"Payments for environmental services (PES) are increasingly discussed as appropriate mechanisms for matching the demand for environmental services with the incentives of land users whose actions modify the supply of those environmental services. While there has been considerable discussion of...

In 1990 a total of 780 million people out of 4 billion in the developing world are living on diets that are not sufficient to maintain a healthy life, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This implies food insecurity for every fifth person in the...

"Trade liberalization is expected to act positively on development and poverty alleviation, both of which have become a high priority of international community...The objective of this study is to examine the efficiency of trade modeling in capturing the benefits from trade liberalization. It...

While research on the improvement of agricultural production has received considerable attention and funding, until recently postharvest activities have not attracted much attention from international research organizations. However, there is an emerging consensus on the critical role that...

The objective of this paper is to review trends in government expenditures in the developing world, to analyze the causes of change, and to develop an analytical framework for determining the differential impacts of various government expenditures on economic growth. Contrary to common belief,...

"Agriculture plays a crucial role in the economy of sub-Saharan Africa. A feature of particular significance about the region is that the majority of households are heavily dependent on agriculture as their major source of livelihood. Smallholder agriculture is the principal producer of staple...

As the goals of international agricultural research move beyond increasing food production to the broader aims of reducing poverty, both agricultural research and studies of its impact become more complex. Yet examining the magnitude and mechanisms through which different types of agricultural...

"In recent years, trade in Africa has assumed greater importance as a means of alleviating poverty, especially since the initiation of the Doha Round for development. At the same time, skepticism regarding the effectiveness of foreign aid has grown (Easterly 2006). Trade and aid have often been...

Recent research from IFPRI and its partners shows the potential for income growth to improve nutritional status. Encouragingly, income growth indeed contributes to improved nutritional status in 12 countries studied. The authors show how nutrition programs can reduce malnutrition faster, how...

"Governments are now shifting their role from direct management of irrigation systems to regulation of the water sector, provision of support services to water user associations, and capacity building among water user associations and irrigation service providers.... International experience...