Research Reports

IFPRI has long argued that spending on agricultural research constitutes a sound investment in poverty reduction and agricultural and economic growth, through improvements in productivity. This argument is based partly on the reported evidence of ...

In this report, Shubh K. Kumar examines the reasons for low productivity of maize, the principal crop in Eastern Province, Zambia, compared with its potential, and suggests steps for increasing future productivity. The report also looks at the ...

Despite the importance of tropical moist forests for conserving biodiversity and storing carbon, forests continue to fall, because the private benefits of clearing land for agriculture far outweigh tangible economic gains from retaining forests. ...

This study analyzes the evolution of agricultural policies from 1985 to 2002 in India, Indonesia, China, and Vietnam and provides empirical estimates of the degree of protection or disprotection to agriculture in these four countries, both by key ...

India’s investments in agricultural research, extension, and irrigation have made it one of the largest publicly funded systems in the world. But some policymakers who perceive that the benefits to research may be declining are advocating a ...

This research report highlights findings from a set of studies undertaken by applied economists on the impact of improved banana cultivars and recommended management practices in the East African highlands. A particular focus of the analysis is ...

Since the 1970s, federal policies promoting migration and encouraging agricultural development of large farms, logging, and ranching have led to the deforestation of vast areas of the Amazon rainforest.Though these policies have largely been ...

In this report, the authors examine the effects on agricultural incentives in Colombia of two influential economic forces: the coffee boom in the 1970s and rapidly expanding public sectors. In Colombia, the turbulence in trade and exchange rate ...

The rapid growth in consumer demand for livestock offers an opportunity to reduce poverty among smallholder livestock farmers in the developing world. These farmers’ opportunity may be threatened, however, by competition from larger-scale ...

Sudan is one of the few countries where famine still persists. Why? What are the determinants of famine in Sudan? What is the role of drought, especially in the context of economic policy failure and war? Who is affected by famine? What needs to ...

Policy reforms in the wake of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) are expected to reduce food exports in Western Europe. Will the transition to market- oriented policy regimes in Eastern Europe and the former ...

“Following Mozambique’s economic collapse in 1986, the country began a wide-ranging process of reform, with the support of the international community. The diagnosis was of an economy that failed to maintain monetary control, consumed ...

The confluence of droughts and high world grain prices in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the Sahel produced widespread famine, resulting in extensive and displacement of people. The region is extremely poor in normal times and the drought was ...

Table of Contents: Tables, Figures, Foreword, Acknowledgments, and Summary; 1. Introduction; 2. Determinants of the Placement and Outreach of Group-Based Financial Institutions:A County-Level Analysis; 3. Group-Based Financial ...

In the past two decades, China has achieved world renown for reducing rural poverty. However, it is becoming harder to reduce poverty and inequality further in China, even though its economy continues to grow. This report compares the impact ...

Undernutrition remains a major source of human suffering and an obstacle to national economic and human development in many African countries. This report investigates undernutrition’s persistence, drawing on case studies of the public ...

This research report examines three questions that are central to IFPRI research: How do property-rights institutions affect efficiency and equity? How are resources allocated within households? Why does this matter from a policy perspective? As ...

Agriculture is vital to the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa: two-thirds of the region’s people depend on it for their livelihoods. Nevertheless, agricultural productivity in most of the region is stagnant or declining, in large part because ...

“This report investigates the income and equity effects of macroeconomic policy reforms in Zimbabwe, emphasizing linkages between macroeconomic policies and agricultural performance and agriculture’s influence on aggregate income and ...

Using a New Institutional Economics framework, this research report addresses a fundamental aspect of markets: how do buyers and sellers find each other and coordinate the transfer of goods? The report quantifies the transaction costs related to ...

Barbier and Bergeron explore several hypotheses about the dynamics of natural resource management in the hillsides of La Lima and further explore the causes and consequences of the transition to vegetable production. To fully integrate ...

The Philippines has undergone a series of trade reforms since the mid-1980s that have reduced protection on nonagricultural goods. However, protection on key food items is still in effect, and this has led to high domestic food prices. Such high ...

This study uses a relatively new method called “small area estimation” to estimate various measures of poverty and inequality for provinces, districts, and communes of Vietnam. The method was applied by combining information from the ...

Through a study of seven public works programs implemented in Western Cape province, this report examines the benefits and challenges of pursuing community participation, together with the effects of participation on meeting the other objectives ...

This document synthesizes the findings contained in a series of reports prepared by IFPRI for PROGRESA between November 1998 and November 2000… PROGRESA is one of the major programs of the Mexican government aimed at developing the human ...

“Rather than looking at the association between poverty and various household and individual characteristics on a one-to-one basis (bivariate analysis), which often oversimplifies complex relationships and can lead to erroneous conclusions, ...

Market liberalization, though an important element in economic reforms in developing countries in the past two decades, has been accused of harming the poor through higher food prices, layoffs in formerly state-owned enterprises, and the erosion ...

Since 1985, the Chinese government has given high priority to building roads, particularly high-quality roads that connect industrial centers. This report evaluates the contribution roads have made to poverty reduction and economic growth in ...

Poverty is deep and widespread in Honduras. This is especially the case in the hillside areas—home to one-third of the country’s population, the majority of whom earn their living through agriculture. While both policymakers and donors are ...

A dramatic increase over the past fifteen years in domestic pork demand and production in the Philippines has created a potentially profitable opportunity for poor rural and agricultural households. In Southern and Central Luzon, the two biggest ...

Marked seasonal variability of both production- and consumption is characteristic of virtually all farming systems in the developing world. This study examines the magnitude and significance of seasonal undernutrition in south central Ethiopia, ...

“The government of Uganda, with help from its development partners, is designing and implementing policies and strategies to address poverty, land degradation, and declining agricultural productivity. Land degradation, especially soil ...

Since the 1980s, developing countries’ agriculture has become more complex and diversified. In general, the public research and extension institutions in these countries were criticized for not participating in the emergence of the most dynamic ...

This report combines a careful analysis of government policy and private foodgrain markets with a detailed survey of 757 households in rural Bangladesh in November and December 1998, about two months after the floodwaters receded. The report ...

Despite their importance, there has been little analysis and even less agreement about the effects of international remittances on the economies of labor-exporting countries. Do households with migrant workers “squander” the money ...

Egypt’s food subsidy system has been a mainstay of the government’s long-term policy of promoting social equity and political stability. It has also been a major component of the social safety net for the poor, guaranteeing the availability of ...

Egypt’s food subsidy system has been a mainstay of the government’s long-term policy of promoting social equity and political stability. It has also been a major component of the social safety net for the poor, guaranteeing the ...

The Hogares Comunitarios Program was launched as a pilot project in Guatemala City in 1991 in response to the need for alternative childcare in a rapidly urbanizing environment. By providing working parents with lowcost, quality childcare within ...

Many developing countries are in transition from a state-dominated to a more market-oriented economy. Because agriculture is of primary importance in most developing countries,the state is usually heavily involved in both input and output markets ...