"Local farming communities throughout the world face productivity constraints, environmental concerns, and diverse nutritional needs. Developing countries address these challenges in a number of ways. One way is public research that produces genetically modified (GM) crops and recognize...

"This paper reviews current trade–related regulations of genetically modified (GM) food and discusses their effects on developing countries. There is a large heterogeneity in current import approval and marketing policies of GM food worldwide. At the international level, the harmonization...

This paper uses farm survey data from Eastern Province, Zambia to show that regional income multipliers arising from agricultural growth may be stronger than previously thought for Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the growth multipliers are driven primarily by household consumption demands, and they...

This study analyses seven factors used to explain the conversion of forest to pasture in Central America between 1979 and 1994: 1) favorable markets for livestock products, 2) subsidized credit and road construction, 3) land tenure policies, 4) limited technological change in livestock, 5)...

A biotechnology revolution is proceeding in tandem with international proliferation of intellectual property regimes and rights. Does the intellectual property impede agricultural research conducted in, or of consequence for, developing countries? This question has important spatial dimensions...

"We examine access to, use of, and participation in decisions on improved water supply in the Volta basin of Ghana, one of the first countries to introduce a community-based approach to rural water supply on a large scale. While 71 percent of the households interviewed have access to improved...

The sustainability of natural resource management depends not only on appropriate technology and prices, but also upon the institutions involved in resource management at the local level. This discussion paper aims to identify factors which condition local organization for resource management....

This paper develops a framework to measure the impact of agricultural research on urban poverty. Increased investments in agricultural R&D can lower food prices by increasing food production, and lower food prices benefit the urban poor because they often spend more than 60% of their income on...

Increasing water scarcity, rising costs of irrigation subsidies, and general economic liberalization are creating strong incentives for comprehensive water reform with establishment of tradable water rights and the development of markets in these rights. Experiences in Chile, Mexico, and...

"This study examines the poverty reduction implications of the introduction of three different agricultural technologies by government and NGOs in three rural sites across Bangladesh. The first is new vegetable seeds developed by AVRDC introduced in Saturia to women owning small amounts of land...