Contract farming (CF) is attractive as a possible private-sector-led strategy for improving smallholder farmers’ welfare. Yet many CF schemes suffer from high turnover of participating farmers and struggle to survive. So far, the dynamics of CF participation have remained largely unexplored. We employ duration analysis to examine factors affecting entry into and exit from different maize CF schemes in northern Ghana, focusing specifically on the impact of development projects on CF entry and exit.

2015年对国际社会而言是具有分水岭意义的一年。联合国千年发 展目标于2015年到期；自1990年以来，世界各国在实现千年发 展目标方面取得了重大的进展，极端贫困人口、儿童死亡率以及饥 饿人口比例均降低了约一半。然而，我们仍然面临着巨大的挑战。 《2016全球粮食政策报告》综述了影响2015年及未来的食物安全和 营养的主要趋势、事件和变化，并探讨了全球食物系统如何在为进 一步减少饥饿、营养不良和贫困做出最优贡献的同时，确保全球资 源的可持续利用。2016年是我们将新的国际和国家承诺转化为行动 的重要的一年。

The report includes three essays about Responding to the World Food Crisis: Getting on the Right Track by Joachim von Braun, High Global Food Prices: The Challenges and Opportunities by Josette Sheeran, and Policy Implications of High Food Prices for Africa by Namanga Ngongi.

"African agriculture is at a crossroads. The current high food prices and the instability they have provoked in several countries have added impetus for African countries to review their agricultural policies and programs. New agricultural policies will have to be more focused on staple food crops and on their main producers-smallholders, most of whom are women. The new policies must remove constraints that impede access by smallholder farmers to the knowledge, technology, and financial services they need to increase farm productivity in a profitable and environmentally sustainable manner.

High food prices are not only causing a humanitarian crisis, but also putting at risk the development potential of millions of people. Global agriculture markets are undergoing structural changes, and the next three to four years will pose great challenges for achieving an affordable and accessible food supply for the world's most vulnerable. Soaring food and fuel prices are creating a "perfect storm" for the world's most vulnerable.

"Part of the difficulty in responding to the food crisis is the lack of credible and up-todate data on the impacts of food prices on poor people and on the effects of policy responses. Such information would allow international and national decision makers to use feedback to adjust their responses and achieve maximum effectiveness. Much more investment and sound coordination is needed in this area. So far, national and international responses to the food crisis are mixed in terms of their likely effectiveness.

"The dramatic rise and volatility of food prices over the last year have shaken the global food system. Governments and the international development community generally have responded to various aspects of the food crisis, but questions remain about whether the right actions are being pursued, how best to respond, and what the future holds.

In 2008, a year in which the global population—particularly the world’s poor—was confronted by both the financial and food-price crises, agricultural systems faced changes that led to market disruptions, reduced growth, mass protests, and a string of political efforts to reshape the design and governance of food systems.

El dramático aumento y la volatilidad de los precios de los alimentos durante el último año han sacudido al sistema alimentario mundial. Por lo general, tanto los gobiernos como la comunidad dedicada al desarrollo internacional han respondido ante diversos aspectos de la crisis alimentaria, pero todavía permanecen las preguntas sobre si se han tomado o no las acciones más adecuadas, cuál es la mejor forma de responder y qué nos aguarda en el futuro.

Agricultural growth will prove essential for improving the welfare of the vast majority of Africa’s poor. Roughly 80 percent of the continent’s poor live in rural areas, and even those who do not will depend heavily on increasing agricultural productivity to lift them out of poverty. Seventy percent of all Africans— and nearly 90 percent of the poor—work primarily in agriculture. As consumers, all of Africa’s poor—both urban and rural—count heavily on the efficiency of the continent’s farmers.

"Good health and productive agriculture are both essential in the fight against poverty. In a rapidly changing world, agriculture faces many challenges, both old (natural resource constraints, extreme weather conditions, and agricultural pests) and new (globalization, environmental degradation, problems of maintaining production in conflict situations). At the same time, new global health threats emerge, such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and avian influenza, while old ones persist.