AGRICULTURAL GROWTH AND RURAL TRANSFORMATION

In this part-time position Prof. Jayne will assist the Bank’s efforts to build the African Development Institute and to promote collaborative partnerships with African governments, national African research institutes, and international universities.

Driven by population growth and growing land scarcity, most African farm households are witnessing the gradual sub-division of their land. Over time farms are getting smaller and smaller. Today, over 80% of farms in relatively densely populated countries are smaller than one hectare.

The new paper examines how subnational variation in capacity affects access to agricultural extension in rural Nepal, finding that even when resources are scarce, knowledgeable and motivated bureaucrats can deliver surprisingly high levels of services.

An IFPRI analysis of the Bangladesh's Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) program, which provides assistance to poor women in rural areas, revealed flaws in the standards used to target recipients and recommended new criteria, which the government will begin using in 2019.

Rapid urbanization in developing countries stimulates interest in understanding the impact of the nature of urbanization on the economies of these countries. The new study investigates relationship between agriculture and different sized cities in Ethiopia, with focus on teff market.

Africa’s impressive economic performance over the past two decades has been accompanied by a proliferation of small firms, many of which operate in the informal sector. The new paper contributes to the understanding of the role that small firms play in a rapidly growing, but still poor, African economy.

The Structural Transformation of African Agriculture and Rural Spaces (STAARS) fellowship program managed by Cornell University in collaboration with the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) and other partners announces a call for concept proposals from early-career African researchers seeking to become STAARS fellows in 2018. Deadline: March 15, 2018.

Agricultural mechanization is playing an increasingly important role in Africa’s rural transformation. Recent research in Ghana addresses the relationship of agricultural mechanization and economic transformation and suggests how government policies can support this process.

Our fourth webinar in the 2017 series posed some very important questions: How much do governments invest in agriculture? Are these expenditures worth it? And what are the reasons for under-investment? We thank Tewodaj Mogues (IFPRI) for the excellent presentation and all live participants for attention and very interesting discussion.