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Economic losses and poverty effects of droughts and floods in Malawi
Droughts and floods are a capricious part of life for many Malawians. The country depends heavily on rain-fed agriculture and so it is crucial that we understand the implications of these climate events. Not only are rural livelihoods affected, but urban households are also vulnerable to food shortages and rising prices. Finding ways to overcome the losses from droughts and floods is a policy imperative.
Opportunities and challenges for community involvement in public service provision in rural Guatemala
The purpose of the research summarized in this paper is to provide policy-relevant knowledge on the governance of rural services in Guatemala and thus to contribute to improving the provision of services that are essential for agricultural and rural development. Based on quantitative and qualitative primary data, we examine how services are actually provided today and how community preferences and participation affect service provision in rural Guatemala. Our main finding is that the provision of formally decentralized services by local governments is incomplete.
An analysis of the indirect effects of agricultural growth on the regional economy
This chapter develops an extended input-output model to provide a quantitative analysis of the direct and indirect impacts of increased agricultural production on the regional economy. The model is calibrated for 1982/83 using the 1982/83 social accounting matrix (SAM) (see Chapter 7).
Rural finance and agricultural technology adoption in Ethiopia: Does institutional design matter?
Financial cooperatives and microfinance institutions (MFIs) are the two major sources of rural finance in Ethiopia. Whereas MFIs are relatively new, financial cooperatives have existed for centuries in various forms. The coexistence of two different institutions serving the same group of people, and delivering the same financial services, raises several policy questions. Those questions have become particularly relevant, as the government has embarked on developing a new strategy for improving rural financial services delivery.
Are there customary rights to plants?
Debates around Common Property Resources and Intellectual Property Rights fail to consider traditional and indigenous rights regimes that regulate plant resource exploitation, establish bundles of powers and obligations for heterogeneous groups of users, and create differential entitlements to benefits that are related to social structures. Such rights regimes are important to maintaining biodiversity and to human welfare; failing to recognize them presents dangers.
Seguridad alimentaria y estrategias sociales
En este documento de trabajo....se examinan las complejas dificultades que presenta el medio urbano para la seguridad alimentaria y la nutricion en America Latina. Se expresa particular interes en la interaccion de la malnutricion con la salud y la naturaleza de las respuestas institucionales necesarias, en vista de la nueva importancia dada en la region al fomento de la participacion del sector privado y la comunidad en la prestacion de asistencia social.
Weather risks and insurance opportunities for the rural poor
Brief
Foodgrain consumption and calorie intake patterns in Ethiopia
Levels and composition of food consumption are major determinants of the nutritional wellbeing of individuals, which in turn, have important implications for health, productivity, and income. Analyzing food consumption patterns in poor countries, such as Ethiopia, is therefore pivotal to designing national policies to promote food security.Food consumption patterns in Ethiopia are diverse, and unlike in many other countries, no single crop dominates the national food basket (e.g., rice in most of East Asia, maize in Latin America, or cassava in Central Africa).
Structural adjustment, agriculture, and deforestation in the Sumatera regional economy
The Asian financial crisis led to a major devaluation of the Indonesian exchange rate, macro instability, and the need for a “structural adjustment” program. The real devaluation affects prices throughout the economy and has a major impact on growth, production, deforestation, and income distribution in the Sumatera region. This paper uses computable general equilibrium (CGE) models —a national model and a regional model of Sumatera— that focus on agriculture to explore the impact of a real devaluation on the economy of Sumatera.
Innovations in rural and agricultural finance: Rural banking in Africa
Many people in the vast rural areas of Africa lack access to financial services, and most commercial banks are not interested in moving into these areas due to their low income levels, lack of scale economies, and poor infrastructure. Also, few banks actually understand the most common economic activity in rural areas: agriculture.