Over the past century or so, a wide
assortment of pre-harvest agreements, joint ventures, deals,
and pledges that can be termed contract farming have been
brokered between farmers and buyers. During the 1980s and
1990s, contract farming was frequently criticized as a
potentially exploitative arrangement, which favored the more
powerful buyer and left the small-scale farmer and the
environment vulnerable to abuse. More recently, there is

In this issue: have capital markets
aided growth in China and India? Land and poverty: the
importance of transparency; coping with $100 oil; how fit
are feed-in tariff policies? Political incentives to
underinvest in pro-poor policies; mass media and public
policy for agriculture; and managing public debt in small states.

Delivering on results is a key to
achieving our Latin America and Caribbean strategy. This
publication presents some of the recent results achieved by
the World Bank Group, our clients, and our partners in the
Latin America and Caribbean Region. The stories reflect our
effort to help clients solve their development challenges
quickly and effectively by providing a suite of financing,
advisory and convening services. This is a way to

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
(MEA), The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity study
(TEEB) and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) provide a comprehensive and
useful framework to understand human dependence on ecosystem
services and how best to protect these services in
perpetuity. In these three authoritative studies, payment
for ecosystem services (PES) is listed as one of the

A focus on development results is at the
heart of the Latin America and Caribbean Region s approach
to delivering programs and policy advice with partners in
middle-income and low income countries alike. Through
knowledge, convening activities, and financial services we
strive to help people across the region create better
opportunities and build a better future for themselves,
their families and their country. Documenting, measuring and

An Integrated Fiduciary Assessment (IFA)
was conducted for the proposed Transformation of Agriculture
Sector Program Phase-3 (PSTA 3) Program-for-Results (PforR)
operation. The assessment used the DRAFT Guidance Notes on
Program-for-Results Operations and Requirements of OP/BP
9.00, Program for Results, (PforR). The OECD-DAC four
pillars approach was also used to define the inherent risks
in the procurement environment. The assessment covered the

Through steady structural reforms and
good macroeconomic management, Tunisia has been successful
in sustaining growth. The country enjoyed a 4.8 percentage
average annual growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over
most of the 2000`s, placing the country among the leading
performers in the region. Most of the growth was driven by
private enterprises in the export sectors. Tunisia did
better than most countries in the region because it started

Improving logistics performance is at
the core of the economic growth and competitiveness agenda.
Policymakers globally recognize the logistics sector as one
of their key pillars for development. Trade powerhouses in
Europe like the Netherlands or in developing countries like
Vietnam or Indonesia see seamless and sustainable logistics
as an engine of growth and of integration with global value
chains. Indeed, inefficient logistics raises the costs of

Nepal needs a new economic model to
achieve faster and sustained growth as well as further
improvements in human development and poverty outcomes.
Economic growth, while ro¬bust at around 4 percent annual
average since 2005, is far from the level needed to achieve
the government s ambitious targets. The economy, highly
dependent on remittances, lacks the nec¬essary dynamism.
While substantial gains have been made to reduce poverty and

Climate change presents significant
threats to sustainable poverty reduction in Tajikistan. The
primary impacts on rural livelihoods are expected to stem
from reduced water quantity and quality (affecting
agriculture), and increased frequency and severity of
disasters. Options for farming households to autonomously
adapt (and thereby move from climate vulnerability to
resilience) include adoption of on-farm and off-farm

This Africa's pulse newsletter
includes the following headings: Sub-Saharan African
countries continue to grow at a steady pace; the
region's decade-long economic expansion appears
sustainable; and for newly resource-rich countries, strong
governance will be key to harnessing resource wealth for development

This paper examines the cost of
producing emission reduction credits under the Clean
Development Mechanism. Using project-specific data, cost
functions are estimated using alternative functional forms.
The results show that, in general, the distribution of
projects in the pipeline does not correspond exclusively to
the cost of generating anticipated credits. Rather,
investment choices appear to be influenced by location and