International Food Policy Research Institute
sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty
Over the past 35 years, the international consensus on the importance of agriculture in economic development has varied from very high (until 1980s) to very low (1990s) to the current middling. Asia was fortunate enough to launch its agricultural and economic revolution at a time when interest in agriculture was still high. Africa was less fortunate and is now trapped in food crises, poverty and economic stagnation.
Based on his experience over this era as a research economist at the World Bank and IFPRI, Peter Hazell reflects on these changes and asks if they result from a progressive accumulation of theory and scientific evidence that is leading to better practice or whether it more simply reflects a series of ad hoc responses to a changing world and/or past experience (or worse, the changing ideologies of newly elected Western governments)? Peter also reflects on the nature of policy research and why it is not more effective in helping to shape the larger debate and prevailing policies of the day and how it might be made more effective in the future.
"What's Past is Prologue" - The Tempest, William Shakespeare.