At a Glance - Seventy-five percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas and most are involved in farming.
- In the 21st century, agriculture and rural development remains fundamental for economic growth, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability.
- The number of chronically malnourished people has increased to more than 1 billion, according to FAO.
- To achieve food security, agriculture production must double to feed 9 billion people by 2050 while increasing agriculture’s contribution to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
Investments In FY 2009, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)/International Development Association (IDA) assistance to agriculture and related rural development, as described in Implementing Agriculture for Development: World Bank Group Agriculture Action Plan, FY10-12, was US$5.2 billion (11 percent of total IBRD/IDA assistance), up from an average of US$3 billion per year over FY06-FY08. Corresponding lending increased significantly in the Latin America and Caribbean region to US$1.2 billion (from US$387 million) and in the Sub-Saharan Africa region to more than US$1 billion (from $700 million). In addition to the IBRD/IDA investments of US$5.2 billion, IFC invested US$2 billion in agribusiness and related sectors, resulting in total World Bank Group assistance of US$7.2 billion to agriculture and related rural development lending. The Action Plan projects an increase in support (from IDA, IBRD, and IFC) to agriculture and related sectors from a baseline average support in FY06-FY08 of US$4.1 billion annually to between US$6.2 and US$8.3 billion annually over FY10-FY12. This would be between 13 percent and 17 percent of projected World Bank Group assistance. The World Bank also supports innovation through 22 global Development Marketplace grants totaling US$4.1 million. Response to Global Food Price Crisis. In April 2009, the US$1.2 billion ceiling of the Global Food Price Crisis Response Program (GFRP) was raised to US$2 billion in recognition of the reality that volatile food prices will continue to hit poor farmers hardest. A full description of the Bank’s food price crisis response is available in the Global Food Crisis Issue Brief. Key Activities in FY10 for Agriculture and Rural Development at the Bank Implementing Agriculture for Development: World Bank Group Agriculture Action Plan, FY10-12. The World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development (WDR 2008) was the result of extensive consultation and provided the framework for the Bank's support for agriculture. The Action Plan, following the insights of WDR 2008, gives greater attention to the need to increase agricultural productivity (especially of smallholder farmers); differentiate the mix of support across the agriculture-based, transforming, and urbanized worlds of agriculture, as defined by the WDR2008; and emphasize the role of agriculture in providing environmental services. ARD Strategic Priorities and FY10 Work Program Agriculture and Climate Change. Climate change disproportionately affects the rural poor, who rely on agriculture and fisheries, because of the increased risk of crop failure, forest dieback, pest infestation, droughts, fires, floods, livestock mortality, loss of coral reefs, and the changing distribution of fish resources. The Bank is supporting land and water management in production landscapes that can deliver both adaptation and mitigation benefits for sustainable livelihoods. Agriculture and Rural Policy. In addition to producing the Action Plan and providing the Secretariat for the GFRP, work on agriculture and rural policy focuses primarily on helping clients monitor and improve public expenditures on agriculture, scale-up good practice in food security policies and investments, and coordinate with other international partners in strengthening efforts of poor countries to support smallholder agricultural development. Agricultural Production. Changes in the agriculture sector are driven by shifting consumer demand patterns, enhanced knowledge, and the application of new technologies in response to emerging opportunities and threats. Cultivating Innovation. The Bank applies an innovation systems approach to guide investments in agricultural technology, innovation, and growth. Efforts have focused on developing operational guidance, tools, and investment options, as well as lending in agricultural research and agricultural services with a specific focus on public-private partnerships, research consortia, and innovation funds. Strengthening Gender in Agriculture. The World Bank’s goal is to see at least half of the agriculture and rural development projects include investments and activities that promote gender equality or benefit women by December 2010. This includes three areas: gender responsive action in projects in the Africa region; gender-informed monitoring and evaluation in projects in all regions; and land policy and administration projects that are focused on women’s land ownership. A portfolio review of Bank projects shows fast progress towards meeting the gender targets. Pro-poor sustainable livestock development: The Bank is implementing programs and studies on managing livestock externalities, including managing infectious zonootic diseases at the animal-human ecosystem interface and livestock environmental footprint, and using livestock as a pathway out of poverty in developing and transition countries.
Agriculture and Rural Markets. Better access to financial services, more efficient input and output markets, and increased participation in more attractive value chains remain a challenge for most developing country farmers. Land Tenure. Securing land rights is particularly important in a context of rapidly increasing demand for land due, in part, to increased urbanization and escalating commodity prices. Global experience shows that actions to improve security, access, and transferability of land increase the value of household assets, generate higher levels of investment and agricultural productivity, and facilitate access to credit. Rural Finance. Building on analytical work done in the past five years with a special focus on Africa and Asia, the Bank is contributing to private sector and rural market development by generating and disseminating knowledge on creating access to financial services for smallholder farmers and poor rural households. The Bank is also supporting grants to bank and non-bank institutions to expand the delivery of financial services such as savings, credit, payments, and insurance as profitable business lines in rural areas. Agricultural Risk Management. In developing countries, farmers, agro-enterprises, and governments can employ a range of technical, managerial, and financial approaches to reduce, mitigate, transfer, and cope with risks. The Bank supports the development and implementation of agricultural sector and supply chain risk management strategies in a growing number of developing countries. Helping Farmers to Access Markets. The Bank supports analytical work, lending programs, and partnerships to improve access to input and output markets, with emphasis on value and supply chain upgrading, value addition, and agri-food standards. Guiding Investment in Agro-enterprise. Recognizing that land acquisition and agro-enterprise issues are interconnected, the Bank, in collaboration with other international agencies, is suggesting a set of principles drawn from empirical research to address agricultural and agro-industrial investments that involve acquisition of rights to land of significant size. The Bank is creating an open-architecture toolkit that will clarify the issues, define best practices, offer decision tools and guidelines, and (later) include a suggested governance framework as well as industry-driven and managed codes of good practice. Analytical and advisory assistance, drawing upon findings from ongoing research, is also being provided to interested governments, either separately or as part of ongoing operations.
Agriculture and Natural Resources. Increasing demands for food, feed, and bio-energy challenge a dwindling land, water, and forest base. The Bank’s work emphasizes sustainable natural resource management, including good governance. Improving Governance of Natural Resources, Promoting Partnerships, and Understanding the Trade-Offs Between Resources. The Bank supports forest law enforcement and governance (FLEG), The Growing Forest Partnership, an initiative to link the international forest agenda with local priorities and demands, and analytical work that investigates the links between land use and ownership, development, and environmental impacts. See the Forestry Issue Brief for more information. Supporting Sustainable Fisheries. The Bank supports sustainable fisheries and aquaculture with a growing portfolio of knowledge products and targeted regional and country based lending operations. The Bank has established a Global Program on Fisheries (PROFISH) in association with key donors and stakeholders to support this process and help countries build fishery and aquaculture sector strategies, and mainstream those strategies into national economic planning frameworks. Water for Agriculture. Agriculture accounts for nearly 70 percent - 75 percent of global water use. As water scarcity increases, efforts to improve agricultural water management are becoming increasingly important. The Bank is proactively re-engaging in investments that target the policy, technical, and governance aspects of agricultural water use.
For more information, please see: www.worldbank.org/ard. Media Contacts: Fionna Douglas, (202) 473-8913, fdouglas@worldbank.org Robert Bisset, (202) 458-5191, rbisset@worldbank.org Elizabeth Petheo, (202) 458-2209, epetheo@worldbank.org Updated September 2009 |
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