Within any economy, agriculture is the
sector that is most sensitive to climate change. In Armenia,
however, the risks are even more pronounced because the
majority of the rural population depends on agriculture for
their livelihoods. This publication outlines the policy
options available to Armenia, based on a rigorous evaluation
of the impacts of climate change on agricultural systems. It
provides a solid foundation for taking strategic and, in

Urban agriculture contributes to local
economic development, poverty alleviation, the social
inclusion of the urban poor and women, as well as to the
greening of the city and the productive reuse of urban
wastes. Urban agriculture encompasses a wide variety of
production systems in both urban as well as peri-urban
areas. This study examines the contribution of urban
agriculture to livelihoods, food security, health, and the

Over the past century or so, a wide
assortment of pre-harvest agreements, joint ventures, deals,
and pledges that can be termed contract farming have been
brokered between farmers and buyers. During the 1980s and
1990s, contract farming was frequently criticized as a
potentially exploitative arrangement, which favored the more
powerful buyer and left the small-scale farmer and the
environment vulnerable to abuse. More recently, there is

Tanzania is largely an agriculture-based
economy. This sector accounts for over three-quarters of
national employment, and approximately 25 percent of gross
domestic product (GDP). The national agricultural input
voucher scheme (NAIVS) is a market smart input subsidy
program designed in response to the sharp rise in global
grain and fertilizer prices in 2007 and 2008. The main aim
of the program is to raise maize and rice production, and

Despite its vast agriculture potential,
Africa is increasingly dependent on food imports from the
rest of the world to satisfy its consumption needs. Food
output has not kept pace with population growth, and more
than 80 percent of production gains since 1980 have come
from the expansion of cropped areas rather than from greater
productivity of areas already cultivated. This paper looks
at the current requirements for seed trade in Africa, the

This paper uses a stochastic dynamic
programming model to characterize the optimal
savings-consumption decisions and the role of livestock
inventories as a buffer stock in rural Ethiopia. The results
show that relatively land-rich households use accumulation
and liquidation of cattle and other animal inventories for
partial consumption smoothing, while low-income households
appear not to do so. The results highlight the need for

This paper documents a significant
impact of climate variation on urbanization in Sub-Saharan
Africa, primarily in more arid countries. By lowering farm
incomes, reduced moisture availability encourages migration
to nearby cities, while wetter conditions slow migration.
The paper also provides evidence for rural-urban income
links. In countries with a larger industrial base, reduced
moisture shrinks the agricultural sector and raises total

This report presents the World Bank
Group's experience in climate and disaster resilient
development and contends that it is essential to eliminate
extreme poverty and achieve shared prosperity by 2030. The
report argues for closer collaboration between the climate
resilience and disaster risk management communities through
the incorporation of climate and disaster resilience into
broader development processes. Selected case studies are

With global food crises and food price volatility in recent years, agricultural subsidies have once
again gained prominence as a policy instrument in many developing countries. In Mongolia too,
subsidies to the agriculture sector mainly through government budgetary transfers, have
increased over time. These gained prominence in 2008 when a global, regional (the drought in
Russia, and Kazakhstan, the two main suppliers to Mongolia), and the national food production

A development response to forced
displacement in the Sahel requires a regional approach. Such
an approach would have the benefits of being able to: (i)
overcome challenges relating to cross--- border movements,
(ii) obtain commitments by host governments to support the
prospects of displaced from neighboring countries and (iii)
facilitate common approaches, shared conceptualization and
learning. A regional approach will be appropriate in the

The tradeoffs between energy and water
have been gaining international attention in recent years as
demand for both resources mount and governments continue to
struggle to ensure reliable supply to meet sectoral needs.
As almost all energy generation processes require
significant amounts of water, and water requires energy for
treatment and transport, these two resources are
inextricably linked. This relationship is the energy-water