This study examines the impact of
climate change on cropland in Africa. It is based on a
survey of more than 9,000 farmers in 11 countries: Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger,
Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The study uses
a Ricardian cross-sectional approach in which net revenue is
regressed on climate, water flow, soil, and economic
variables. The results show that net revenues fall as

The surge in global commodity prices of
the past few years has presented a tremendous development
challenge for South Asian countries. The large loss of
income from the terms of trade shock has worsened
macroeconomic balances, fueled rapid inflation, and hurt
growth. Although commodity prices have come down recently,
the benefits are being clouded by the emergence of a severe
global financial crisis. The adverse consequences of the

This study is part of the second phase of a long-term programmatic work on poverty in Mexico, in three phases being carried out by the Bank at the request of the Government of Mexico.

Climate change is a serious
environmental challenge that could undermine the drive for
sustainable development. Since the industrial revolution,
the mean surface temperature of earth has increased an
average of 1degree celsius per century due to the
accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Furthermore, most of this change has occurred in the past 30
to 40 years, and the rate of increase is accelerating, with

This paper analyzes poverty in Haiti
based on the first Living Conditions Survey of 7,186
households covering the whole country and representative at
the regional level. Using a USD1 a day extreme poverty line,
the analysis reveals that 49 percent of Haitian households
live in absolute poverty. Twenty, 56, and 58 percent of
households in metropolitan, urban, and rural areas,
respectively, are poor. At the regional level, poverty is

The Tanzania Water Resources Assistance
Strategy (TWRAS) illustrates that food security, energy
security, environmental security, health security,
industrial security, and social and economic security all
hinge directly or indirectly on water security. The
cooperative management and development of rivers, lakes, and
aquifers shared with other nations also have significant
implications for national security. The TWRAS has guided the

In Sub-Saharan Africa, rainfall is
highly variable and, in many places, plainly in sufficient.
Although irrigation has the potential to boost agricultural
yields by at least 50 percent, food production in the region
is almost entirely rain-fed. The irrigated area, extending
over 6 million hectares, makes up just 5 percent of the
total cultivated area, compared to 37 percent in Asia and 14
percent in Latin America. Two-thirds of that area is in

This paper examines the distribution of
climate change impacts across the 16 agro-ecological zones
in Africa using data from the Food and Agriculture
Organization combined with economic survey data from a
Global Environment Facility/World Bank project. Net revenue
per hectare of cropland is regressed on a set of climate,
soil, and socio-economic variables using different
econometric specifications "with" and

This report presents policy, market, and
agriculture transition in the Northern Uplands of Lao
People's Democratic Republic aims to contribute to such
a dialogue by providing: (a) a policy-relevant typology of
the structural characteristics and transition patterns of
the principal small-holder agriculture systems in the
Northern Uplands; and (b) recommendations to strengthen
Government's facilitation of a more sustainable and

This study assesses the development
effectiveness of World Bank assistance in addressing
constraints to agricultural development in Africa over the
period of fiscal years 1991-2006. This Independent
Evaluation Group (IEG) review of World Bank assistance to
agriculture in Africa has a twofold purpose. First, it is a
pilot for the proposed IEG study on Bank-wide assistance in
agriculture scheduled for fiscal year 2009. Second, the

Measurement of the likely magnitude of
the economic impact of climate change on African agriculture
has been a challenge. Using data from a survey of more than
9,000 farmers across 11 African countries, a cross-sectional
approach estimates how farm net revenues are affected by
climate change compared with current mean temperature.
Revenues fall with warming for dryland crops (temperature
elasticity of -1.9) and livestock (-5.4), whereas revenues

This report focuses on the potential and
opportunities for smallholder commercialization in Zambia.
The paper discusses the framework for Zambia's
smallholder commercialization strategy, the current state of
smallholder agriculture in Zambia, key issues, support from
agribusiness to smallholders, and development of potential
and opportunities for smallholder commercialization. The
paper concludes with three strategy areas: how to strengthen