This Policy and Strategy Paper contributes to an ongoing policy debate-within the Bank but also with its client governments-about the role of tree crops in various production systems, and as key commodities in the trade portfolio of various African nations. It attempts to answer the following...

"The aim of this paper is to understand the mechanism underlying access to credit. Gine focuses on two important aspects of rural credit markets in Thailand. First, moneylenders and other informal lenders coexist with formal lending institutions such as government or commercial banks, and more...

The rural space is home to 53 percent of Nigeria's population and more than 70 percent of its poor. While it is well understood in Nigeria that financial exclusion of the rural population stunts development, still fewer than 2 percent of rural households have access to any sort of institutional...

The history of rural - mostly agricultural - finance in Colombia, is characterized by a system which channels benefits to limited numbers of beneficiaries, at the expense of the public sector, and the economy as a whole. A legacy of powerful agricultural lobbies (coffee, livestock) has...

Over the past five years in Turkey, the agricultural and rural sector has seen substantial change in transfer policies which now place greater emphasis on improved equity and investment. These have been summarized in the earlier World Bank "Review of the Impact of the Reform of Agricultural...

Over the past five years in Turkey, the agricultural and rural sector has seen substantial change in transfer policies which now place greater emphasis on improved equity and investment. These have been summarized in the earlier World Bank "Review of the Impact of the Reform of Agricultural...

The World Bank recently conducted research and concept-testing activities to investigate the expansion of the index approach from drought to flood. The main objective was to assess prerequisite conditions, as well as practical and efficient methods, to conceptualize and potentially implement...