An evolving paradigm of agricultural mechanization development: How much can Africa learn from Asia?

An evolving paradigm of agricultural mechanization development: How much can Africa learn from Asia?

Author: Diao, Xinshen, ed.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2020-12-07

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13: 0896293807

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Agricultural mechanization in Africa south of the Sahara — especially for small farms and businesses — requires a new paradigm to meet the needs of the continent’s evolving farming systems. Can Asia, with its recent success in adopting mechanization, offer a model for Africa? An Evolving Paradigm of Agricultural Mechanization Development analyzes the experiences of eight Asian and five African countries. The authors explore crucial government roles in boosting and supporting mechanization, from import policies to promotion policies to public good policies. Potential approaches presented to facilitating mechanization in Africa include prioritizing market-led hiring services, eliminating distortions, and developing appropriate technologies for the African context. The role of agricultural mechanization within overall agricultural and rural transformation strategies in Africa is also discussed. The book’s recommendations and insights should be useful to national policymakers and the development community, who can adapt this knowledge to local contexts and use it as a foundation for further research.


OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2018-2027

OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2018-2027

Author: OECD

Publisher: OECD Publishing

Published: 2018-07-03

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 9264062033

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The fourteenth joint edition of the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook provides market projections for major agricultural commodities, biofuels and fish, as well as a special feature on the prospects and challenges of agriculture and fisheries in the Middle East and North Africa.


Trade Competitiveness of the Middle East and North Africa

Trade Competitiveness of the Middle East and North Africa

Author: Jos R. L pez-C lix

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2010-07-01

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0821380753

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Over the past decade, four major developments in global economic integration have shaped trade policy and the economic performance of countries within the Middle East and North Africa region: the emergence of global supply chains, the growth of trade in services, the rise of China and India as major international trading powers, and regional integration. These developments, along with the labor and natural resource endowments of particular countries (some are resource-poor but labor-abundant, some resource-rich and labor-abundant, and some resource-rich and labor-importing), have influenced export diversification outcomes across the region. Yet these countries may not be taking full advantage of all of the opportunities the four new trends offer to them. 'Trade Competitiveness of the Middle East and North Africa: Policies for Export Diversification' examines the region's trade policy agendas and their results by focusing on the countries' response to these four key developments in international trade. As the region recovers from the global financial and economic crises, the book identifies reforms that could allow countries to further strengthen global production networks, benefit more from trade in services, better compete in external markets to face the rise of China and India, and reach the full potential of regional integration. If thoroughly implemented, especially by oil exporters, all of these reforms could help boost growth and job creation in the region.


Subsidy Reform in the Middle East and North Africa

Subsidy Reform in the Middle East and North Africa

Author: Mr.Carlo A Sdralevich

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2014-07-09

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 1498350437

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In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries price subsidies are common, especially on food and fuels. However, these are neither well targeted nor cost effective as a social protection tool, often benefiting mainly the better off instead of the poor and vulnerable. This paper explores the challenges of replacing generalized price subsidies with more equitable social safety net instruments, including the short-term inflationary effects, and describes the features of successful subsidy reforms.


Knowledge Economies in the Middle East and North Africa

Knowledge Economies in the Middle East and North Africa

Author: Jean-Eric Aubert

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2003-01-01

Total Pages: 94

ISBN-13: 9780821357019

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The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been facing considerable economic challenges. Left behind by the industrial revolution, overly dependent on oil resources, and on the fringes of the globalization process, a number of MENA countries have embarked on structural reforms to overcome economic stagnation, mounting unemployment, and increasing poverty. At the same time, there is growing awareness worldwide that the knowledge revolution offers new opportunities for growth resulting from the availability of information and communication technologies and from the advent of a new form of global economic development rooted in the concept of the knowledge economy, which is based on the creation, acquisition, distribution, and use of knowledge. This book, developed from papers prepared for a World Bank sponsored conference, assesses the challenges confronting the regionA's countries and analyzes their readiness for the knowledge economy based on a set of indicators. It provides quantitative analysis to help benchmark the countries against worldwide knowledge economy trends, identifies key implementation issues, and presents relevant policy experiences. The basic policy elements that underpin a strategy to prepare for a knowledge-based economy are discussed, including: the renovation of education systems, the creation of a climate conducive to innovation, and the development of an efficient telecommunications infrastructure as the foundation of a new era. The formulation of national visions and strategies is also discussed. Examples from the region and other parts of the world illustrate the chapters. A set of data that makes it possible to benchmark and position countriesA' readiness for the knowledge economy is presented in an appendix.


Food Dependency in the Middle East and North Africa Region

Food Dependency in the Middle East and North Africa Region

Author: Chantal Le Mouël

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-09-10

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 9402415637

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This volume covers the Middle-Eastern and North African regions who are increasingly dependent on imports from abroad for covering their domestic food needs. Results of this study show that this import dependence is likely to increase further by 2050. Some sub-regions hardly reach sustainable levels; the Maghreb, Near and Middle-East could import 60 to 70% of their food needs. These results are indicative whatever the considered scenario, but especially if climate change impacts become more severe.


Making the Most of Scarcity

Making the Most of Scarcity

Author:

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0821369261

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"While water professionals have been advocating comprehensive water reforms for years and many countries have improved their water policies and institutions, some of the most politically sensitive elements of reform remain untouched. This report suggests that a series of factors are now emerging that represent a potential opportunity to break this impasse." "Making the Most of Scarcity will be of interest to readers working in the areas of agribusiness and markets, agriculture, urban and rural development, water supply, and water resources, as well as to those responsible for setting policies in the areas of environment, economics, and social protection."--BOOK JACKET.


Food Insecurity and Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa

Food Insecurity and Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa

Author: Habib Ayeb

Publisher: Anthem Press

Published: 2019-09-30

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 1785270885

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‘Food Insecurity and Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa’ studies the political economy of agrarian transformation in the eponymous regions. Examining Egypt and Tunisia in detail as case studies, it critiques the dominant tropes of food security offered by the international financial institutions and promotes the importance of small-scale family farming in developing sustainable food sovereignty. Egypt and Tunisia are located in the context of the broader Middle East and broader processes of war, environmental transformation and economic reform. The book contributes to uncovering the historical backdrop and contemporary pressures in the Middle East and North Africa for the uprisings of 2010 and 2011. It also explores the continued failure of post-uprising counter-revolutionary governments to directly address issues of rural development that put the position and role of small farmers centre stage.