This research report on India addresses an important policy issue faced by policy-makers in many developing countries: how to allocate public funds more efficiently in order to achieve both growth and poverty-reduction goals in rural areas. This research is particularly important at a time when many developing countries are undergoing substantial budget cuts as part of macroeconomic reforms and adjustment. The econometric model employed in this research includes a broad range of government expenditure items.

Policy Analysis for Sustainable Land Management and Food Security in Ethiopia presents a bioeconomic model of this less- favored area in the Ethiopian highlands. The main reason for selecting this case study area is the unique availability of both biophysical and socioeconomic data covering a period of 15 to 20 years.The data provides a valuable opportunity to analyze the relationships between population pressure, poverty, and land degradation and to test policies for reducing vulnerability and improving sustainable management of the resource base....

As stress on Indian agriculture increases because of several reasons, such as continuous fragmentation of landholdings and climate change, there is a serious threat to livelihood based on farming. This is particularly true for small farmers. Growing rural populations and constrained employment opportunities in the nonfarm sector have caused subdivision of landholdings in India to the extent that these cannot provide an adequate livelihood to a majority of farm households. With this view, this study was undertaken to explore options for improving the outcomes of the farmers.

"Malawi has experienced modest economic growth over the last decade and a half. However, agricultural growth has been particularly erratic, and while the incidence of poverty has declined, it still remains high. The Malawian government, within the framework of the Agricultural Development Plan (ADP), is in the process of implementing the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which provides an integrated framework of development priorities aimed at restoring agricultural growth, rural development and food security.

"The forest management strategy of Nepal is based on people’s participation, which is known as community forestry. This approach was formally introduced in 1978 to encourage active participation of local people in forest management activities as a means to improve their livelihoods. Under the community forestry structure, local people make decisions regarding forest management, utilization and distribution of benefits from a forest; they are organized as a Community Forest User Group.

A series of high-profile food-related scares around the globe has drawn attention to the issue of food safety and other health risks associated with agriculture. Because the scope of the problem is different at different levels of economic development, we need nuanced policy options to promote safer food production systems worldwide.

In addition to global developments and food policy changes, 2014 also saw important developments with potentially wide repercussions in individual countries and regions. This chapter offers perspectives on major food policy developments in various regions including Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Agriculture is vital to the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa: two-thirds of the region’s people depend on it for their livelihoods. Nevertheless, agricultural productivity in most of the region is stagnant or declining, in large part because of land degradation. Soil erosion and soil nutrient depletion degraded almost 70 percent of the region’s land between 1945 and 1990; 20 percent of total agricultural land has been severely degraded. If left unchecked, land degradation could seriously threaten the progress of economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa.

This paper presents new evidence on the association between gender and poverty based on an empirical analysis of 11 data sets from 10 developing countries. The paper computes income- and expenditure-based poverty measures and investigates their sensitivity to the use of per capita and per adult equivalent units. It also tests for differences in poverty incidence between individuals in male- and female-headed households using stochastic dominance analysis.