policy development

This paper in the World Development Journal, introduces a Special Section on Chinese and Brazilian engagements in African agriculture. The paper asks if a new paradigm for development cooperation is emerging, and argues that we must move beyond the simplistic narratives of either “South–South” collaboration or “neo-imperial” expansion of “rising powers” to look at the dynamic and contested politics of engagement, as new forms of capital and technology enter African contexts. »

This report from the Oakland Institute exposes how a coalition of four donor countries and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is shaping a pro-business environment in the agricultural sector of developing countries, especially in Africa. The report focuses on the Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) project, implemented by the World Bank. »

This paper analyses the trade-off between price distortions and reduced volatility when governments intervened in agricultural and food markets during the recent food price spikes and concludes that there is much room for policy improvement. The authors develop a model to derive how much distortions a government would introduce when it cares about price stability in a situation with limited policy options and show that there is a trade-off and identify the optimal combination of distortions and stability for given international price shocks and interest groups preferences for stability. »

This policy brief identifies policy interventions that can anticipate and mitigate the negative dietary and nutritional outcomes of price volatility and market uncertainty. Food price volatility is a serious global concern. Since the food crisis of 2008, the world has struggled to address unexpected, rapid rises and falls in global food prices, which have sparked political unrest and increased economic risks across the food system. »

This article in the Journal of Crop Improvement assesses policy and institutional frameworks impacting on vegetable seed production and distribution systems to establish benchmark indicators for successful integration and/or diversification of vegetables into existing farming systems in the humid forest area of Cameroon. »

This publication (PDF) by Dr. Rauno Zander from the GPFI SME Finance SubGroup aims to provide development policymakers with some practical recent insights on new trends in agricultural value chain financing. It highlights good practices, success factors and lessons to be learnt from recent experiences, covering the past five years. The paper looks at innovation challenges in agricultural value chain financing and details three possible types of innovation. »