In the early 1980s, Germany’s KfW Development Bank financed the first irrigation project around Mount Kenya. A reliable supply of water was expected to enable farmers to achieve stable yields. In this way, they could not only safeguard their own food supply but also supply new markets and earn themselves an income. The following article takes stock of progress and benefits.

A development policy opting exclusively for value chain development and the integration of producers in modern markets overlooks the reality for the majority of smallholders, our author maintains. Policy should pay greater attention to addressing the area most small-scale producers are active in: the informal sector.

Improving watershed conservation and household food security has been one of the major development challenges in the semi-arid areas of northern Ethiopia. The initial survey by ILRI’s Improving Productivity and Marketing Success project has revealed that physical conservation measures alone do not result in higher farmers’ income. However, the introduction of market-oriented commodity development such as beekeeping, sheep-fattening, and high value crops resulted in farmers’ income rising fivefold from 2005 to 2009.

The Government of Burkina Faso (GoBF)
has indicated that it wishes to relocate the current
international airport of Ouagadougou, which lies close to
the centre of the capital, to an alternative site at Donsin,
35 km northwest of the city. This report briefly describes
the economy of Burkina Faso within which the airport
operates, the current infrastructure of the existing airport
and examines the reasons why the GoBF believes that it is

Conflict is a major cause and, in some cases, result of humanitarian crises. Conflict frequently overlaps with underlying social inequalities, poverty and high levels of vulnerability. Conflicts are direct threats to food security as they cause massive loss of life and therefore loss of workforce (which is particularly important as agriculture tends to rely heavily on human labour), loss of vital livestock, and loss of land.

This policy note, Environmental
Management for a Sustainable Economic Development Strategy
for Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, investigates six environmental
management topics which will affect the capacity of the
province to develop the economy and need to be underpinned
by strong environmental and natural resource management. The
six topics cover: agriculture, forestry, fisheries, land and
water, environmental law and regulations, and spatial

Pakistan has faced a seismic shift in
its global and domestic economic landscape which until
recently limited policy options to address investment
climate concerns. External shocks, internal policy inaction
and political turmoil placed the country in a precarious
economic condition, calling on the authorities to take a
hard look at the policy choices ahead. Macroeconomic
instability resulting in inflation, exchange rate

In Africa, most development strategies
include efforts to improve the productivity of staple crops
grown on smallholder farms. An underlying premise is that
small farms are productive in the African context and that
smallholders do not forgo economies of scale -- a premise
supported by the often observed phenomenon that staple
cereal yields decline as the scale of production increases.
This paper explores a research design conundrum that

Rural areas in Cambodia have been the target of large-scale land acquisitions since the late 1990s. As of March 2012, economic land concessions in Cambodia covered more than 2 million hectares, equivalent to over half of the country’s arable land. In this paper, we discuss the policy narratives and discursive strategies that are employed by various actors to justify and legitimize large-scale land acquisitions. We then analyze the underlying mechanisms of such acquisitions and investments and examine how they are entangled with donor-assisted land use planning efforts.

This 2012 report is an assessment of the human rights impact of economic land concessions (ELCs) and other land concessions and major development projects in Cambodia. It includes not only an analysis of concessions pertaining to agroindustry (for example, rubber, sugar, acacia and cassava plantations), but also to concessions for mining, oil and gas, forestry, and concessions for the purposes of tourism, property development, and large scale infrastructure, such as hydropower dams.

The author argues that the democratic reform in Myanmar is rooted in profound internal and external factors. Since the beginning of the reform, the changes in Myanmar have taken tolls in a series of China’s existing interests inside the country. Economically, Chinese investments have come under increasing scrutiny, criticism, and even oppositions, threatening the viability of strategic projects such as the oil and gas pipelines. Politically, the initial success of the democratic reform in Myanmar raises questions about Beijing’s continuous resistance to reform.

Land deals are frequently agreed in secret between governments and investors. This lack of transparency in the allocation of land fosters an environment where elite capture of natural assets becomes the norm, where human rights are routinely abused with impunity, where environmental destruction is ignored and where investment incentives are stacked against companies willing to adhere to ethical and legal principles.