This report concentrates on the potential for biotechnology research to benefit consumers and producers of food in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its objective is to provide general guidance to IDB lending for agriculture development. The study includes policy suggestions regarding...

This paper reviews the Bank's lending experience in rural finance and extracts the lessons learned from that experience. It is based on a review of project documents, evaluation reports, and interviews. A sample of 27 projects were studied in detail. Although the review of IDB projects is far...

The Bank has developed and implemented several initiatives to reduce poverty and to improve rural competitiveness during the past decade. This document updates and establishes operational principles to guide action in this area so that the stated goals of the Mandate can be effectively achieved....

Poverty has a high social cost for countries of the region: it negatively affects all aspects of society because of migration to the cities, destabilizing political consequences, and the pressures that poverty exerts on the environment. This book looks for new ways to alleviate rural poverty,...

This document identifies priorities for Bank action in the sector to guide the allocation of resources in support of the strategic elements and objectives it describes. The paper aims to facilitate the preparation of loans and technical cooperation programs and to improve their quality, building...

The net benefits of CAFTA and their distribution among sectors of the economy and social groups are major concerns of policy makers in Central America. The objective of the Bank's support to Central America is to assist in the design of policies that maximize total net benefits while improving...

This report is part of a larger project undertaken by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) designed to obtain information which will assist the planning of poverty alleviation programs in a number of countries in Latin America. The specific aim of this report is to identify the conditions...

This working paper empirically documents the size of (2) in the rural sector and investigates its consequences for rural development (agricultural growth, patterns of growth and rural poverty) for ten Latin American countries over 1985-2000. The paper provides econometric evidence suggesting...

The IDB's strategy in Brazil seeks to promote and further the reform and modernization of the public sector, to support efforts to improve the competitiveness of Brazilian goods, to support the efforts to reduce social inequalities and poverty and, finally, to address the problems of...

This report presents the results of case studies on nontraditional agricultural exports in Petrolina-Juazeiro (northeastern Brazil), Ecuador, and Guatemala, analyzing the role of public policy in developing these products and the effects of nontraditional agriculture on the rural poor. The...