The initial success of microfinance programs in the 1970s led pioneers to think that many essential problems of the poor might be resolved by access to credit alone -- the ability to acquire assets, to start businesses, to finance emergency needs and to insure against illness and disaster. Part...

"Given that Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest incidence of poverty and malnutrition in the world, the stagnation in per capita grain production there is worrisome. Since 1970, per capita grain production in Sub-Saharan Africa has declined more than 10 percent. Increasing the productivity of...

There is widespread agreement that our ability to deliver sustainable food security for all will be challenged in three dimensions—population growth, constrained natural resources, and climate change. Investments in agricultural productivity are essential to dealing with these challenges....

Due to the predominance of direct, specific interventions in nutrition for development, the health sector tends to own nutrition, with interventions customarily implemented through health programs. The premise that the agriculture sector should also be a vehicle for improved nutrition is...

"Many governments in developing countries attempt to foster agricultural development and innovation by setting up funding facilities, extension programs, and research centers and by subsidizing private-sector and farm activities through fiscal measures. However, when trying to manage complex...

"Muchos gobiernos en países en desarrollo intentan estimular el crecimiento y la innovación agropecuaria estableciendo entidades de financiamiento, programas de extensión y centros de investigación pública, así como subvencionando actividades agrícolas y al sector privado por medio de...

"1. The facts: Child malnutrition in India India is home to 40 percent of the world's malnourished children and 35 percent of the developing world's low-birth-weight infants; every year 2.5 million children die in India, accounting for one in five deaths in the world. More than half of these...

According to the authors, "watersheds define a terrain united by the flow of water, nutrients, pollutants, and sediment. Watersheds also link foresters, farmers, fishers, and urban dwellers in intricate social relationships. Both factors—the biophysical attributes and the policy and...