Suchergebnisse

This document is the inception report for an ADB-funded TA on Agricultural Sector Program. The overall objective of the TA is to assist the government in designing an agricultural program to help establish a competitive market-based and diversified system through policy reforms in several critical areas and subsectors. The specific objectives of the TA are: i) to assess the impact of previous policy changes in the sector and the current status of agricultural strategies and plans; ii) to conduct detailed analysis and provide recommendations for future policy and institutional changes; and iii) to prepare draft strategies for the sector for the next 5, 10 and 20 years, and a proposal for an agricultural development program. This report is organized into five chapters, including the introduction (chapter 1). Chapter 2 reviews the past performance and current status of the agricultural sector. The chapter stresses the achievements of the past 10 years, after Resolution No. 10 recognized the household as an autonomous economic agent, setting in motion impressive agricultural growth. The chapter reviews progress in production, market orientation and poverty reduction. It also highlights the shift of emphasis from agricultural production to rural development. Chapter 3 discusses the main constraints to accelerating growth in a sustainable and equitable manner. It provides a conceptual framework that stresses the agrarian and rural structure of Vietnamese society and the implications for analysis of constraints. Constraints are classified into three time periods: short term (5 years), medium term (10 years), and long term (more than 10 years). Chapter 4 gives an overview of several global changes that will affect future sectoral performance. Together with the analysis of past performance, current status, and constraints carried out in the previous chapters, this allows identification of the major issues facing agriculture in Viet Nam. Chapter 5 reviews the Asian Development Bank funded Agricultural Sector Program carried out between 1995 and 1998. It examines the loan agreement and the program's impact on income and poverty, as well as the impact of the technical assistance projects on rice and land. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1 ; MTID; MSSD

Bangladesh, which has been a country of chronic food deficits, now appears to be nearing self-sufficiency in rice. Production of rice, the major food staple of the country, grew at a rate of 2.7 percent in the 1980s, while population grew at a rate of 2.0 percent. The gap between production and the foodgrain requirements of the population is clearly narrowing, although the need to import wheat will continue for the rest of this decade. The sustained and increasingly stable growth of rice production during the 1970s and 1980s is closely related to the introduction of high-yielding varieties, mainly the winter boro rice crop, which rose from 21 percent of total rice production in 1972/73 to 35 percent in 1989/90. The two main rice crops, aman and boro, tend to have contrary patterns of production increase and decrease within a given year. Now that boro rice has a larger share in total production, this intrayear compensation affords a more regular flow of production and a changed pattern of seasonality characterized by smoother price fluctuations. ; PR ; IFPRI1

The objective of this paper is to derive lessons from selected literature concerning the impact and the conditions of successful agricultural input market reform. The agricultural inputs of interest in this review are: fertilizers, seeds, agricultural equipment, pesticides, and livestock services and health inputs. The paper examines the rationale for market reform, its impact on growth, productivity, and income of farmers, and the conditions for success. Six main conclusions emerge from this review. First, market structures are the result of evolutionary processes that accompany the adoption and the diffusion of modern technology in agriculture. Second, the development of markets and private sector cannot occur unless an adequate infrastructure is in place. Third, markets cannot work unless a favorable institutional environment is created. Fourth, the success of reforms is heavily influenced by the sequencing of various policy measures. Fifth, the participation of the private sector is dependent on the credibility of government policies in support of market reforms. Finally, the scanty evidence on the impact of market reforms on small farmers suggests that these groups are often penalized. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1 ; MSSD

Market liberalization, though an important element in economic reforms in developing countries in the past two decades, has been accused of harming the poor through higher food prices, layoffs in formerly state-owned enterprises, and the erosion of social safety net programs. Since the 1980s Viet Nam has relaxed a number of government controls over rice production and marketing, stimulating large increases in rice production. Yet the government retains control over rice exports and internal rice trade. Rice Market Liberalization and Poverty in Viet Nam, Research Report 114, analyzes whether further loosening of state controls in Viet Nam's rice markets would help or hurt the poor and draws lessons for other countries. ; PR ; IFPRI1

Viet Nam has undergone a profound transformation in recent years and, as a result of a series of macroeconomic and institutional reforms since 1986, it has made substantial progress toward becoming a market economy. As this transition continues, Viet Nam faces the challenge of formulating and implementing a growth strategy which is both economically and politically feasible. Critical to this growth strategy is the role of agriculture and, within agriculture, the development of an efficient rice marketing system. The emergence of Viet Nam as a major rice exporter has raised a number of important policy questions. First, will the country be able to continue its impressive growth? Second, how far has Viet Nam moved along the path toward a market economy? Third, what is the role of the government in the development of a rice market economy? Finally, what is the best way to promote food security? The paper addresses these issues and report the results of a study conducted by IFPRI for the Asian Development Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Government of Viet Nam. The study is based on extensive data collection from marketing agents (farmers, traders, millers, state owned enterprises, and exporters) conducted during 1995 and 1996. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1 ; MSSD

The authors attempt to understand how different measures of market integration may be used to derive conclusions about the structural determinants of market inegration. After reporting different approaches to measure market integration, highlighting some of their uses, the authors link the previous measures of rice market integration in Bangladesh to structural factors. They conclude that the degree of market integration in this country is rather moderate. (DÜI-Sen)

What is Bangladesh's potential for self-sufficiency in rice production? There have been both optimistic and pessimistic answers to that question. Observers expressed optimism in the early 1990s, when rice surpluses were publicized (World Bank 1992). Trends in production and prices supported that attitude: even with excessive flooding in 1988, farmers were able to cope, and aggregate rice production did not decline as anticipated. In subsequent years the country had good harvests, and increased adoption of modern rice varieties and expansion of boro plantings raised total rice productivity (see Chapter 2). With an enormous stock buildup in the public storage system, the government soon found it unfeasible to continue its procurement program. Even with declining imports, the real price of rice continued to drop, reaching a new low when, compared with the previous year, aman paddy prices declined by 25.4 percent in December 1992/January 1993 and boro prices declined by 33.6 percent in May/June 1993. ; PR ; IFPRI1; MP-01; Disaster Prevention and Recovery ; MTID

Through a survey of approximately 1300 farmers, millers and traders, this study undertook an in-depth investigation of the rice marketing system in the midst of its transition from a centrally planned to a market-based economy. Its findings suggest strong private sector response to the reforms yet a number of remaining constraints to its further expansion. Its main policy implication is that liberalization of external trade (quota removal) and internal trade would lead to considerable income gain for the country, while benefitting farmers and the rural poor. Over the course of the project, several outreach activities were conducted, including several training modules in food policy analysis with participants from MARD and other government agencies, numerous workshops and seminars in Hanoi and other provinces, dissemination with international media, and publications. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1 ; MTID; MSSD