In this report, Shubh K. Kumar examines the reasons for low productivity of maize, the principal crop in Eastern Province, Zambia, compared with its potential, and suggests steps for increasing future productivity. The report also looks at the effects of adoption of hybrid maize on household...

In 1990 a total of 780 million people out of 4 billion in the developing world are living on diets that are not sufficient to maintain a healthy life, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This implies food insecurity for every fifth person in the...

We develop a methodology to estimate underlying (continuous) population distributions from bin-aggregated sample data through the estimation of the parameters of mixtures of distributions that allow for maximal parametric flexibility. The statistical approach we develop enables comparisons of...

Utilizing flexible functional forms as well as incorporating methods for treating zero observations in household survey data, this paper attempts to contribute to demand analysis and nutrition policy by estimating income-stratum specific demand elasticities. The estimates are then applied in a...

"Malaria, schistosomiasis (bilharzia), and Japanese encephalitis are the major vector-borne diseases whose increase or decrease can be attributed to agricultural water development (see table). Others include dengue fever, yellow fever, and filariasis. Young children in poor communities are...

"Good health and productive agriculture are both essential in the fight against poverty. In a rapidly changing world, agriculture faces many challenges, both old (natural resource constraints, extreme weather conditions, and agricultural pests) and new (globalization, environmental degradation,...

"Agriculture is fundamental to achieving nutrition goals: it produces the food, energy, and nutrients essential for human health and well-being. Gains in food production have played a key role in feeding growing and malnourished populations. Yet they have not translated into a hunger-free world...