Jatropha curcas is a plant of Latin
American origin, now widespread through arid, and semiarid
tropical regions of the world. It is a drought-resistant
perennial, that grows on marginal soils, and, as a close
relative to the castor plant, its oil has the same medical
properties. In Mali, it is well-known and has long been
recognized as a plant of many uses: Jatropha hedges not only
protect gardens from hungry livestock, but reduces damage,

More than 90 percent of the population
in the Sahel lives on agriculture. The fact that crop
production has not kept up with population growth during the
last two decades is attributed to land degradation and
productivity decline resulting in increased levels of rural
poverty, food shortages and chronic food insecurity. In
response, since the 1980s, Sahelian farmers have
experimented with various soil and water conservation

The note examines the transfer of
knowledge from one generation to the next, and from country
to country, through trading ties, and social interactions
which has raised knowledge sharing activities within Africa,
and elsewhere. Such activities have reinforced the
universality of indigenous knowledge, and, despite
geographical differences, the note looks at the Sodic Lands
Reclamation Project in India, as a good example of

The note aims to prompt policy makers,
and development managers to reassess, and give more weight
to neglected production, and consumption of traditional
vegetables, so as to enhance nutrition, income generation,
and food security for small scale households. Though the
views expressed herewith are the results of interviews in
several African countries, it focuses mainly on the Uganda
situation. The contribution of indigenous vegetables to

During the 1970s and 1980s in Tanzania,
there was a widespread perception, though a somewhat narrow,
and inaccurate one, that high and accelerating rates of
deforestation in some areas, was primarily being driven by
demand for woodfuel, and construction timber. In order to
take a more comprehensive, and strategic view of the sector,
the government launched the Tanzania Forestry Action Plan,
which covered the period 1990/91-2007/08. The Bank-assisted

In Uganda, efforts to decentralize the
management of the extension service and to launch the
village participation in land development exercise have led
to a number of issues, outcomes and expectations. This
overview looks at what can be realistically expected from
the extension service (in terms of contact with farmers),
from decentralization (in terms of management improvement),
and from the village participation exercise (in terms of

The Northeast region of Brazil has long
been the single largest pocket of rural poverty in Latin
America. With a combined area of 1.6 million square
kilometers-16 percent of Brazil's total-the Northeast
is home to 45 million people, 28 percent of Brazil's
total population , of whom 5.4 million people live on about
$1 a day and a total of 10.7 million on $1.60 or less per
day. Nearly half of all rural communities are in the

Irrigation is crucial to China's
agricultural productivity. This report reviews the history
of water irrigation in China. It examines the first Bank
supported water project to propose both physical
rehabilitation and management reform. Local and
international experience has shown that participatory
irrigation management by farmers (PIM) contribute to
institutional improvement. The report looks at

Food production is not keeping pace with
Africa's rapidly growing needs. Aid programs in the
1970s and 1980s were considered a temporary solution to the
most appalling famines, but Africa's food shortage
appears to be worsening. This paper discusses the reasons
for this situation and ways to address it. African
policymakers should consider intensifying and diversifying
local production and establishing systems for marketing and

The development plan of the Federal
Government of Ethiopia emphasized low-cost energy supply as
a prerequisite to the enhancement of industrial and economic
development for the period 1984-1993. Current power planning
studies have estimated Ethiopia's hydropower potential
at 30,000 MW, which greatly exceeds foreseeable domestic
demands. Presently, only 1 percent of the potential is
utilized. The government has therefore initiated the

There are more than 60 million
smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Declining
soil fertility is a fundamental impediment to agricultural
growth and a major reason for slow growth in food production
in SSA. In Africa, as a result of soil degradation,
irrigated lands may be, on average, 7 percent below their
potential productivity, rain-fed crop lands 14 percent below
their potential and rangelands 45 percent below potential.

This social assessment (SA) is part of
the Sanliurfa and Harran On-farm Development Project in
Turkey, and aims at identifying an appropriate mix of
project inputs to reduce poverty. The objectives of the SA
are to understand the impact of rapid agricultural
modernization on various social groups, according to
ownership criteria, and gender issues, and, to learn how
those benefiting from irrigation, assess the quality of