, the chapter provides a primer on the EU s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its measures to support agriculture. Chapter four presents concise empirical evidence of the coverage and institutional capacity of the agricultural programs in Macedonia under both pillar one and pillar two measures. Chapter five then builds on the primary diagnostic set out in the previous chapters and critically examines the alignment of Macedonia s agricultural programs with the government s stated objectives of poverty reduction, competitiveness, and sustainable development. The results are at best mixed, suggesting substantial pathways for scaling up and exploiting untapped opportunities. Finally, chapter six synthesizes the overall evidence and presents policy implications and recommendations. -
Publication
Priorities for Sustainable Growth : A Strategy for Agriculture Sector Development in Tajikistan, Technical Annex 3. Livestock Sector Review
(Washington, DC, 2012-01)Agriculture sector growth has made a powerful contribution to post-war economic recovery in Tajikistan, accounting for approximately one third of overall economic growth from 1998 to 2004. Sector output increased by 65 percent in real terms during this period, and has now returned to the level extant at independence in 1990. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) has also increased, by 3 percent per year. Despite this progress, there is legitimate concern that this growth is unsustainable. Evidence suggests that it has been driven largely by the external factors noted above, rather than substantive changes to resources, incentives and the behavior of factor and commodity markets. First, an extensive program of policy reform, particularly in the area of land ownership, has yet to make a substantial impact on the incentive structure for agricultural workers cultivating the majority of arable land. Second, sustainable growth requires positive net investment. Third, commodity markets remain weak, with a limited capacity to translate increased demand into improved production incentives. And fourth, growth in crop production has been largely driven by low value food and cereal crops. A sustainable increase in access to rural finance will require much greater emphasis on the development of alternative sources of finance for all of agriculture, in addition to resolution of the cotton debt crisis. The capacity for agricultural loan appraisal and management also needs to be strengthened, new collateral instruments introduced and new loan products developed, which are suited to agriculture in general and small-scale farmers in particular. -
Publication
Priorities for Sustainable Growth : A Strategy for Agriculture Sector Development in Tajikistan, Technical Annex 4. Horticulture Sector Review
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012)Agriculture sector growth has made a powerful contribution to post-war economic recovery in Tajikistan, accounting for approximately one third of overall economic growth from 1998 to 2004. Sector output increased by 65 percent in real terms during this period, and has now returned to the level extant at independence in 1990. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) has also increased, by 3 percent per year. Despite this progress, there is legitimate concern that this growth is unsustainable. Evidence suggests that it has been driven largely by the external factors noted above, rather than substantive changes to resources, incentives and the behavior of factor and commodity markets. First, an extensive program of policy reform, particularly in the area of land ownership, has yet to make a substantial impact on the incentive structure for agricultural workers cultivating the majority of arable land. Second, sustainable growth requires positive net investment. Third, commodity markets remain weak, with a limited capacity to translate increased demand into improved production incentives. And fourth, growth in crop production has been largely driven by low value food and cereal crops. A sustainable increase in access to rural finance will require much greater emphasis on the development of alternative sources of finance for all of agriculture, in addition to resolution of the cotton debt crisis. The capacity for agricultural loan appraisal and management also needs to be strengthened, new collateral instruments introduced and new loan products developed, which are suited to agriculture in general and small-scale farmers in particular. -
Publication
Romania - Functional Review : Agriculture and Rural Development Administration
(Washington, DC, 2010-10-15)This report presents the outcomes of the functional review of Romania's agricultural administration. Given the sectoral and territorial relevance of its regulatory domain, Romania s Agricultural and Rural Development Administration is a key administrative body undergoing this Functional Review. The review will examine whether the policy goals and objectives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) and its agencies are clearly defined in measurable and achievable terms; whether the management systems, policies, staffing, and internal organizational structure are appropriate to meet objectives; and whether and to what extent factors external to the institutions impede the ability to meet objectives fully. The review analyzes factors promoting and/or limiting the efficiency and effectiveness of the agricultural and rural policy delivery in Romania. It aims at providing practical recommendations on: enhanced strategic coordination of policies and programs in the agricultural and rural policy domain; improved management and implementation of CAP support measures, to decrease risk of delayed payments to beneficiaries and low, ineffective and inefficient absorption of EU funds; realizing the full potential of MADR and its agencies through, for instance, better delineation of functions and better delegation of responsibilities within and among the relevant institutions; and approaches to improving the quality of public service delivery to beneficiaries of the Government's agricultural and rural programs. The review focuses on assessing both the current situation and future needs. It is broadly based on the following thematic areas: strategic framework, organizational structure and systems, budget and financial management, human resource management. -
Publication
Albania : Strategic Policies for a More Competitive Agriculture Sector
(Washington, DC, 2007-10)Recent trends in Albania suggest that it has the potential for a modern and competitive agricultural sector, provided there is sufficient private investment and the right policy environment. This chapter looks at the role of agriculture in the economy and the current status of the sector, and outlines the implications of modernization and transformation of agriculture for rural areas. It also identifies trends and sources of growth for agriculture, and concludes by presenting the key policy challenges for the sector. The rest of this report analyzes the challenges facing the agricultural sector and recommends policies for addressing them. These challenges are analyzed in greater detail, and more specific policy recommendations are given in the following chapters, which focus on strengthening supply chains, improving food safety, and ensuring that reforms are carried out in compliance with EU legislation. The final chapter looks at how well public expenditures in agriculture are managed in order to achieve these policy objectives.