"Contrary to conventional economic theories, the relationship between income growth and the share of the population within the rural or agricultural sector is extremely diverse, even among regions starting from similar levels of development, such as Asia and Africa. The pattern in developing...

Successes in African Agriculture investigates how to reverse this decline. Instead of cataloging failures, as many past studies have done, this book identifies episodes of successful agricultural growth in Africa and identifies processes, practices, and policies for accelerated growth in the...

Contrary to conventional wisdom that equates rural economies with agriculture, rural residents in developing countries often rely heavily on activities other than farming for their income. Indeed, nonfarm work accounts for between one-third and one-half of rural incomes in the developing world....

Many developing countries will need to double their food production by 2020 if they are to successfully feed their burgeoning populations. This will require maintaining, if not increasing, current rates of growth in national food production, and achieving this in sustainable ways that do not...

The primary goal of agricultural research has been to increase agricultural production, particularly in high-potential areas. This has contributed enormously to reducing the number of people living in poverty worldwide, as well as to reducing food prices for all. Despite these gains, about 1...

Developing Asia as a whole has taken remarkable strides since the food crises of the 1960s. Improvements in food security, poverty reduction, and per capita income initiated by the Green Revolution have been substantial and lasting. Although life has improved for most rural Asians, about 670...

"Rural residents across the developing world earn a large share of their income—35–50 percent—from nonfarm activities. Agricultural households count on nonfarm earnings to diversify risk, moderate seasonal income swings, and finance agricultural input purchases, whereas landless and...

"In contrast to popular predictions of Africa's worsening economic decline, recent research supports an alternative and more positive vision of Africa's future. New political commitment and African ownership of the development agenda, combined with a renewed focus on and investments in...

"This paper reports findings of a CGIAR research project including seven case studies of different types of agricultural research: aggregate investments in agricultural research in China and India; rice, vegetable, and fishpond technologies in Bangladesh; soil fertility replenishment in Kenya;...