Investing to promote agricultural growth and poverty reduction is a central pillar of the World Bank’s current rural strategy, Reaching the Rural Poor, which was released in 2003. One major thrust of the strategy outlines the priorities and the approaches that the public sector, private sector, and civil society can employ to enhance productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector in ways that reduce rural poverty and sustain the natural resource base. These actions involve a rich mixture of science, technology, people, communication, management, learning, research, capacity building, institutional development, and grassroots participation.
This Sourcebook has been prepared to help in implementing the rural strategy, by sharing information on investment options and innovative approaches that will aid the design of future lending programs for agriculture. The Sourcebook provides generic good practices and many examples that demonstrate that investment in agriculture can provide rewarding and sustainable returns to development efforts. The contents have been assembled from all regions and thematic groups of the Bank, and from the experiences of many partners.
STRUCTURE OF THE SOURCEBOOK
The Sourcebook is intended as a ready reference for practitioners (World Bank staff and their partners in borrowing countries) seeking summary information on the state of the art about good practice for agricultural investments, and innovative activities that merit close monitoring for potential scaling up.
The Sourcebook is divided into eleven selfcontained modules (see box 1). Each module contains three different types of subunits, which can also be stand-alone documents:
1.A Module Overview provides a summary of the major issues and investment options for each investment area, and is intended as a broad introduction to the topic.
2.Several Agricultural Investment Notes (AINs) summarize good practice (and sometimes bad practice) in specific investment areas, to provide a brief, but technically sound, overview for the nonspecialist. For each AIN the investments have been evaluated in different settings for effectiveness and sustainability, and can be broadly endorsed by the community of practitioners from within and outside the Bank.
3.Several Innovative Activity Profiles (IAPs) highlight design of successful or innovative investments. These provide a short description of an activity in the Bank’s portfolio or that of a partner agency, focusing on potential effectiveness in poverty reduction, empowerment, or sustainability. Activities profiled have often not been sufficiently tested and evaluated in a range of settings to be considered “good practice,” but should be closely monitored for potential scaling up.
The Sourcebook thus provides introductions to topics, but not detailed guidelines on “how to” design and implement investments. The standalone nature of each subunit of the Sourcebook allows flexibility and adaptability of the materials, but necessarily results in some replication of the issues covered. Selected readings and Web links1 are provided for readers who seek more in-depth information and examples of practical experience. All Sourcebook material is available on the World Bank Web site that links with additional key sources of information, such as other Web sites, readings, and manuals.
PREPARATION OF THE SOURCEBOOK
The Sourcebook draws on a wide range of experience from donor agencies, governments, institutions, and other groups active in agricultural development. However, in this first edition of the Sourcebook, the initial contributions draw heavily from World Bank experience, especially the “communities of practice” represented by the Bank’s various thematic groups. Approximately two-thirds of the AINs and most of the IAPs originate from within the Bank. In the future, it is hoped that these will be complemented by more contributions drawn from the wealth of experience in other international development agencies and in countries, possibly as a major activity of the newly formed Rural Alliance Platform (a multidonor initiative) that is intended to share experiences and coordinate donor actions. Although the Sourcebook seeks to share experience of both successes and failures—providing cautionary guidance on investment strategies to avoid repeating past mistakes—there is a much greater interest in sharing successes than failures, and this is reflected in the content.
WHAT IS NOT COVERED
Thematic topic coverage is not always comprehensive, as materials were assembled on a pragmatic basis, depending on available materials, and on specialists willing to contribute original notes. The modules generally address the priority issues within a thematic area or areas in which operational guidance is needed, but there are important gaps that should be filled in future editions.
The Sourcebook also focuses on design of agricultural investment programs at the country level, and does not address important regional and global issues for the sector. Likewise, investment programs are the unifying element throughout the Sourcebook, although policy issues specific to those programs are also covered. The contents are also specifically focused on agricultural investments, recognizing that rural development and rural poverty reduction requires a much broader approach, and that even successful agricultural performance requires investments in areas such as rural infrastructure.
The Sourcebook, and the AINs in particular, therefore address public sector investment opportunities for agricultural development and how these might be approached. A companion publication in the World Bank’s Directions in Development series, will be oriented to broad policy issues, and the sequencing and integration of different types of investment within a coherent agricultural sector strategy.
THE SOURCEBOOK AS A LIVING DOCUMENT
The Sourcebook is expected to expanded and updated, as experience is gained with new investment initiatives. Most module overviews and investment notes should be valid for a number of years. Individual modules can be used as stand-alone documents, and it is expected that several modules will be developed into their own Sourcebook—this is already occurring for the “Irrigation and Drainage” Module. The useful life of an IAP will be less, as most are based on recent experience and have been subjected to limited evaluation. Readers are encouraged to check on current status by contacting the person named in each profile.
[EBOOK] Agriculture Investment Sourcebook - Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD), All rights reserved by The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
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Keyword: ebook, giáo trình, Agricultural Investment, Agriculture and Rural Development, ARD, the Rural Poor, người nghèo, người nghèo nông thôn, nâng cao đời sống người dân, đầu tư nông nghiệp, nông nghiệp và phát triển nông thôn, phát triển nông thôn, NN&PTNT, PTNT
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