Political Science > Agriculture & Food Policy

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Kelsee Bratley
and
Alexis Meyer-Cirkel
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the agricultural land coverage in Mozambique by harnessing advanced remote sensing technologies and draws on successful agricultural development examples to propose strategic pathways for Mozambique. The study leverages Sentinel-2 satellite imagery coupled with a machine learning algorithm to accurately map and assess the country's agricultural land, revealing that agriculture accounts for only 12 percent of Mozambique's land area. By examining the agricultural transformation or “green revolution” that some countries have experienced, it is possible to distill regularities and necessary conditions, which can then be compared to the state-of-affairs in Mozambique. This study not only offers a model of how emerging technologies like remote sensing can inform agricultural state of affairs, it also provides important insights into which concrete bottlenecks are likely to be holding back Mozambique’s agricultural development.
Chen Chen
,
Koralai Kirabaeva
, and
Danchen Zhao
Financially constrained governments, particularly in emerging and developing economies, tend to face a fiscal trade-off between adapting to climate change impacts and pursuing broader development goals. This trade-off is especially relevant in the agriculture sector, where investing in adaptation is critical to ensure food security amidst climate change. International trade can help alleviate this challenge and reduce adaptation investment needs by offsetting agricultural production shortages. However, in the presence of trade fragmentation, the adaptive role of trade diminishes, exacerbating food insecurity and increasing investment needs for adaptation. In this paper, we present a model to guide policymakers in deciding on the cost-efficient balance between investing in adaptation in the agricultural sector versus in broader development under financing and trade constraints. We apply the model to Ghana, Egypt, and Brazil, to examine the adaptation-development trade-off and highlight factors that would potentially lower adaptation investment needs. These factors include trade openness, higher agricultural productivity and efficiency of adaptation spending, and reduced labor market distortions. The key takeaways from the model applications suggest that (i) promoting trade openness and accessing concessional finance for adaptation help tackle climate challenges and ensure food security in lower-income countries; and (ii) domestic structural reforms are necessary to facilitate adaptation investments and reduce investment needs, by improving labor market flexibility, adaptation efficiency, and agriculture productivity.
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This Selected Issues paper on the fintech and crypto assets in the Central African Republic (CAR). CAR’s initial steps in the form of the 2022 crypto law have created legal uncertainties at the Central African Economic and Monetary Community level and raised numerous concerns but some of the most controversial provisions have been recently revised. The authorities have proceeded with the launch of a digital coin named Sango and namesake platform-ecosystem with multifaceted features. While only a limited amount of coins have been issued and other elements of the project have not been launched, project Sango has attracted considerable interest as it can potentially bring opportunities through digitization, while also raising complex risks. This range from macro-fiscal and financial to financial integrity, governance, consumer protection and others. The Sango project appears too complex, creating interconnectedness between multiple sectors and private and public balance sheets in a manner, which could raise systemic risks, pointing to the importance of reconsidering the existing blueprint.
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
The number of Malian refugees in Burkina Faso has increased, but the government’s contribution remains in line with earlier estimates. Growth for 2012 has been revised upward to 8 percent. The overall fiscal deficit is significantly lower than anticipated. The current account is expected to improve next year. There is significant improvement in revenue collection. The authorities are stepping up efforts to improve resilience to shocks. Efforts are under way to improve debt management capacity. The mining taxation regime needs to rebalance the interests of investors.
International Monetary Fund
This Joint Staff Advisory Note describes the progress made on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) in Sierra Leone on the basis of the June 2008 progress report. The report analyzes key elements of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), including: macroeconomic performance; good governance, peace, and security; pro-poor sustainable growth for food security and job creation; human resource development; and monitoring and evaluation of the PRS. The progress report correctly indicates that implementation of poverty reduction programs suffered setbacks owing to weak revenue performance and delays in external budget support since late 2006.
Mr. Erwin H Tiongson
,
Mr. Benedict J. Clements
, and
Mr. Sanjeev Gupta
Global food aid is considered a critical consumption smoothing mechanism in many countries. However, its record of stabilizing consumption has been mixed. This paper examines the cyclical properties of food aid with respect to food availability in recipient countries, with a view to assessing its impact on consumption in some 150 developing countries and transition economies, covering 1970 to 2000. The results show that global food aid has been allocated to countries most in need. Food aid has also been countercyclical within countries with the greatest need. However, for most countries, food aid is not countercyclical. The amount of food aid provided is also insufficient to mitigate contemporaneous shortfalls in consumption. The results are robust to various specifications and filtering techniques and have important implications for macroeconomic and fiscal management.