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.

This study builds a profile of the
status of poverty and vulnerability in Malawi. Malawi is a
small land-locked country, with one of the highest
population densities in Sub-Saharan Africa, and one of the
lowest per capita income levels in the world. Almost 90
percent of the population lives in rural areas, and is
mostly engaged in smallholder, rain-fed agriculture. Most
people are therefore highly vulnerable to annual rainfall

This paper develops a Structural
Ricardian model to measure climate change impacts that
explicitly models the choice of farm type in African
agriculture. This two stage model first estimates the type
of farm chosen and then the conditional incomes of each farm
type after removing selection biases. The results indicate
that increases in temperature encourage farmers to adopt
mixed farming and avoid specialized farms such as crop-only

The World Bank had commissioned an
independent team to evaluate and assess the future role of
PROFISH, the Global Program on Fisheries. The evaluation
team found that PROFISH, since its inception in 2005, had
made excellent progress in raising World Bank, bilateral
donor and client country awareness of fisheries development
needs, contributed fisheries and aquaculture content to
global development products and assisted World Bank country

The Tanzania country office of the World
Bank has been exploring ways in which it can be more
responsive to Government in supporting the National Strategy
for Growth and Alleviation of Poverty (MKUKUTA) and ensuring
growth is an integral part of strategic planning. Given
Tanzania's great regional variations in resource
endowments, growth potential and degree of institutional
development, it was proposed that a regional case study of

This paper uses a cross sectional method
to analyze irrigation choice and crop choice across 8,405
farmers in 28 provinces in China. The findings show that
Chinese farmers are more likely to irrigate when facing
lower temperatures and less precipitation. Farmers in
warmer places are more likely to choose oil crops, maize,
and especially cotton and wheat, and are less likely to
choose vegetables, potatoes, sugar, and especially rice and

The dramatic increases in world food and
fuel prices during 2007 and early 2008 may set back
Mozambique's considerable advances in poverty reduction
during the past decade. This study assesses the impact of
higher fuel and food prices at both household and
macroeconomic levels, and also considers policy options to
mitigate some of the negative impacts of higher prices.
Rising world prices certainly represents a negative

The recent surge in food and fuel prices
has prompted countries with high dependence on food imports
to try and lock in future food supplies through direct
investment in agricultural production in other countries.
The price surges also led to a wave of proposals to invest
in biofuels investments in agricultural land. While such
investment can provide large benefits, it also carries
considerable risks both to investors and citizens in the

Bangladesh represents a success story
among developing countries. Poverty incidence, which was as
high as 57 percent at the beginning of the 1990s, had
declined to 49 percent in 2000. This trend accelerated
subsequently, reducing the poverty headcount rate to 40
percent in 2005. The primary contributing factor was robust
and stable economic growth along with no worsening of
inequality. Respectable GDP growth that started at the

In this issue: dollar a day revisited;
focus: strategies for developing countries; farm policy in
developing countries: what next? Land in transition: reform
and poverty in rural Vietnam; unpredictable aid;
microfinance meets the market; and development impact of the
war on drugs.

A watershed is an area that supplies
water by surface or subsurface flow to a drainage system or
body of water. Watersheds vary from a few hectares to
thousands of square kilometers. Watershed management (WSM)
is the integrated use of land, vegetation, and water in a
specific drainage area with the objective of conserving
hydrologic services and reducing or avoiding damage
downstream or underground. The first generation of WSM

Bangladesh has recorded impressive
economic and social gains since the 1990s. Recent growth has
been at levels close to six percent. The country has doubled
per capita growth and taken large strides toward reaching
many Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), ahead of many
comparable countries. Attaining the MDGs calls for
accelerating economic growth to six-seven percent a year.
Accordingly, Bangladesh's Poverty Reduction Strategy