Agriculture and economic transformation in the Middle East and North Africa: A review of the past with lessons for the future
Agriculture and economic transformation in the Middle East and North Africa: A review of the past with lessons for the future

Author: Nin-Pratt, Alejandro

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-12-31

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13: 0896292959

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The agriculture sector is key for economic and social development, but the sector’s potential has not received enough attention from policy makers and stakeholders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Political transitions, instability, and the resulting refugee crisis have shifted focus away from other pressing development challenges, including slow progress in economic diversification, high unemployment, and persistent high food insecurity and rural poverty. Despite its small contribution to GDP, agriculture is strategic for sustainable development in the MENA countries. Agriculture, for example, is central to achieve food and water security in a region characterized as one of the most food insecure and water scarce in the world. The sector’s role in employment is also central, given the region’s high structural unemployment. However, it will not be possible for MENA countries to develop agriculture without a pathway to structural economic transformation. The region has already started the process of transformation but longstanding challenges remain. This report aims to examine the drivers, constraints, and social implications of agricultural development in MENA and to explore possible cornerstones for new and sustainable development strategies in the context of economic transformation. More specifically, the report provides answers to the following questions: • What development strategies and policies did governments in MENA put in place over the past three decades and how did they affect the performance of agriculture? • How did the structural characteristics of the MENA countries affect agricultural development and the economic transformation process in the region? • What did we learn from the past performance of agriculture? What should be the central elements guiding future agricultural policies? • What are elements of a new and sustainable development strategy in MENA countries? • What is the role of agriculture and agro-industries for development in MENA?

Borderlands
Borderlands

Author: Raffaella A. Del Sarto

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 0198833555

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The study proposes a different understanding of the complex relationship between Europe and the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa, it challenges the conventional wisdom on Europe's benevolent foreign policy and the image of 'Fortress Europe' alike.

Beyond the business case for agricultural value chain development: An economywide approach applied to Egypt
Beyond the business case for agricultural value chain development: An economywide approach applied to Egypt

Author: Breisinger, Clemens

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2019-03-21

Total Pages: 27

ISBN-13:

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This paper goes beyond the “business” case for agricultural value chain development and presents an economy-wide framework to make the “development” case. We show that there are several key transmission channels that determine the economy-wide impacts of promoting various value chains, including forward and backward economic linkages, price responses, and net employment effects. These impacts all matter for household incomes, poverty, and dietary diversity. Results for Egypt show that agricultural value chain development generates economy-wide growth as well as growth in the agri-food system, but the impacts on employment suggest that agricultural growth can create new (and better) jobs in and beyond the agri-food system, but not necessarily more jobs. The results also show that productivity-driven agricultural growth in all crops is pro-poor and improves nutrition. However, potential adverse effects of livestock-led growth show that growth acceleration in single sectors can be negative, highlighting the importance of a systems analysis or, in our case, an economy-wide analysis. It is clear that no single sub-sector is best at achieving all the development outcomes examined. Moreover, the ranking of value chains by their development outcomes differs across sub-national regions. As such, results from this paper may provide useful decision support for the government and its development partners to select value chains depending on their priority development outcomes.

Food policies and their implications on overweight and obesity trends in selected countries in the Near East and North Africa region
Food policies and their implications on overweight and obesity trends in selected countries in the Near East and North Africa region

Author: International Food Policy Research Institute

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2020-12-16

Total Pages: 58

ISBN-13: 9251336830

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Regional and global trends in body weight show that the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region countries, especially the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries, have the highest average body mass index and highest rates of overweight and obesity in the world. There exist several explanations that expound the high rates of overweight and obesity in most NENA countries, including the nutrition transition, urbanization, changes in lifestyle, and consequent reduction of physical activities. This study examines the implication of food policies, mainly trade and government food subsidies, on evolving nutritional transitions and associated body weight outcomes. We examine the evolution of trade (food) policies, food systems, and body weight outcomes across selected countries in the NENA region – Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq. In particular, we investigate the implications of important trade (food) policies in shaping diets and food systems as well as their implications on public health outcomes, mainly the rising levels of overweight and obesity in the NENA region. We provide a simple conceptual framework through which trade policies (tariff rates) and domestic government food policies (subsidies) may affect food systems and nutritional outcomes. An important and innovative feature of this study is that it compiles several macro- and micro-level datasets that allow both macro and micro-level analyses of the evolution of trade (food) policies and associated obesity trends. This approach helps to at least partly overcome the data scarcity that complicates rigorous policy research in the NENA region. Overweight and obesity rates have almost doubled between 1975 and 2016, with varying rates and trends across regions. For instance, whereas body weight in the NENA region was comparable with that found in high-income countries in the early years, after the 1990s regional overweight and obesity rates became much higher than those in high-income countries. Specifically, while most high-income countries are experiencing a relative slowing of increases in overweight rates, the trend for the NENA region continues to increase at higher rates. The evolution of overweight rates for the GCC countries are even more concerning. These trends are likely to contribute to the already high burden of non-communicable diseases in the NENA region.

The (Arab) Agricultural Investment for Development Analyzer (AIDA): An innovative tool for evidence-based planning
The (Arab) Agricultural Investment for Development Analyzer (AIDA): An innovative tool for evidence-based planning

Author: Raouf, Mariam

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2018-02-09

Total Pages: 18

ISBN-13:

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This paper describes an innovative agricultural and rural economic planning tool that will help governments and analysts in the design of agricultural investment plans: the (Arab) Agricultural Investment for Development Analyzer (AIDA). A policy challenge for all governments, including those in the Middle East and North Africa, is determining the appropriate allocation and quality of public spending to foster agricultural and rural economic growth, employment creation, and poverty reduction. The AIDA economic planning toolkit has been built using an economy-wide and minimalistic investment data approach to assist governments in meeting this planning challenge. Centered on the use of economy-wide Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models, it allows for a comprehensive planning approach to ensure that the level and allocation of investment in the agriculture and rural sectors is sufficient for achieving desired targeted outcomes. It does this by linking agricultural and rural spending to economic growth, job creation, and household poverty, given resource and market constraints, as well as considering trade-offs and opportunity costs associated with different investment options. Such a holistic system approach enables the ranking of possible interventions and allocations of public funds amid possible changes in public policy to help in designing national agriculture plans and targets.

Prioritizing development policy research in Sudan: An innovative approach to guide IFPRI’s Sudan Strategy Support Program
Prioritizing development policy research in Sudan: An innovative approach to guide IFPRI’s Sudan Strategy Support Program

Author: Kirui, Oliver K.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2022-04-04

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13:

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This paper presents an innovative approach to prioritizing development policy research in Sudan with the specific objective of informing the research agenda of the Sudan Strategy Support Program (Sudan SSP) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The key steps in this process were: A review of relevant priority setting methods and existing government strategies, Pre-selection of research themes, Selection of national and international experts, Design and conduct priority setting workshop; and Priority matrix construction and paper writing. The paper suggests key research priorities for Sudan, which are both highly relevant to Sudan’s current and future development policy agenda and consistent with IFPRI’s own comparative advantage and strategy. It identifies research areas and topics under five main themes, namely: 1. Agricultural production, 2. Markets and trade, 3. Livelihoods and nutrition, 4. Development strategy and investment planning, and 5. Increasing resilience of farming under growing climate challenges. Tackling the priority research tasks identified in this paper, for these five themes, is expected to help reduce poverty and improve food and nutrition security in Sudan. However, strengthening the links between policy research and decision-making will be crucial to ensure that evidence-based solutions are relevant and have a positive impact on people’s lives.

Farm households in Egypt: A typology for assessing vulnerability to climate change
Farm households in Egypt: A typology for assessing vulnerability to climate change

Author: Nin-Pratt, Alejandro

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2018-09-06

Total Pages: 53

ISBN-13:

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Using governorate-level national data and household survey data, we build a typology of farm households in Egypt that allows us to describe how different farm households behave in response to policy and environmental changes affecting their resources, welfare, and opportunities in output and input markets. One of the major contributions of this study is the building of a unique dataset that combines various data sources at different levels of aggregation, providing the information needed to model the farm typology. We used this dataset as the input of a multi-step procedure that includes the use of principal components and cluster analyses to identify 14 household types. To illustrate possible uses of the typology, we look at the vulnerability of the different types of households to projected changes in temperature, water availability, and water demand from crops due to climate change, and discuss which farmers, production systems, and regions will be most affected by climate shocks. We assumed that increased temperatures by 2050 would result in increased water demand and reduced yields for most crops due to heat stress and harsher growing conditions. We define three climate change scenarios that differ in the expected water flows of the Nile into the Aswan High Dam. Results of simulations using a household model suggest that Egypt is likely to experience a significant reduction in output, agricultural labor demand, and cultivated area because of climate change, although the severity of this outcome will depend on the magnitude of changes in the Nile’s flow. Most affected by these changes will be small and average households producing field crops. Our results suggest that to mitigate the risks and possible future impacts of climate change, the country will need to: Move away from policies supporting production of cereals and water-inefficient crops towards diversification of production into water-efficient high-value crops; facilitate the access of skilled resource-poor producers to capital and markets; and create opportunities for off-farm employment and income for smallholders that are using resources inefficiently.

Towards a new generation of policies and investments in agricultural water in the Arab region
Towards a new generation of policies and investments in agricultural water in the Arab region

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2019-08-05

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 9251314314

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The Arab region needs a new generation of policies and investments in agricultural water. Agricultural water management has always posed challenges and opportunities in the Arab world. However, unprecedented and accelerating drivers such as climate change, population growth, and land degradation make agricultural water management a more urgent priority than ever before. In addition, as part of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, Arab countries have committed to work towards an ambitious set of development targets, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unless the right policies and investments are put in place, it will be difficult to achieve the SDGs, including ending hunger and providing clean water and sanitation for all. This paper is part of an ongoing collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute to foster dialogue on agricultural water policies and investments in the context of the FAO led Regional Water Scarcity initiative. The purpose of the paper is to frame the key challenges and opportunities in the sector – including emerging innovations in digital agriculture, water accounting, water supply and wastewater reuse – and to lay out broad strategic directions for action.

Regional Economic Integration in the Middle East and North Africa
Regional Economic Integration in the Middle East and North Africa

Author: Mustapha Rouis

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2012-12-11

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 082139729X

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This book summarizes the constraints to and opportunities for deepening economic integration within the MENA region and beyond. Trade and investment reform are discussed together with physical connectivity, cross-border trade facilitation, infrastructure networks, and the vital role of logistics.