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Publications
Investing in agriculture for growth and food security in the ACP countries
12/2004
Countries in the ACP region will face significant challenges in the years to come as they try to step up economic growth, deal with increasingly integrated world markets and meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially those focused on hunger and poverty.
Estimating poverty over time and space – Construction of a time-variant poverty index for Costa Rica
11/2004
This paper presents the construction of a spatially explicit, nationally disaggregated measure of poverty over time in Costa Rica. The paper first describes the two possible methods considered for the construction of a poverty map: principal component analysis (PCA) versus small area estimation.
Will buying tropical forest carbon benefit the poor? Evidence from Costa Rica
11/2004
We review claims about the potential for carbon markets that link both payments for carbon services and poverty levels to ongoing rates of tropical deforestation. We then examine these effects empirically for Costa Rica during the 20th century using an econometric approach that addresses the irreversibilities in deforestation.
Effects of poverty on deforestation – Distinguishing behaviour from location
11/2004
We summarize existing theoretical claims linking poverty to rates of deforestation and then examine this linkage empirically for Costa Rica during the 20th century using an econometric approach that addresses the irreversibilities in deforestation.
Understanding vulnerability to food insecurity: Lessons from vulnerable livelihood profiling
10/2004
The Food Security and Agricultural Projects Analysis Unit (ESAF) of FAO has undertaken a number of pilot studies to develop a methodology for understanding why certain groups of people are vulnerable to becoming food insecure.
Westernization of Asian diets and the transformation of food systems – Implications for research and policy
09/2004
Rapid economic and income growth, urbanization, and globalization are leading to a dramatic shift of Asian diets away from staples and increasingly towards livestock and dairy products, vegetables and fruit, and fats and oils.
Identifying the factors that influence small-scale farmers' transaction costs in relation to seed acquisition
09/2004
Using an ethnographic approach, this study explores small-scale farmers’ perceived transaction costs in relation to maize seed acquisition in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca.
Poverty, livestock and household typologies in Nepal
09/2004
Livestock make a substantial contribution to household livelihoods and currently sustain the livelihoods of an estimated 700 million rural poor in developing countries. In Nepal, poverty levels are extremely high and more than 80 percent of the population relies on the agriculture sector for employment and income generation.
National agricultural biotechnology research capacity in developing countries
08/2004
Adequate public research capacity is key to the appropriate development of biotechnology, including genetically modified (GM) crops. While commercial crops can be introduced without intensive local research (i.e. insect resistant GM cotton), introducing products of public research depend on indigenous capacity.
Internal mobility and international migration in Albania
06/2004
Using evidence from two recent data sources – the 2002 Albania Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) and the 2001 Population Census of Albania – the paper documents the phenomena of internal and external migration in Albania, a country that in the past decade has experienced dramatic changes as it makes its transition to a more open market economy.
Being poor, feeling poorer – Combining objective and subjective measures of welfare in Albania
06/2004
As shown empirically for many transition economies, even small changes in assumptions on economies of size and adult equivalence scales are likely to produce significant changes in the analysis of poverty and its distribution across households and individuals.
Food insecurity and vulnerability in Viet Nam – Profiles of four vulnerable groups
05/2004
The report describes the livelihood strategies of four vulnerable groups (small farmers in the Red River and Mekong Deltas, small farmers in the Northern Region, artisanal fisherfolk in Central Coastal Region, and urban workers without stable employment), investigates the characteristics and causes of their vulnerability and how they cope, and recommends specific options to reduce their vulnerability.
Food insecurity and vulnerability in Nepal – Profiles of seven vulnerable groups
05/2004
This report documents the main findings of vulnerable group profiling work in Nepal. It identifies the characteristics and investigates the vulnerability for seven particular livelihood groups, notably marginal farm households...
Public attitudes towards agricultural biotechnology
05/2004
The full benefits of agricultural biotechnology will only be realized if consumers and food manufacturers consider it safe and beneficial. Although few internationally comparable public opinion surveys have been conducted on this issue, the available evidence suggests that public attitudes differ sharply both between and within countries and are evolving over time.
The economic impacts of biotechnology-based technological innovations
05/2004
Global adoption of transgenic crops reached 67.7 million hectares in 2003 from 2.8 million in 1996. Delivery has occurred almost entirely through the private sector and adoption has been rapid in areas where the crops addressed serious production constraints and where farmers had access to the new technologies.
Private research and public goods – Implications of biotechnology for biodiversity
04/2004
The pattern of crop genetic diversity has changed over the past two centuries with the modernization of agriculture, accelerating with the advent of the green revolution.
Interactions between the agricultural sector and the HIV/AIDS pandemic – Implications for agricultural policy
03/2004
This paper considers how the design of agricultural policies and programmes might be modified to better achieve policy objectives in the context of severe HIV epidemics and underscores the central role of agricultural policy in mitigating the spread and impacts of the epidemic.
Globalisation of Indian diets and the transformation of food supply systems
02/2004
This paper examines the change in the nature of food demand in India in the last twenty years. It identifies two distinct stages of diet transition associated with the period of economic growth.
Agricultural policy indicators
01/2004
This paper outlines a methodological approach for use by FAO to collect, analyse and monitor agricultural policy indicators (API) for developing countries. The aim is to establish a consistent and comparable set of policy indicators, allowing analysts to examine whether agriculture in particular countries is being stimulated or retarded by the set of policies employed.
Resource abundance, poverty and development
01/2004
The negative correlation between resource endowments and GDP growth remains one of the most robust findings in the empirical growth literature, and has been coined the “resource curse hypothesis”.