Revitalized agriculture for balanced growth and resilient livelihoods: Toward a rural development strategy for Mon State
Revitalized agriculture for balanced growth and resilient livelihoods: Toward a rural development strategy for Mon State

Author: Filipski, Mateusz J.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-05-05

Total Pages: 54

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This report offers specific policy and investment options articulated around two broad areas: (1) stimulating growth in agriculture and sustainable management of fisheries and (2) providing public infrastructure and services that strengthen the enabling environment. A plan to stimulate growth in agriculture and fisheries, the first broad area, could be centered around the following set of goals: revitalize the rubber sector, develop high-value fresh products, improve rice productivity, modernize land and input markets, expand access to loans for machinery and seasonal input purchases, strengthen agricultural extension services to ensure dynamism in Mon State’s farm sector, improve management of marine capture fisheries, and facilitate expansion of aquaculture. The first part of the report details the challenges and potential solutions presented by each of these points. The second part of the report details options to create a growth-enabling environment through public infrastructure and services, centered around the following goals: improve the budgetary and fiscal process to enable locally driven public investment, improve access to and reliability of infrastructure, expand the formal credit market, promote productive investment by the private sector, strengthen regulatory frameworks for the construction sector, exploit the potential for the development of tourism, and improve the quality of and access to education and health services.

Revitalized agriculture for balanced growth and resilient livelihoods
Revitalized agriculture for balanced growth and resilient livelihoods

Author: Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2016-08-03

Total Pages: 6

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The purpose of this policy brief is to provide national and state-level policymakers, private sector investors, civil society and donors with an analysis of the rural economy of Mon State and pathways to improved prosperity for its population. The analysis is based on a representative survey (the Mon State Rural Household Survey 2015) of 1680 rural households, which comprise 73% of Mon State’s 2 million residents, and extensive interviews with farmers, traders, processors, local leaders and government officials.

Based on 0 rating(s) Title Revitalized agriculture for balanced growth and resilient livelihoods
Based on 0 rating(s) Title Revitalized agriculture for balanced growth and resilient livelihoods

Author: Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD)

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2016-09-20

Total Pages: 55

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The purpose of this report is to provide national- and state-level policymakers, private-sector investors, civil society, and donors with an analysis of the rural economy of Mon State and pathways to improved prosperity for its population. The analysis is based on a representative survey of rural households, which make up 73 percent of Mon State’s 2 million residents, and extensive interviews with farmers, traders, processors, local leaders, and government officials. Whereas some parts of the Mon State economy are quite dynamic, such as construction, others are stagnant and far from reaching their full potential. Furthermore, the dynamic sectors are heavily dependent on remittances from migrants to neighboring countries. The current pattern of donor investment is heavily focused on necessary infrastructure and energy investments, but with only very limited support to productive sectors, especially agriculture and fisheries. Major investments in education, both formal and vocational training, are also necessary to support the growth of a modern economy. The analysis in this report identifies options for more balanced growth, leading to a vibrant economy in which returning migrants can invest and find employment.

Rural livelihoods in Mon State
Rural livelihoods in Mon State

Author: Myanmar Centre for Economic and Social Development

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2016-09-20

Total Pages: 142

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The purpose of this report is to provide information and analysis to government, civil society, and donors interested in improving the well-being of the rural population of Mon State. Specifically, the report analyzes the different sources of income for rural households, as well as their socioeconomic characteristics, with a view to identifying potential pathways to improving incomes, especially for poor households, and stimulating inclusive rural growth. The overall picture that emerges is one of an economy heavily dependent on services for local employment and on international migration for income. Like a two-legged stool, such an economy is potentially unstable in the face of external shocks. Diversification of the Mon State economy, including diversification and increased productivity within the agricultural sector, will lessen the relative dependence on external migration remittances and result in more resilient growth in the future

Rural livelihoods in Mon State: Evidence from a representative household survey
Rural livelihoods in Mon State: Evidence from a representative household survey

Author: Filipski, Mateusz J.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-05-05

Total Pages: 132

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The purpose of this report is to provide information and analysis to government, civil society, and donors interested in improving the well-being of the rural population of Mon State, Myanmar. Specifically, the report analyzes the different sources of income for rural households, as well as their socioeconomic characteristics, with a view to helping identify constraints on growth and potential pathways to improving incomes. The overall picture that emerges is one of a struggling agricultural sector and an economy heavily dependent on services for local employment and on international migration for income. The analysis is based on a sample of 1,632 rural households, designed to be representative of rural households in Mon State as a whole. The survey included a household questionnaire and a community survey, and gathered information on demographics, all economic aspects of the household, and access to infrastructure and services at the community level.

Building resilience for food systems in postwar communities
Building resilience for food systems in postwar communities

Author: Pal, Chandrashri

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-05-19

Total Pages: 48

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Prolonged civil wars can have long-lasting adverse effects on food systems, leading to poverty and food insecurity. Overcoming food insecurity and land inequality is particularly difficult because of the highly politicized nature of conflict. This paper builds on the existing literature on food sovereignty to ensure sustainable livelihoods and community ownership of a resilient food system. We identify components of community food security to be strengthened in a post war reconstruction context. We study the impacts of the civil war on food and land administration systems, farmer struggles and current transitional justice process in relation to community food security in the Northern and Eastern Provinces in Sri Lanka and identify the technological, institutional, organizational, and infrastructural setbacks caused by conflict. It explores how such setbacks could be rectified and a resilient food system could be built in the postwar scenario.

Pathways from agriculture to nutrition in India: Implications for sustainable development goals
Pathways from agriculture to nutrition in India: Implications for sustainable development goals

Author: Babu, Suresh Chandra

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-06-09

Total Pages: 40

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emphasizes the importance of identifying different pathways from agriculture to nutrition for better nutritional outcomes. Using a disaggregated dashboard approach with agriculture, food consumption, and demographic and health survey data, this study examines the progress of Indian states toward the Sustainable Development Goals. There is evidence of both disconnects and linkages among food security indicators along the agriculture-nutrition pathways. Through a broadened and comprehensive approach under one coordinating body with a good set of improved interventions and governance, Indian states can attain food and nutrition security by 2030. Such evidence based policy making is need of the hour to observe impact on the ground, rather than framing policies based on ideologies. At a time when the focus is more and more on impact, the shift

Is the WTO dispute settlement procedure fair to developing countries?
Is the WTO dispute settlement procedure fair to developing countries?

Author: Metivier, Jeanne

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-06-16

Total Pages: 58

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Since the inception of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, member countries have been heavily relying on the organization's dispute settlement procedure (DSP). Exploiting a new database on WTO litigations between 1995 and 2014, this paper describes disputes initiated over this period and identifies potential sources of bias concerning the participation of developing countries. The analysis builds on three different models to determine country i's probability of initiating a dispute against country j. Either it depends only on the two countries' structure of trade, that is the number of products exported by i to j (a situation we refer to as the rules-based model), or it is also affected by country i's or country j's specific characteristics (the unilateral power-based model), or it is also affected by bilateral economic and trade relations between countries i and j (the bilateral power-based model). We find that country i's structure of trade with j plays an important role in explaining the probability that i initiates a dispute against j under the DSP. Furthermore, country i's legal capacity and both countries' political regimes also affect this probability. However, we do not find that bilateral relationships between i and j, such as participants' capacity to retaliate against each others have an impact on dispute initiation.

The Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI)
The Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI)

Author: Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-07-02

Total Pages: 56

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The fifth Sustainable Development Goal—to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”—reflects a growing consensus that these are key objectives of development policy in their own right, while also contributing to improved productivity and increased efficiency, especially in agriculture and food production. To deliver on this commitment to women’s empowerment in development calls for appropriate measures that can be used to diagnose the scope and major sources of disempowerment and to measure progress. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a survey-based tool codeveloped by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) (Alkire et al. 2013). The index was originally designed as a monitoring and evaluation tool for the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative to directly capture women’s empowerment and inclusion levels in the agricultural sector. Since its launch in February 2012, the WEAI has been implemented in the 19 Feed the Future focus countries. As with any new metric, pilot testing in a few selected countries with limited sample sizes is insufficient to demonstrate how the WEAI would perform when rolled out on a wider scale. Concerns expressed by users of the WEAI led to the creation of an abbreviated version—the A-WEAI. This paper begins by presenting a brief overview of the WEAI and its construction. It then proceeds to discuss (1) the background and motivation behind the creation of the A-WEAI; (2) the steps taken to develop the AWEAI— namely, cognitive testing and piloting of different modules, particularly those that were difficult to administer in the field; (3) analysis of the pilot data from Bangladesh and Uganda; (4) domain-specific comparisons of the different pilot versions; and (5) robustness checks and empowerment diagnostics from the A-WEAI as compared with the original WEAI. The paper concludes by summarizing the modifications to the original WEAI and discussing possibilities for further development of empowerment metrics based on the WEAI.

Addressing transboundary cooperation in the Eastern Nile through the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Insights from an E-survey and key informant interviews
Addressing transboundary cooperation in the Eastern Nile through the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Insights from an E-survey and key informant interviews

Author: Elnasikh, Sara

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-06-23

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13:

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The Nile is the lifeblood of northeastern Africa, and its roles for and interdependency with the national economies it traverses and binds together grow as it moves from source to sea. With rapid economic development—population growth, irrigation development, rural electrification, and overall economic growth—pressures on the Nile’s water resources are growing to unprecedented levels. These drivers of change have already contributed to stark changes in the hydropolitical regime, and new forms of cooperation and cross-sectoral collaboration are needed, particularly in the Eastern Nile Basin countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan. As direct sharing of water resources is hampered by unilateral developments, the need has increased for broader, cross-sectoral collaboration around the water, energy, and food sectors. This study is conducted to assess and understand the challenges of and opportunities for cooperation across the water-energy-food nexus nationally in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, as well as regionally across the Eastern Nile. To gather data, the paper uses an e-survey supplemented with key informant interviews geared toward national-level water, energy, and agriculture stakeholders, chiefly government staff and researchers. Findings from the survey tools suggest that most respondents strongly agree that collaboration across the water, energy, and agriculture sectors is essential to improve resource management in the region. At the same time, there is ample scope for improvement in collaboration across the water, energy, and food sectors nationally. Ministries of water, energy, and food were identified as the key nexus actors at national levels; these would also need to be engaged in regional cross-sectoral collaboration. Respondents also identified a wide range of desirable cross-sectoral actions and investments—both national and regional—chiefly, joint planning and operation of multipurpose infrastructure; investment in enhanced irrigation efficiency; joint rehabilitation of upstream catchments to reduce sedimentation and degradation; and investment in alternative renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar energy.