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This book analyzes the functions, content, methods, findings, and impacts of social and cultural research carried out by the worldwide network of 16 International Agricultural Research Centers of the CGIAR (Conservative Group on International Agricultural Research). Its two parts - ''insiders''. and ''outsiders'' - brings together the perspectives of over 50 eminent scholars and social researchers from 30 countries, working within the Centers or within outside academic and development institutions. The authors examine critically the priorities, strengths, and weaknesses of research on the. socio-structural, behavioral, cultural and institutional variables of developing agriculture, forestry, livestock, and fisheries. The studies focus on farmers' values, needs and knowledge, their patterns of social organization, issues of food security, natural resource management and poverty. reduction. Alternative methods of multidisciplinary research, reuniting biological, natural, economic and social sciences are scrutinized in the light of experience and results, with emphasis on the nature of social science research as a source of international public goods and a key contributor to. induced development.

A critical analysis of World Bank's agricultural assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa.This study assesses the development effectiveness of World Bank assistance in addressing constraints to agricultural development in Africa over the period of fiscal 1991-2006.This region faces a variety of constraints that make its development a complex challenge.

Drawing on his extensive practical experience as an international civil servant in a number of organizations, Davies writes in a lively and readable manner about all aspects of administrative policy and its related implications. Divided into two parts, the first - Top down - will enable policy makers in government, academia and elsewhere who have an interest in the proper governance and management of international institutions to gain fresh insight into the topic. The second part - Bottom up - provides a substantial body of knowledge of administrations, including case studies of best and worse practice. The book includes analysis of: -The UN system -International Financial Institutions -Co-ordinated Organizations -Regional European Institutions -The Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research This is a work that fills a well-defined gap in organizational knowledge in a rigorous, but accessible way. It is essential reading for both practitioners and academics involved with international organizations. Michael Davies was an international civil servant for 33 years, working in various administrative capacities for the World Bank, the International Civil Service Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organization and latterly as Chief of the Compensation and Benefits Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). In 1998, he was assigned from IDB to the World Bank to provide high-level external advice on compensation reform. He has been a consultant to organizations of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research; the Bank for International Settlements, the World Health Organization, the OPEC Fund for International Development and IDB. He initiated the first consultative forum for personnel specialists of the International Financial Institutions and was a founding board member of the Association for Human Resources Management in International Organizations Contents: The environment. Top Down: Basic organizational structures; Administrative governance; Senior management; Budget; Financial control; Managing staff; Administrative and managerial reform. Bottom Up: Personnel strategies; Compensation; Benefits and allowances; Expatriation; Financial accounts; Procurement and contracting; General services; Information technology and communications; Co-ordination and beyond; Bibliography; Index.

The increasing resilience to climate change in the agricultural sector report presents local-level priorities, informed by stakeholder input, to build agricultural resilience in both countries. The objectives of this study were threefold: (1) to improve the understanding of climate change projections and impacts on rural communities and livelihoods in selected regions of Jordan and Lebanon, specifically the Jordan River Valley and Lebanon's Bekaa Valley; (2) to engage local communities, farmers, local experts, and local and national government representatives in a participatory fashion in helping craft agricultural adaptation options to climate change; and (3) to develop local and regional climate change action plans that formulate recommendations for investment strategies and strategic interventions in local agricultural systems. The climate challenges confronting development in the Middle East are particularly stark. This region, and in particular its rural people, face what might be called a \"triple threat\" from climate change. First, the Middle East is already one of the driest and most water-scarce regions of the world (World Bank 2011a) and faces severe challenges posed by high temperatures and limited water supplies. This report to assist Jordan and Lebanon in understanding the specific challenges and opportunities posed by climate change in the agricultural sector.

Interest in farmland is rising. And, given commodity price volatility, growing human and environmental pressures, and worries about food security, this interest will increase, especially in the developing world. One of the highest development priorities in the world must be to improve smallholder agricultural productivity, especially in Africa. Smallholder productivity is essential for reducing poverty and hunger, and more and better investment in agricultural technology, infrastructure, and market access for poor farmers is urgently needed. When done right, larger-scale farming systems can also have a place as one of many tools to promote sustainable agricultural and rural development, and can directly support smallholder productivity, for example, throughout grower programs. However, recent press and other reports about actual or proposed large farmland acquisition by big investors have raised serious concerns about the danger of neglecting local rights and other problems. They have also raised questions about the extent to which such transactions can provide long-term benefits to local populations and contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable development. Although these reports are worrying, the lack of reliable information has made it difficult to understand what has been actually happening. Against this backdrop, the World Bank, under the leadership of Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, along with other development partners, has highlighted the need for good empirical evidence to inform decision makers, especially in developing countries.

Agricultural production is inextricably tied to climate, making agriculture one of the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors. In countries such as Uzbekistan, the risks of climate change for the agricultural sector are a particularly immediate and important problem because the majority of the rural population depends either directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. Recent trends in water availability and the presence of drought in Uzbekistan have underscored these risks, as has the presence of agricultural pests that may not have previously been found in Uzbekistan. The need to adapt to climate change in all sectors is on the agenda of national governments and development partners. The capacity to adapt to climatic changes, both in mitigating risks and in taking advantage of the opportunities that climate change can create, is in part dependent on financial resources. As a result, development partners will continue to have an important role in enhancing the adaptive capacity of the Uzbekistan agriculture sector. In response to these challenges, the World Bank and the government of Uzbekistan embarked on a joint study to identify and prioritize options for climate change adaptation of the agricultural sector. This report provides a menu of practical climate change adaptation options for the agriculture and water resources sectors, along with specific recommendations, which are tailored to three distinct agro-ecological zones (AEZs) within Uzbekistan, as well as over-arching actions at the national level. This report is organized as follows: chapter one gives current conditions for Uzbek agriculture and climate; chapter two presents design and methodology; chapter three deals with impacts of climate change on agriculture in Uzbekistan; chapter four presents identification of adaptation options for managing risk to Uzbekistan's agricultural systems; chapter five presents cost-benefit analysis; and chapter six gives options to improve climate resilience of Uzbekistan's agriculture sector.

Agriculture is one of the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors. In many countries, such as in FYR Macedonia, the risks of climate change are an immediate and fundamental problem because the majority of the rural population depends either directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. The risks of climate change to agriculture in FYR Macedonia cannot be effectively dealt with—and the opportunities cannot be effectively exploited—without a clear plan for aligning agricultural policies with climate change, developing the capabilities of key agricultural institutions, and making needed investments in infrastructure, support services and on-farm improvements. Developing such a plan ideally involves a combination of high-quality quantitative analysis, consultation with key stakeholders, particularly farmers and local agricultural experts, and investments in both human and physical capital. The experience of FYR Macedonia, highlighted in this work, shows that it is possible to develop a plan to meet these objectives—one that is comprehensive and empirically driven as well as consultative and quick to develop. The approach of this study is predicated on strong country ownership and participation, and is defined by its emphasis on \"win-win\" or \"no regrets\" solutions to the multiple challenges posed by climate change for farmers in FYR Macedonia. The solutions are measures that increase resilience to future climate change, boost current productivity despite the greater climate variability already occurring, and limit greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing The Vulnerability of FYR Macedonia's Agricultural Systems to Climate Change: Impact Assessment and Adaptation Options applies this approach to the FYR Macedonia with the goal of helping the country mainstream climate change adaptation into its agricultural policies, programs, and investments. The study projects impacts of climate change on agriculture across FYR Macedonia's three agro-ecological areas through forecast variations in temperature and rainfall patterns so crucial to farming. It offers a map for navigating the risks and realizing the opportunities, outlined through a series of consultations with local farmers. A detailed explanation of the approach is provided for those who would like to implement similar programs in other countries of Europe, Central Asia, or anywhere else in the world. This is one of four country studies that were produced under the World Bank's program, \"Reducing Vulnerability to Climate Change in European and Central Asian Agricultural Systems\". The other countries included in this series are Albania, Moldova, and Uzbekistan. The results from the four studies are consolidated in the book Looking Beyond the Horizon: How Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Responses Will Reshape Agriculture in Eastern Europe and Central Asia website.

This video is about the role that nature-based solutions can play in making agriculture more productive while maintaining and preferably strengthening the integrity of the ecosystems from the lens of water resources management.

The report assesses the World Bank Group?s support for growth and productivity in the agriculture sector. Enhancing agricultural growth and productivity is essential to meeting the worldwide demand for food and to reducing poverty, particularly in the poorest developing countries. Between 1998 and 2008, the period covered by this evaluation, the World Bank Group (WBG) provided 23.7 billion in financing for agriculture and agribusiness in 108 countries (roughly 8 percent of total WBG financing), spanning areas from irrigation and marketing to research and extension. However, this was a time of declining focus on agricultural growth and productivity by both countries and donors. The cost of inadequate attention to agriculture, especially in agriculture-based economies, came into focus with the food crisis of 2007-08. The crisis added momentum to an emerging renewal of attention and stepped-up financing to agriculture and agribusiness at the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC), as well as at several multilateral and bilateral agencies. World Bank financing rose two and a half times from 2008 to 2009, though that increase in lending seems to have been accompanied by a decline in analytical work, which this review finds valuable for results. This evaluation seeks to provide lessons from successes and failures to help improve the development impact of the renewed attention to the sector. Ratings against the World Bank?s stated objectives and IFC?s market-based benchmarks for agriculture and agribusiness projects have been equal to or above portfolio averages in East Asia, Latin America, and the transition economies in Europe, with notable successes over a long period in China and India. But performance of WBG interventions has been well below average in Sub-Saharan Africa, where IFC has had little engagement in agribusiness. Inconsistent client commitment and weak capacity have limited the effectiveness of WBG support in agriculture-based economies, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and constraints on staffing and internal coordination within the WBG have also hurt outcomes. Financial sustainability has been constrained by insufficient government funding and the difficulty of maintaining agricultural services and infrastructure. The WBG has a unique opportunity to match the increases in the financing for agriculture with sharper focus on improving agricultural growth and productivity in agriculture-based economies, notably in Sub-Saharan Africa. Greater effort will be needed to connect sectoral interventions and achieve synergies from public and private sector interventions; to build capacity and knowledge exchange; to take stock of experience in rain-fed agriculture; to ensure attention to financial sustainability and to cross-cutting issues of gender, environmental and social impacts, and climate; and to better integrate WBG support at the global and regional levels with that at the country level.

Over the past two decades, significant investment has been made into agriculture-related natural resource management research in developing countries. With investors beginning to request the impact of their investments in this research, a review was needed on the economic, social and environmental effects of these projects. Stemming from an effort to address these concerns, this collection of case studies establishes a methodological foundation for impact assessments of NRMR through a discussion of research conducted by the CGIAR around the world. Both micro and macro projects are examined to consider the results of these agricultural and development programs at the farm level as well as on a regional scale.