This study on Latin America is based on a sample of eight countries, comprising the big four economies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico; Colombia and Ecuador, two of the poorest South American tropical countries; the Dominican Republic, the largest Caribbean economy; and Nicaragua, the poorest country in Central America. Together, in 2000-04, these countries accounted for 78 percent of the region's population, 80 percent of the region's agricultural value added, and 84 percent of the total gross domestic product (GDP) of Latin America.

This chapter begins with a brief summary of economic growth and structural changes in the region since the 1950s and of agricultural and other economic policy developments as they affected the farm sector at the time of and in various stages after independence from colonial powers.

Earnings from farming in many developing countries have been depressed by a pro-urban bias in own-country policies as well as by governments of richer countries favoring their farmers with import barriers and subsidies. Both sets of policies, which reduce national and global economic welfare and contribute to global inequality and poverty, have been undergoing reform since the 1980s.

This Law establishes the State Policy to Fight and Prevent Desertification within the State of Goiás.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been internally displaced in Zimbabwe as a result of the actions of their own government.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: "The military regime of Burma has been consistent in their inability and unwillingness to protect and provide for the people of Burma. Burma’s human rights record provides testimony of decades of widespread violations and abuses perpetrated largely at the hands of Burma’s military rulers and their agents against the Burmese people. Dissent is regularly silenced and opponents brutalized. In a country once known as the “rice-bowl of Asia,” Burma is now one of the poorest countries of Asia due to steady economic deterioration driven by the regime’s mismanagement.

A Japanese study illustrates how farmers created an agricultural market in spite of the military government’s bureaucrats...

"Economic Disparity in Rural Myanmar" by Ikuko Okamoto. National University of Singapore Press, 2008...
"THE devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis and spiraling global food prices have placed even more pressure on the agricultural sector of Burma, once the world’s largest rice exporter and potentially one of Asia’s most prodigious producers of agricultural staples.

Stochastic frontier analysis was used to examine input demand elasticities and determinants of technical inefficiency of rainfed farmers in Nigeria. Allocative efficiency of the factor inputs was computed using the marginal value product. Our results show that herbicide has the highest elasticities. It is followed by seeds, fertilizers and land. Labour has the least contribution to the output. None of the respondents optimally allocated the inputs. A large number of the farmers underutilized the variables land, seeds, fertilizer and herbicide, whereas numerous farmers over-utilized labour.

This review of public expenditures on Social Protection (SP) in Nicaragua is based on the analytical framework of Social Risk Management (SRM) developed by the World Bank. The concept of managing social risk comes from the notion that certain groups in society are vulnerable to unexpected shocks which threaten their livelihood and/or survival. Social protection focuses on the poor since they are more vulnerable to the risks and normally do not have the instruments to handle these risks.

Quando do Ministério da Planificação e Desenvolvimento veio a solicitação para que apresentasse uma palestra sobre os desafios do desenvolvimento rural, foi-me dito que deveria usar uma abordagem que provocasse a reflexão e a discussão crítica. Evidentemente, sem que eu próprio reflectisse criticamente sobre os desafios do desenvolvimento rural estaria incapaz de ajudar quem quer que fosse a fazer o mesmo. Lancei-me, então, na tarefa de construir um quadro analítico provocador e crítico que servisse para construir esta conversa. É este raciocínio que aqui pretendo apresentar.

This report is about how to progressively reduce over time Afghanistan's dependence on opium - currently the country's leading economic activity - by development initiatives and shifting economic incentives toward sustainable legal livelihoods. Specifically, the report identifies additional investments and policy and institutional measures to support development responses that can counterbalance the economic advantages of opium.

AFA Field Visits and Farmer Interactions 2006-2007

Learning good practices in land reform, organic agriculture and pro-small farmer marketing and trading.