This study reviews how the integration of environmental concerns into agriculture and forestry is progressing in the countries of Southeastern Europe (SEE) and of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia (EECCA) since 2000 and assesses prospects for the future. The present report is a contribution to the environment for Europe process. At the Fifth Ministerial Conference in Kiev in 2003, participants decided to pay greater attention to the needs of the EECCA and adopted an environmental strategy for the sub-region. The commitments made under that strategy are taken as benchmarks against which progress is assessed, recommendations made, and emerging environmental priorities reviewed. This report also includes an assessment of SEE countries and territories. The analysis provided here is intended primarily to inform discussions during and after the sixth environment for Europe Ministerial Conference, to be held in Belgrade in October 2007. The main text of this report provides a synthesis of major regional issues and trends...

Agriculture is one of the most important sectors for reducing poverty, improving food security, and contributing to the development of Bolivia. There is a need for re-organization and re-prioritization of spending within the sector before an argument for more resources can be made. Recommendations include allocating more resources towards agricultural public goods (such as research and extension among others) to improve sectoral performance and to support a heterogeneous agricultural sector in the context of rapid technological change, climate pressures and food price volatility. There is a need for resource allocations towards research and extension, adherence to the types of production systems in the country. Improving the balance between current and capital expenditures in agriculture is imperative. Within the current component of sectoral expenditures, more money should be spent on human capital. Prioritization and targeting of public agricultural investments is a good starting point for improving sector performance. This prioritization within the agricultural sector should consider the diversity of production systems and agricultural economic units in rural areas. Bolivia needs a coordinated monitoring and evaluation system that enables the tracking of results of the sector as a whole and facilitates the planning of investments. Strong recommendations are made to ensure better implementation of available resources in agriculture.

The agriculture sector has been and will continue to be important for poverty alleviation efforts in Indonesia. Indonesia was very successful in increasing agriculture productivity during the 1970s and up to the early 1990s, but productivity stagnated during most of the 1990s, partly as a result of declining public investments. Public spending on agriculture has increased significantly in the last decade, but a large share of that spending has been allocated to subsidizing private inputs. The impact of public spending on productivity can be positive, but that depends on the composition of spending. While public goods and services will have a positive impact on growth, subsidizing private inputs is unlikely to have much of an impact. Reforms to the existing subsidies systems can be combined with continued assistance to poor farmers, while the freed up resources could be used to provide improved public goods and services. A reallocation of spending should be combined with renewed efforts to improve the efficiency through which key services are provided...

The Tugi Silvo-pastoral Project (TUSIP) is a South-South Cooperation between the Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE) based in Costa Rica (www.catie.ac.cr) and the Akwi Memorial Foundation (AMF) based in the North West Region of Cameroon. The main goal of TUSIP was to assess the environmental benefits of a set of silvo-pastoral practices and to empower traditional livestock farmers in Tugi Village by enhancing their capability to manage available crop-animal systems and natural resources in a sustainable manner. TUSIP made efforts in the rehabilitation of degraded pasturelands to ensure adequate year-round availability of forages to increase animal productivity in a sustainable manner, consequently contributing to improving the livelihoods of rural families who depend on livestock activities in Tugi. The project put emphasis on (1) modifying the traditional crop-livestock systems through the implementation of silvo-pastoral options, which helped to diversify income sources...

Many countries are using innovation funds in the agricultural sector to support innovators and their links to public institutions, private entrepreneurs, and other actors, such as groups of rural producers. These funds create platforms for innovative activity by providing incentives for quality and collaboration. This report synthesizes experience with the two main innovation funds that the World Bank has used to fund agricultural innovation, competitive research grants and matching grants, and offers lessons and guidelines for designing and implementing them. Although the report draws extensively on experience with World Bank investments, the lessons are relevant in other contexts. The practical aspects of designing and implementing successful grant schemes are emphasized throughout.

The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region has been in many ways successful in increasing agriculture production and competitiveness, as well as tackling nutrition. Mainstreaming nutrition considerations into agriculture operations can increase the availability of and access to nutritious food, which can improve the nutrition status of individuals. The challenge is how to bridge the gap that exists in region between being an agriculture powerhouse and yet having to tackle nutrition problems from the same households that produce the food. The new challenge of integrating nutrition and agriculture should be achievable with political leadership and inter-institutional coordination. This guidance note seeks to bridge some of the important knowledge gaps on how best to identify, design, implement, monitor, and evaluate agriculture and food security interventions. This note describes first the current situation in LAC with respect to agriculture and nutrition, then offers practical guidance to task team leaders (TTLs) regarding the available levers for positively impacting nutrition outcomes of agriculture projects...

This module provides guidance and a comprehensive menu of practical tools for integrating gender in the planning, design, implementation, and evaluation of projects and investments in climate-smart agriculture (CSA). The module emphasizes the importance and ultimate goal of integrating gender in CSA practices, which is to reduce gender inequalities and ensure that men and women can equally benefit from any intervention in the agricultural sector to reduce risks linked to climate change. Climate change has an impact on food and nutrition security and agriculture, and the agriculture sector is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. It is crucial to recognize that climate change affects men and women differently. The content is drawn from tested good practice and innovative approaches, with an emphasis on lessons learned, benefits and impacts, implementation issues, and replicability. These insights and lessons related to gender in CSA will assist practitioners to improve project planning, design...

Agriculture is a small but stable part of the Lebanese economy. Approximately 20 to 25 percent of Lebanon's active population is involved in the sector in one way or another. This note is a synthesis of previous work written on agriculture development in Lebanon and related public expenditures in the sector. It starts with an overview of the agriculture sector in Lebanon and its role and contribution to the economy. Approximately eight percent of Lebanese households live below the poverty line. Among major economic sectors, agriculture has the highest rate of poverty. Over 20 percent of heads of households engaged in this sector are very poor. The North governorate is among the hardest hit areas with one in four agriculture workers likely to be poor. Agriculture sector development could play an important role in pro-poor growth. This note aims to focus on an agriculture sub-sector with significant growth potential. The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis explains that Lebanon is relatively more competitive in fruits and vegetables than in cereals and livestock. First...

Revitalizing agriculture is critical for rural Indonesia's economic prosperity. Historically, Indonesia's dramatic poverty reduction was driven by progress in agriculture and agriculture continues to be a potent driver of growth and poverty alleviation. Agricultural sector growth strongly induces non-agricultural sector growth in rural areas, particularly through demand for locally produced and services. Agricultural sector productivity growth (along with price changes) has remained the most important way out of poverty. To shift agriculture along these dimensions, Indonesia needs to transition from its current and ineffective public stance, growing subsidies and selective output protection, to a more aggressive provision of public goods and services that build support systems for farmers to achieve continuous productivity gains. This will require an enabling agriculture policy environment, significant improvement in the delivery of services, agricultural research and extension in particular, and supporting enabling investments...

This review's objectives were to examine the structure and performance of the agricultural research and extension systems (public and private) at the central and provincial levels, identify successes as well as constraints to improving the system s effectiveness for fostering innovation, and propose options for further policy and institutional development, drawing on lessons from international experience. The review focused principally on nonplantation crops, although its main recommendations apply across the agricultural sector. This synthesis report summarizes the main findings of the review and builds upon them by adding some new elements. The conflict in Sri Lanka is explicitly recognized. Additionally, the implications of changes in the wider agricultural context for agricultural research and extension are explored, and have led to the adoption of an innovation systems perspective to organize the major findings

The objective of this Agriculture Public Expenditure Review (AgPER) is to provide an assessment of the present situation and to offer recommendations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public spending in agriculture in Mozambique. The report provides a sectorwide picture of the magnitude and structure of public spending for agriculture in Mozambique over the past six years, and an overall assessment of the budget process in agriculture. It is intended that this analysis will inform future decisions over priority public expenditures for agriculture and the shifts in expenditure allocations and other measures that are necessary to make the most effective and efficient use of government budgetary resources and donors' contributions in the agriculture sector. The information is also meant to inform the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) secretariat about the level and structure of spending in agriculture in Mozambique, and help the Ministry of Agriculture; since 2005 (MINAG) to report suitable figures to NEPAD. The report discusses the budget process in agriculture (budget planning...

Revitalizing agriculture is critical for rural Indonesia's economic prosperity. Historically, Indonesia's dramatic poverty reduction was driven by progress in agriculture and agriculture continues to be a potent driver of growth and poverty alleviation. Agricultural sector growth strongly induces non-agricultural sector growth in rural areas, particularly through demand for locally produced and services. Agricultural sector productivity growth (along with price changes) has remained the most important way out of poverty. To shift agriculture along these dimensions, Indonesia needs to transition from its current and ineffective public stance, growing subsidies and selective output protection, to a more aggressive provision of public goods and services that build support systems for farmers to achieve continuous productivity gains. This will require an enabling agriculture policy environment, significant improvement in the delivery of services, agricultural research and extension in particular, and supporting enabling investments...

Three out of every four poor people in developing countries live in rural areas, and most of them depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. In many parts of the world, women are the main farmers or producers, but their roles remain largely unrecognized. The 2008 World development report: agriculture for development highlights the vital role of agriculture in sustainable development and its importance in achieving the millennium development goal of halving by 2015 the share of people suffering from extreme poverty and hunger. Climate change and rising food prices are reminders of the need to focus on food security and agriculture for development; and the material presented in the gender in agriculture sourcebook suggests that accounting for the different roles of women and men and gender equality in access to resources and opportunities is a necessary condition for doing so. This sourcebook is a particularly timely resource. It combines descriptive accounts of national and international experience in investing in agriculture with practical operational guidance on to how to design agriculture for development strategies that capitalize effectively on the unique properties of agricultural growth and rural development involving women and men as a high-impact source of poverty reduction. It looks at gender equality and women's empowerment...

This paper analyzes the trends and evolution of public spending in the agriculture sector in Indonesia, as well as the impact of public spending on agricultural growth. It finds that, in line with empirical work undertaken in other countries, public spending on agriculture and irrigation during the period 1976-2006 had a positive impact on agricultural growth, while public spending on fertilizer subsidies had the opposite effect. The composition of spending patterns in Indonesia over the past decade can partly explain why significant increases in public spending for agriculture have not resulted in a commensurate increase of agricultural production. The paper is structured as follows. Section I presents analytical and empirical findings about the impact of overall public spending on growth, with a particular focus on Indonesia, followed by an analysis of the government's role in agriculture. More precisely, it discusses how public spending can contribute to higher productivity and faster growth in the sector. The section draws lessons from the empirical literature and country examples worldwide...

This study assesses the development effectiveness of World Bank assistance in addressing constraints to agricultural development in Africa over the period of fiscal years 1991-2006. This Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) review of World Bank assistance to agriculture in Africa has a twofold purpose. First, it is a pilot for the proposed IEG study on Bank-wide assistance in agriculture scheduled for fiscal year 2009. Second, the review provides timely insight into specific issues relevant to the Bank's renewed focus on agriculture in Africa, especially as expressed in the Africa Action Plan. The central finding of the study is that the agriculture sector has been neglected both by governments and the donor community, including the World Bank. In order to effectively support the implementation of the Africa Action Plan and its appropriate focus on agricultural development as a key priority, the study has three recommendations for the Bank. First, it should focus attention on achieving improvements in agricultural productivity. Second...

This report brings together lessons from previous studies, supplemented by new analysis. It frames the challenges facing the rural and agri-food sector in the Western Balkans to illustrate the directions for policies, now and in the future. Part one looks at the characteristics of the rural and agri-food sector today, its potential and its obstacles. Part two looks at the future of the agri-food sector and rural space. Value chains will change with more competitive imports, with larger retailers influencing value chains, and with farmers and processors needing to respond to these trends by producing goods that meet quality and safety standards consistently and reliably. These changes will drive the modernization of agriculture, leading to an agri-food sector with fewer and more productive farms. Beyond the agri-food sector, effective rural development programs will be needed to ensure that agriculture's modernization is balanced and equitable. Local authorities and rural communities will have to be involved in developing and implementing territorial strategies for leveraging the non-farm potential of rural areas. Food safety standards will become more important as countries strive to meet private and public standards, and climate change will introduce uncertainty and compel farmers to adapt. Part three provides a roadmap to help governments create a strong and healthy rural and agri-food sector able to respond to these challenges. It looks first at the strategy that should drive public spending in agriculture and the composition of that spending. It then looks at how governments can best provide public services to agriculture...

In recent years, the notion of doing research with multiple partners has become an important concept in international development. This reflects the belief that partnerships are important for solving complex problems, reducing costs and competition for the same resources, increasing efficiency and ownership, and ensuring greater accountability. The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) was established in 1993 by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in response to global concerns about the social, environmental and economic consequences of forest loss and degradation. CIFOR's statutes define its mission as 'to contribute to the sustained well-being of people in developing countries, particularly in the tropics, through collaborative strategic and applied research and related activities in forest systems and forestry, and by promoting the transfer of appropriate new technologies and the adoption of new methods o/social organizations, for national development: CIFOR research produces the knowledge and methods needed to improve the well-being of forest-dependent people and to help tropical countries manage their forests wisely for sustained benefits. This research is undertaken in partnership. At any given time...

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...

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...

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...