With global food crises and food price volatility in recent years, agricultural subsidies have once
again gained prominence as a policy instrument in many developing countries. In Mongolia too,
subsidies to the agriculture sector mainly through government budgetary transfers, have
increased over time. These gained prominence in 2008 when a global, regional (the drought in
Russia, and Kazakhstan, the two main suppliers to Mongolia), and the national food production

Improving agricultural productivity and
promoting exports are top priorities for the Government of
the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Given the centrality
of rice to the rejuvenation of agriculture in Myanmar, the
rice sector is of critical importance, especially rice
exports. The government announced ambitious targets of 2
million metric tons (tons)2 of rice exports by 2014/15 and 4
million tons by 2019/20. Recent actual performance is

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

In Lao People's Democratic Republic
(PDR), the value of trade has risen rapidly over the last
decade with both imports and exports increasing by average
annual rate of 24 percent. This report examines the trade
logistics of Lao PDR. A trade and transport facilitation
assessment was performed using a standardized toolkit and
methodology developed by the World Bank to evaluate the
quality of the logistics services. The assessment focused on

In the past 50 years, Indian agriculture
has undergone a major transformation, from dependence on
food aid to becoming a consistent net food exporter. The
gradual reforms in the agricultural sector (following the
broader macro-reforms of the early 1990s) spurred some
unprecedented innovations and changes in the food sector
driven by private investment. These impressive achievements
must now be viewed in light of the policy and investment

Rwanda is experiencing its best
growth performance since independence. With average annual
GDP growth rate of 8 percent and 5.2 percent for
agricultural GDP from 1999-2012, Rwanda s recent growth is a
historical record. The poverty headcount fell from 59
percent in 2001 to 45 percent in 2011, and agriculture
continues to be one of the main drivers of growth and
poverty reduction in Rwanda, significantly lifting rural

This study uses household models based
on detailed expenditure and agricultural production data
from 31 developing countries to assess the impacts of
changes in global food prices on poverty in individual
countries and for the world as a whole. The analysis finds
that food price increases unrelated to productivity changes
in developing countries raise poverty in the short run in
all but a few countries with broadly-distributed

The Nigerian labor force, like that of
many countries in Africa, is heavily concentrated in
agriculture. According to World Bank reports, the
agricultural sector in Nigeria grew by about 6.8 percent
annually from 2005-2009. This report focuses on the
characteristics of the agricultural sector and rural
households in Nigeria, and their implications for poverty.
This report examines the relationships using nationally

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 paper seeks to provide evidence on
the extent of household vulnerability to exogenous economic
shocks in the Pacific region and consider policy options
that help to manage this risk. Characteristics of the region
such as remoteness, small size, dispersion, and urbanizing
populations lead to pronounced vulnerabilities. The paper
presents macroeconomic and distributional analysis and
complements it with results of a micro-simulation model

Uttar Pradesh (UP) is one of the most
densely populated states in India with high rates of
poverty. The state is a major contributor to the
agricultural staples of the country and, at present, a large
percentage of the state s labor force is engaged in
low-productivity agricultural activities with the
agricultural sector employing 60 percent of all formal
workers at the state level. The purpose of this report is to

This paper provides evidence on the
effects of agricultural productivity on wage rates, labor
supply to market oriented activities, and labor allocation
between own farming and wage labor in agriculture. To guide
the empirical work, this paper develops a general
equilibrium model that underscores the role of reallocation
of family labor engaged in the production of non-marketed
services at home (`home production'). The model