Last week saw the annual World Bank Land and Poverty Conference in Washington DC. This event has grown substantially over the years, concentrating in one place more than 800 researchers, development practitioners and partners, civil society organisations and government representatives.
License: ODI given rights
Credit: Liz Wilson
Source: Imperial College London
Creating better links between small-scale farmers and firms in supply chains is a pressing issue for agricultural development in Africa. This event draws on the findings of research carried out by researchers in the Futures Agricultures Consortiumand the Leaping & Learning programme with colleagues from Agriculture for Impact.
The EU’s budget for the period 2014-2020 will take centre stage at a European summit later this week. There will be much discussion over the size of the budget: will it be cuts, a freeze or more of the same? However, new ODI research suggests it is not the volume that matters most for EU citizens or for global development, but the direction of spending and the distribution of the EU budget across headings.
Bill Gates’ recent announcement of fresh funding to agriculture provides a good excuse to reflect on the changing anatomy of agricultural financing and on what it means for the global agenda on effective development assistance.
Bill Gates has spoken on the Today Programme about his recently published Annual Letter, in which he highlights the work that needs to be done in agriculture to improve the lives of poor farmers, particularly those in Africa and South Asia.
I have just returned from Rome, where I participated in an FAO meeting of technical experts on agricultural investment, particularly foreign direct investment. The meeting was convened to review evidence on agricultural investments in several countries, identify gaps in information and analysis, and think about possible directions of support by development partners.
