Agriculture and development: A brief review of the literature

Abstract

After 20 years of neglect by international donors, agriculture is now again in the headlines because higher food prices are increasing food insecurity and poverty. In the coming years it will be essential to increase food productivity and production in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and with smallholders. This however requires finding viable solutions to a number of complex technical, institutional and policy issues including land markets, research on seeds and inputs; agricultural extension; credit; rural infrastructure; storage; connection to markets; rural nonfarm This paper is a product of the Research Support Unit, Development Economics. It is part of a larger effort by the World Bank to provide open access to its research and make a contribution to development policy discussions around the world.

Determinants of Savings among Smallholder Farmers in Sokoto South Local Government Area, Sokoto State, Nigeria

“…In most developing countries, sustained growth in agriculture is often the keystone of overall socioeconomic growth and development (Dethier & Effenberger, 2011). These agro-based economies have rural farmers as stakeholders in the path to agricultural development.…”

“…In Nigeria, for instance, smallholder farmers account for about 90 % of food production (Adams & Vogel, 1990;CBN, 2004). The importance of agriculture in developing country, especially rural households, cannot be overemphasizedprovides employment for 60 percent of the labor force: accounting for 25 percent of GDP and provides livelihood for 86 percent of rural households (Dethier & Effenberger, 2011).…”

Government Expenditures, Health Outcomes and Marginal Productivity of Agricultural Inputs: The Case of Tanzania

“…Compared to other inputs, the elasticity of production with respect to land is the highest (0.660). The value of the land elasticity is consistent with the proposition that agricultural growth in sub‐Saharan Africa has been driven primarily by land expansion (Dethier and Effenberger, ). The elasticities with respect to labour and other inputs are also significant and positive across all models.…”

Send for the cavalry: Political incentives in the provision of agricultural advisory services

“…2 AEP was based on the prevailing international paradigm of the time-the World Bank supported a Training and Visit (T&V) approach. This rested on the notion that a single national extension service with one chain of command could teach farmers about new technologies and provide them with information on which they would then act (Mangheni, 2007;Dethier & Effenberger, 2011;Schwartz & Kampen, 1982). 3 In Uganda, at the national level, AEP was fully integrated into the regular organizational framework of MAAIF.…”