This report identifies the links among economic growth, poverty alleviation, and natural resource degradation in Brazil. It examines the effects of (1) a major devaluation of the Brazilian real (R$); (2) improvements of infrastructure in the Amazon to link it with the rest of Brazil and bordering countries; (3) modification of land tenure regimes in the Amazon agricultural frontier; (4) adoption of technological change in agriculture both inside and outside the Amazon; and (5) fiscal mechanisms to reduce deforestation." -- from Author's Abstract

The second of three books in IFPRI's climate change in Africa series, East African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis examines the food security threats facing 10 of the countries that make up east and central Africa - Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda - and explores how climate change will increase the efforts needed to achieve sustainable food security throughout the region. East Africa's populations is expected to grow at least through mid-century. The region will also see income growth.

Institutions of collective action and systems of property rights shape how people use natural resources, and these patterns of use in turn affect the outcomes of people’s agricultural production systems. Together, mechanisms of collective action and property rights define the incentives people face for undertaking sustainable and productive management strategies, and they affect the level and distribution of benefits from natural resources.

A large body of literature makes the argument that commercialization of agriculture has mainly negative effects on the employment, incomes, food production and consumption, health, and nutrition of the poor. In Commercialization of Agriculture, Economic Development, and Nutrition, Joachim von Braun and Eileen Kennedy find that the conclusion that commercialization of agriculture is generally bad for nutrition is flawed.

How can family farmers best contribute to their country’s agriculture needs as well as broader development goals? First, we should determine which farmers can be profitable and assist them in doing so. Second, for those who aren’t profitable, we need to help them shift to other economic pursuits.

"Biodiversity provides essential components of healthy environments and sustainable livelihoods. One key component of biodiversity is agrobiodiversity—that is, the cultivated plants and animals that form the raw material of agriculture, the wild foods and other products gathered by rural populations within traditional subsistence systems, and organisms such as pollinators and soil biota... Agrobiodiversity used and conserved in a livelihood context can directly contribute to nutrition, health, and income generation...

Recent trends in agricultural growth and food security in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) have been discouraging. With very low labor productivity, yields, and growth rates, agriculture is unable to keep up with population growth or achieve the type of pro-poor growth needed to reduce poverty dramatically.Yet agriculture accounts for about half of the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) and is the main source of livelihood for the majority of the population. Behind this gloomy picture, however, lies agriculture’s potential to be the engine for growth in ECA.

This study examines the implications of gender differences in wealth transfers—farmland and education—on the lifetime incomes of men and women in the rural areas of Ghana, the Philippines, and Sumatra. Based on household surveys of three generations, we tested the hypothesis that parents bequeath their wealth to their sons and daughters in accordance with their comparative advantages in lowland and upland farming and in nonfarm jobs.

This 2012 Global Food Policy Report is the second in an annual series that provides an in-depth look at major food policy developments and events. Initiated in response to resurgent interest in food security, the series offers a yearly overview of the food policy developments that have contributed to or hindered progress in food and nutrition security. It reviews what happened in food policy and why, examines key challenges and opportunities, shares new evidence and knowledge, and highlights emerging issues.