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Summary This paper examines the implications of productivity improvements in agriculture, industry, and services for global poverty. We find that, in poor countries, increases in agricultural productivity generally have a larger poverty-reduction effect than increases in industry or services. This differential declines as average incomes rise, partly because agriculture becomes smaller as a share of the economy, and partly because agricultural productivity growth becomes less effective in reducing poverty. The source of the poverty-reduction benefits from agricultural productivity growth changes as innovations are more widely adopted—moving from increases in producer returns to reductions in consumer prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper explains the processes behind the framing of drip irrigation as a promising technology to address current poverty and environmental challenges in the developing world. I draw from critical development and science and technology studies and highlight that this imagery has been actively performed. Insiders elaborated a compelling narrative calling upon a will to improve through technology and the moral legitimacy of social entrepreneurship in development; they worked hard to establish a supportive coalition in an ever wider network. This story hinges on several assumptions, which upon closer scrutiny appear to be problematic: the unicity of smallholder farming, the attribution of inherent technical characteristics to a specific object—the “drip kit”—regardless of the context in which it is used, and the framing of social entrepreneurship and market-based approaches as alternative models even though these rather constitute a re-working of existing arrangements within the international development community. Nonetheless, the pro-poor and environmentally friendly smallholder drip irrigation narrative still continues to be successful in harnessing the support of the international development community, despite the little capacity drip irrigation has had to transform smallholder farming, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Unpacking the origins, actors, and building blocks of the discursive success of smallholder drip irrigation provides fresh perspectives on the practices of development in the sector and is the first step toward more meaningful engagement with smallholder farmers in the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We investigate the link from poverty to growth using data from 129 developing countries, including 44 in Sub Saharan Africa, during 1981–2018. • Faster poverty reduction leads to faster growth in the developing world as a whole (LDCs); but especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). • Initial poverty has no direct impact on growth in both regions. But it weakens the effectiveness of growth in reducing poverty; more in LDCs than in SSA. • Faster growth brings about faster poverty reduction in the developing world as a whole; but not so much within SSA. • For faster poverty reduction, LDCs especially SSA need pro-growth reduction strategies besides the conventional pro-poor growth strategies. The positive impact of growth on poverty reduction has been well documented and confirmed. In contrast, the impact of poverty reduction on subsequent growth has not been systematically investigated. The main objective of this paper is to explore empirically the reverse causality between poverty and growth. Using data from 129 developing countries (44 in SSA) during 1981–2018, this study finds that faster poverty reduction is linked to faster growth in the developing world and especially the SSA region; while faster growth contributes to faster poverty reduction more in the developing world outside of SSA than within SSA. These findings suggest that for faster poverty reduction in the entire developing world but especially in SSA, we need a pro-growth poverty reduction strategy, where interventions directly target poverty reduction, and through that also contribute to faster growth; as a complement to the more conventional pro-poor growth strategy, where interventions directly target growth and only reduce poverty through growth. The main conclusion is that the combined effects of growth on poverty and of the latter on subsequent growth can lead to a virtuous spiral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]