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Non-PR, IFPRI1; MaSSP; CRP2; D.1 Agriculture's role in national development strategy; DCA, DSGD; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), This paper considers potential strategic options for agriculture and development in Malawi in the context of the country’s current situation and the prospects the country faces. After briefly reviewing current national and sectoral policy and potential roles of smallholder agriculture in economic growth, we set out the current situation in order to consider strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. We conclude that a major emphasis is needed on supporting changes that reduce the rate of population growth and promote capacity for adaptation and resilience to climate change. Rapid increases in the productivity of agricultural land and labor and in rural incomes will be critical to this, alongside increased education and empowerment of girls and women. There are, however, difficult potential trade-offs to negotiate (for example, between increased irrigation and reduced inflows into Lake Malawi) and these need further consideration.

PR, IFPRI1, Different schools of economic theory have been developed over the years to interpret economic phenomena, behaviors, and outcomes. It is generally acknowledged that these phenomena, behaviors, and outcomes (decisions, transactions, and welfare impacts) are shaped by (1) formal economic institutions and rules; (2) culture, values, and conventions; and (3) social networks. Works associated with the various schools of theory place differing emphases.

PR, IFPRI1, The purpose of this chapter is to introduce some of the major themes of the book and to discuss their importance to the challenges facing agricultural development and policy analysis in Africa. The chapter starts with a broad overview of the agricultural development policy challenges, noting some of the successes and failures in agricultural development. Section 1.2 provides an overview of past policy trends in agricultural development. In Section 1.3 the importance of complementary technical, infrastructural, and institutional changes in economic development is recognized, with a focus on the role that institutions play in this process. A distinction is drawn between the institutional environment and institutional arrangements and, within the latter, between gift exchange, hierarchies, and markets. Section 1.4 concludes.

PR, IFPRI1, The remainder of this book develops and applies this theory to address the challenges set out in Chapter 1, examining practical issues regarding the roles and effectiveness of markets, state action, and collective action in promoting agricultural developmental in different circumstances. Before embarking on this effort, however, we need to develop a conceptual framework for applying the theories described in Chapter 2 to analyze the evolution, functions, and economic and social outcomes of specific institutions, such as those governing the management of common property resources, those bringing players together in market exchange, or those assisting in the enforcement of credit contracts.

PR, IFPRI1; 2020, DGO, The people operating small farms in developing countries have to cope with the risks of these small businesses and have long faced heavy challenges. Today, these challenges are particularly severe, and the aspirations of young people on small farms have changed. Globalization and the integration of international markets are stimulating intense competition, offering some opportunities but also new risks. In light of these pressures and others, many of the world’s millions of small farmers are simply not making it. Indeed, half of the world’s undernourished people, three-quarters of Africa’s malnourished children, and the majority of people living in absolute poverty live on small farms. The transformation of the small-farm economy is one of the biggest economic challenges of our time. For some, it entails growth into specialized, market-oriented farms; for others, part-time farming combined with off-farm rural jobs; and for others, a move out of agriculture. The pathways of transformation differ by region and location and will take decades. Policy must take a long-run view to support and guide this process efficiently, effectively, and in social fairness. The role of women farmers and their livelihoods requires particular attention. In this paper, Peter Hazell, Colin Poulton, Steve Wiggins, and Andrew Dorward address several crucial questions. Do small farms in fact have a future? In what situations can small farms succeed? What strategies are most appropriate for helping to raise small-farm productivity? The authors review both sides of the debate over the future of small farms before coming to their conclusions. Coming down firmly on the side of policy support for small farms, they point to small farms’ significant potential for reducing poverty and inequity. They also clarify the differing roles of and needs for small farms in different country contexts and spell out a policy agenda for promoting small-farm development. This discussion paper is based on a literatu

PR, IFPRI1; GRP33; Theme 4; Subtheme 4.1; Food systems: disaster prevention, relief, and rebuilding after crises; Health, Diet and Nutrition; RENEWAL, FCND, There is a limited but growing literature on direct impacts of HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality on the livelihoods of poor rural people. Less is known, however, about indirect impacts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the livelihoods of rural communities, allowing for market interactions between households. These are difficult to study, but unskilled wages and food prices are critically important to the welfare of poor people, whether directly affected by HIV/AIDS or not: If the HIV/AIDS epidemic depresses labor demands more than it contracts labor supply, this could lower wage rates in affected communities, damaging the livelihoods of poor households. Promotion of laborsaving enterprises and technologies under such circumstances could have disastrous consequences for the healthy poor.

PR, ISI; IFPRI3; GRP32; Theme 9; GRP3, DSGD, "This paper draws together findings from different elements of a research project examining critical components of pro-poor agricultural growth and of policies that can promote such growth in poor rural economies in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa."

Non-PR, IFPRI-5, DSGD

Non-PR, IFPRI5; GRP3; Theme 9, DSGD, 114 p., "This paper draws together findings from different elements of a research project examining critical components of pro-poor agricultural growth and of policies that can promote such growth in poor rural economies in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural growth, a critical driver in poverty reducing growth in many poor agrarian economies in the past, faces many difficulties in today's poor rural areas in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Some of these difficulties are endogenous to these areas while others result from broader processes of global change. Active state interventions in 'kick starting' markets in 20th century green revolutions suggest that another major difficulty may be current policies which emphasize the benefits of liberalization and state withdrawal but fail to address critical institutional constraints to market and economic development in poor rural areas. This broad hypothesis was tested in an analysis of the returns (in agricultural growth and poverty reduction) to different government spending in India over the last forty years. The results reject the alternate hypothesis underlying much current policy, that fertilizer and credit subsidies, for example, depressed agricultural growth and poverty reduction in the early stages of agricultural transformation. The results show initially high but then declining impacts from fertilizer subsidies; high benefits from investment in roads, education and agricultural R&D during all periods and varying benefits from credit subsidies over four decades; low impacts from power subsidies; and intermediate impacts from irrigation investments. These findings demand a fundamental reassessment of policies espousing state withdrawal from markets in poor agrarian economies. Given widespread state failure in many poor agrarian economies today, particularly in Africa, new thinking is urgently needed to find alternative ways of 'kick starting' markets -- ways which reduce rent seeking opportunities, promote r

Non-PR, IFPRI4, DSGD, 24 p.