The female population deficit in India
has been explained in a number of ways, but the great
heterogeneity in the deficit across districts within India
still remains an open question. This paper argues that
across India, a largely agrarian economy, soil texture
varies exogenously and determines the workability of the
soil and the technology used in land preparation. Deep
tillage, possible only in lighter and looser loamy soils,

Much of the rural poor -- who are
growing in number -- are concentrated in ecologically
fragile and remote areas. The key ecological scarcity
problem facing such poor households is a vicious cycle of
declining livelihoods, increased ecological degradation and
loss of resource commons, and declining ecosystem services
on which the poor depend. In addition, developing economies
with high concentrations of their populations on fragile

The work described in this report is a
first step to addressing the longer-term issues related to
the competitiveness of South Sudan's farmers in a
regional context. It focuses on the options for increasing
the amount and value of agricultural production in the crop
sector, the potential contribution of rural roads to
increasing crop production and how to sequence and
prioritize rural road investments in a way that maximizes

In Africa, most development strategies
include efforts to improve the productivity of staple crops
grown on smallholder farms. An underlying premise is that
small farms are productive in the African context and that
smallholders do not forgo economies of scale -- a premise
supported by the often observed phenomenon that staple
cereal yields decline as the scale of production increases.
This paper explores a research design conundrum that

The purpose of this policy note is to
contribute to an understanding of the factors that combine
to constrain the development of smallholder agriculture in
Swaziland. It seeks to shed light on why, despite being
well-endowed in land and water resources, and despite having
a climate that is generally favorable for the production of
crops and livestock, Swaziland is obliged to import
substantial amounts of food to feed the population. Also,

Differences in relative female
employment by soil texture are used to explain the
heterogeneous deficit of female children across districts
within India. Soil texture varies exogenously and determines
the depth of land tillage. Deep tillage, possible in loamy
but not in clayey soil textures, reduces the demand for
labor in agricultural tasks traditionally performed by
women. Girls have a lower economic value where female labor

Interest in farmland is rising. And,
given commodity price volatility, growing human and
environmental pressures, and worries about food security,
this interest will increase, especially in the developing
world. One of the highest development priorities in the
world must be to improve smallholder agricultural
productivity, especially in Africa. Smallholder productivity
is essential for reducing poverty and hunger, and more and

The Tugi Silvo-pastoral Project (TUSIP)
is a South-South Cooperation between the Tropical
Agriculture Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE)
based in Costa Rica (www.catie.ac.cr) and the Akwi Memorial
Foundation (AMF) based in the North West Region of Cameroon.
The main goal of TUSIP was to assess the environmental
benefits of a set of silvo-pastoral practices and to empower

This report presents the impact and
lessons learned from the Andhra Pradesh Drought Adaptation
Initiative (APDAI). The APDAI was implemented as a package
of pilot activities in two dryland districts in Andhra
Pradesh (Anantapur and Mahbubnagar) with the aim of
developing and testing approaches for natural resource-based
economic activities to better respond to current climate
variability and long-term consequences of climate change.

Agriculture and agroprocessing are
important in Zambia's economy, representing more than
40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and contributing
about 12 percent of national export earnings. Agriculture
employs some 67 percent of the labor force and supplies raw
materials to agricultural industries, which account for some
84 percent of manufacturing value-added in the country.
Smallholder agriculture dominates the rural economy. It

This paper aims to develop a vision
statement for the agricultural sector that may then guide
the future investments in Chile's agricultural
innovation system, A joint and shared perspective on how the
sector might look and what role agricultural innovation
should play in getting there is a prerequisite for any
effective strategy. But developing such a vision is not only
a function of what the country wants: it also depends on the

The specific objective of this policy
note is to derive insights that can contribute to rapid and
sustainable integration of small-scale farmers into the
livestock and horticulture value chains in Swaziland. It
seeks to do this by identifying constraints that may be
contributing to poor performance in the two value chains,
evaluating technological options that could improve
productivity, and identifying priority areas for future