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Cette note technique analyse le niveau, la composition et la cohérence des dépenses publiques en soutient à l’agriculture et l’alimentation au Bénin pour la période 2008-2018. Spécifiquement, la méthodologie du programme de Suivi et analyse des politiques agricoles et alimentaires (SAPAA) est employée pour identifier les tendances de soutien budgétaire à l’agriculture et l’alimentation en terme de composition fonctionnelle de la dépense publique (recherche agricole, subvention au capital, vulgarisation, etc.) et du sous-secteur qui est visé par la dépense (forêt, élevage, denrées spécifiques, etc.) ainsi que la source de financement de ces dépenses. L’étude également vise à évaluer la cohérence [...]

The high cost to Ecuador’s national budget of maintaining a minimum guaranteed producer price for rice led to the introduction of a price bracket system in 2017. The minimum support price policy and a complimentary high import tariff were meant to protect small rice producers from competition from world markets and increase their incomes. However, farmers with greater productive capacity are currently accruing the highest income transfers from the guaranteed minimum rice price. Moreover, the policy has led to distortions throughout the marketing chain, only partially meeting its objective of price stability. The introduction of the price bracket system and [...]

This policy brief analyses Ecuador’s trade, productive and price policies for maize and their effect on farmers’ level of protection. The minimum support price enacted until 2017, turned out to be a non-operative policy due to a higher market price, which created incentives for speculative investments by traders. To counteract speculative investments the Ministry enacted a price range for maize, the price ceiling is expected to counteract future speculations. Productive and trade policies aiming to protect small farmers seem to achieve their objective. The effective rate of protection increased for all farm production systems from 2016 to 2017 with the [...]

Using rural economy-wide impact simulation methods and cost-benefit analysis, this study examines the impacts of individual and combined social protection and agricultural interventions in Malawi on incomes, poverty and production. The goal of this analysis is to provide evidence on policy options to increase coordination and coherence between social protection and agricultural programmes, with the objective of reducing poverty, increasing incomes and enhancing agricultural production and productivity.    Research shows that significant income gains in rural areas can extend beyond the direct beneficiary households, as a result of consumption and other local linkages. Given the income gained by these vulnerable households, [...]

The WTO has objectives such as lowering and elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers in international trade, improvement of trade transparency and predictability, trade facilitation, discouraging of unfair trade practices. For this purpose, the WTO member’s governments apply various trade policy instruments in accordance with WTO rules. The WTO member’s business can greatly benefit from application by government of the WTO instruments that facilitate trade and protect from unfair competition. Moreover, the business itself can directly use some of these instruments for better market access, in particular transparency instruments, or in cooperation with government get support or protection provided in [...]

This review focuses on the various aspects of post-Soviet countries' policies in support of agri-food products export. The report contains an analysis of agricultural exports of these countries in recent years.   This includes the latest initiatives in the field of stimulating food supplies to the foreign market are considered, and the national legislation promoting exports is described. Moreover, the review consolidates information in relation to the export support systems within post-Soviet countries, including governmental institutions, state export support agencies and non-governmental institutions. The report also evaluates the key instruments and measures for agricultural exports promotion in countries of the region, [...]

The brief uses a unique set of data from Zambia collected from smallholders before and after the 2015/2016 ENSO event, which was widely anticipated by regional and global forecast services to contribute to dry conditions in southern Zambia and an overall shorter growing season. Three findings emerge from the analysis. Farmers receiving seasonal weather forecasts are more likely to adopt cropping systems and seed varieties that are adapted to the expected weather conditions, yet access to weather information remains limited. Access to competitive private markets increases the probability that a farmer will adopt drought tolerant cropping systems and improved seeds [...]

Climate is an essential input to agricultural production. Changes in climate will inevitably have an impact on agricultural productivity, output, farm incomes and prices. Elevated temperatures will also affect human and animal health. To date, most of the studies of climate impacts on agriculture have ignored the impacts on humans and livestock, focusing instead on the consequences for crop production. One of the foremost reasons is that research on crop impacts assessment is the field where the necessary modelling infrastructure was most fully developed.   The present paper provides an overview of the latest modelling research on the impact of climate change [...]

Nearly 75 percent of Lesotho’s population live in rural areas and depend on farming for their livelihoods. The proportion of people living below the poverty line is increasing, and arable land is extremely limited (9 percent of the total area). When the El Niño-induced drought struck in 2015, the agricultural sector was strongly impacted, and the Government of Lesotho declared a state of drought emergency. Many households did not plant at all, leading to a drastic decline in food availability and harvest. In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) and the Bureau of Statistics, this project provided [...]

The brochure describes the six pilots of the project "Developing capacity for strengthening food security and nutrition in selected countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia". Following an explanation of making operational the linkages between social protection, nutrition and agricultural interventions across the food systems, the brochure describes in detail the “School food and nutrition programmes linked to the agricultural sector”, “Strengthening food systems for nutrition sensitive social protection” and “Promoting inclusive economic growth through matching grants” pilots in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Also available in Russian.