Publication: Comprehensive Assessment of the Agriculture Sector in Liberia : Volume 4, Crosscutting Issues
Loading...
Date
2007
ISSN
Published
2007
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The overall objective of the Comprehensive Assessment of the Agricultural Sector (CAAS) is to provide an evidence base to enable appropriate strategic policy responses by the Government of Liberia (GoL) and its development partners in order to maximize the contribution of the agriculture sector to the Government's overarching policy objectives. Given the strong relationship between growth in agricultural productivity and poverty reduction, future efforts in Liberia need to focus on productivity enhancing measures with a pro-poor focus that increase incomes. Growth based on extensification using traditional technologies is generally not profitable and has damaging implications for the environment. Given the low level of assets possessed by most Liberians, future efforts need to address the question of access to assets (i.e. land, knowledge and inputs) in addition to providing opportunities and an enabling environment. Liberia needs to make concerted efforts to preserve and consolidate its emerging stability by focusing on interventions to ensure food security and poverty alleviation at the community and household levels. Improving access to food and generating sustainable, remunerative activities and employment are crucial to this process. This report is designed to assist in indicating and specifying the potential role of specified agricultural commodity value chains in achieving the priority objectives of the government by focusing on small holders, traditional farming, and food security and forms an input for the preparation of a strategic orientation framework to achieve sustainable food security, nutrition and agricultural development. This report reviews gender issues in Liberia's agriculture and rural sector with a special focus on rural women and how to improve their participation and contribution to rural development. The report reviews women's roles in agriculture and the rural economy; their access to key inputs and services which are essential to carry out their socio-economic role in rural areas; as well as gender-related social trends and problems that may have an impact on productivity and poverty reduction in rural areas. The assessment also reviews the institutional and policy framework for agriculture and rural development and identifies opportunities to improve the rural sector's capacity to address gender issues and support female farmers and rural entrepreneurs. The findings and recommendations will inform the reform of the sector, currently underway, and thereby support the GoL poverty reduction effort and the implementation of the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP).
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Ministry of Agriculture (Liberia). 2007. Comprehensive Assessment of the Agriculture Sector in Liberia : Volume 4, Crosscutting Issues. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7675 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Making Poor Haitians Count : Poverty in Rural and Urban Haiti Based on the First Household Survey for Haiti(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008-03)This paper analyzes poverty in Haiti based on the first Living Conditions Survey of 7,186 households covering the whole country and representative at the regional level. Using a USD1 a day extreme poverty line, the analysis reveals that 49 percent of Haitian households live in absolute poverty. Twenty, 56, and 58 percent of households in metropolitan, urban, and rural areas, respectively, are poor. At the regional level, poverty is especially extensive in the northeastern and northwestern regions. Access to assets such as education and infrastructure services is highly unequal and strongly correlated with poverty. Moreover, children in indigent households attain less education than children in nonpoor households. Controlling for individual and household characteristics, location, and region, living in a rural area does not by itself affect the probability of being poor. But in rural areas female headed households are more likely to experience poverty than male headed households. Domestic migration and education are both key factors that reduce the likelihood of falling into poverty. Employment is essential to improve livelihoods and both the farm and nonfarm sector play a key role.Publication Investing in Gender Equality : Looking Ahead(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-07)The financial crisis of 2008-09 has highlighted the need for greater attention to gender, both to address the vulnerability of countries to global shocks and to reach growth and poverty reduction goals. Investments in girls and women need to be scaled up substantially in response to this and other recent crises and, looking ahead, to alleviate demographic stresses and harness demographic opportunities for growth. This is the case because the fate of women and girls, especially in low-income countries and low-income households, is closely linked to the economic prospects of these countries and these households.Publication Lesotho - Sharing Growth by Reducing Inequality and Vulnerability : Choices for Change A Poverty, Gender, and Social Assessment(World Bank, 2010-06-01)Lesotho began a structural economic transformation in the early 1990s. The transformation has brought higher, more secure incomes to households while the government succeeded in dramatically improving access to services such as education, health, water, and transportation. Yet today, Lesotho faces a number of serious development challenges, including a high rate of chronic poverty, entrenched income inequality, and most troubling one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the world. This report focuses on three main areas: i) livelihood patterns among Lesotho's households and how these correlate with opportunity and exclusion; ii) how the government could make access to public services and overall social development more equitable; and iii) how the economic and social vulnerabilities of households, including HIV/AIDS, could be alleviated in order to reduce poverty. In this report concludes that it is possible for Lesotho to reduce poverty and to continue its transition to an economically diverse middle-income country by undertaking three key strategies: continuing to develop the investment climate for labor-intensive production; implementing programs to support commercial agriculture and reduce land degradation in rural areas; and developing a strategy to support socioeconomic and geographic mobility of workers into higher-productivity sectors. Public funds should be better targeted towards assisting the poor to build human capital and manage risks. Other recommendations to improve the plight of the people of Lesotho include creating a more equitable and inclusive society, especially for women, and developing a more effective campaign against HIV/AIDS.Publication Linking Gender, Environment, and Poverty for Sustainable Development : A Synthesis Report on Ethiopia and Ghana(Washington, DC, 2012-01)Poverty, environment, social development, and gender are important cross-cutting themes of the World Bank and government investment programs, especially within the Sustainable Development Network (SDN). For developing sectoral strategies and programs, economic, environment and social assessments are undertaken, however, these are usually done separately, and most often gender issues are not included. This is a missed opportunity, because joint assessments can map the links between gender, environment, and poverty and help identify approaches that can accelerate the positive synergy and better social/gender, environment, and poverty outcomes; otherwise, the existing negative relationships may slow the development process, and can even lead to unintended results. A joint analysis will also reduce cost of project preparation. This study was undertaken to analyze the links between gender, environment, and poverty; identify approaches; and provide practical suggestions for fostering positive synergies for better outcomes. The analytical framework for this study draws on the World Bank's three pillars of sustainable development: social inclusion, economic growth and environmental sustainability, and from political ecology literature, which highlights how decision-making processes, power relationships, and social conditions influence environmental policies and development outcomes. The following four propositions derived from political ecology literature guide the analysis: i) socioeconomic marginalization and natural resource degradation are mutually reinforcing processes; ii) protected area conservation and external control of natural resources can disrupt household and community production and social organization; iii) competing environmental interests shape environmental change; and iv) collective action and resilience can help mitigate negative impacts. The study is based on in-depth analysis of two sub-Saharan African countries Ethiopia and Ghana. The research methodology was qualitative, and included a series of interrelated analyses: a political ecology literature review, country-specific reviews of literature and data sets, good-practice project case studies in both countries, and participatory appraisals of grassroots perceptions of gender-poverty-environment links. Study sites were selected to include the major agro ecological zones and rural livelihood systems in each country. National and sub regional participatory forums were conducted to 'ground truth' the findings and elicit policy and project recommendations. A seven-week online discussion explored the broader applicability of the framework and study findings.Publication The Fruit of Her Labor : Promoting Gender-Equitable Agribusiness in Papua New Guinea(Washington, DC, 2014-06-30)The overall goal of this report is to assist the World Bank Group (WBG) to achieve greater impact for women from its current activities in agribusiness in Papua New Guinea (PNG), and to provide clear recommendations on additional interventions aimed at improving outcomes for women. The report focuses on the supply chains for coffee, cocoa, and horticultural products (fresh produce), as there is a wealth of knowledge on these supply chains and on gender issues, and these provide the best opportunity to identify entry points for follow-up activities. Given the importance of smallholders in PNG, and the need to understand gender dynamics in farming, this report pays particular attention to the roles and constraints faced by smallholders, without in so doing wishing to diminish the importance of the roles played by other actors in these supply chains.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Doing Business 2014 : Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises(Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2013-10-28)Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2014 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Closing a business, Employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2013, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication IFC Annual Report 2012 : Innovation, Influence, Demonstration, Volume 2. Results(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012)This annual report of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) summarizes the innovation and leadership roles in the private sector during fiscal year 2012. The IFC invested a record $20.4 billion in 103 developing countries, reflecting a doubling of annual commitments over the last five years. Those investments included nearly $5 billion mobilized from other investors, and an investment for Sub-Saharan Africa totaling $2.7 billion, nearly twice as much as five years ago. The advisory services program expenditures grew to $197 million, up more than 50 percent over the last five years. Advisory services also helped 33 client governments introduce 56 investment-climate reforms that will improve access to basic services for more than 16 million people. IFC investment clients helped support 2.5 million jobs in 2011 and made 23 million loans totaling more than $200 billion to micro, small, and medium enterprises. Net income before grants to the International Development Association (IDA) totaled $1.66 billion. The IFC has invested more than $23 billion in IDA countries, nearly $6 billion of it in fiscal year 2012 alone.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.