World Bank/FAO: Deceptive Fortune Tellers

WDEV Subscription Special: Subscribe now and get 14 months for the price of 12!

Our new website address:
www.wdev.eu

Home Mission Statement Subscriptions Sample Copies Services Blogs Background Links Archives

Volume 2010

Volume 2009

Volume 2008

Volume 2007

Volume 2006

Special Features

Special Reports

LOGIN

For subscribers only

My WDEV

Show shopping cart

Proceed to check-out

My account

Monitoring G8 Europe Global The New South UN Reform Global Finance Doha Final

World Bank/FAO: Deceptive Fortune Tellers

Commercial agriculture in Africa

The dimensions are truly gigantic: „A vast stretch of African savannah land that spreads across 25 countries has the potential to turn several African nations into global players in bulk commodity production“, reads a press release from the FAO. Four million km2 of Guinea Savannah, „one of the largest underused agricultural land reserves in the world“, could be developed for commercial agriculture, says a new FAO-World Bank study reviewed by Uwe Hoering.

The promises made by the study, jointly commissioned by the World Bank and the FAO (see reference), are based on the historical comparison with two areas, one in Asia, one in Latin America, with similar unfavourable conditions like the African savannah: abundant but unreliable rainfall patterns, poor soils and a high population density in the case of Thailand's North East, and remoteness, soils prone to acidity and toxicity and low population in the case of Brazil's Cerrado. In spite of such physical disadvantages, in both countries governments created the conditions for agricultural growth, „characterized by favourable macroeconomic policies, adequate infrastructure, a strong human capital base, competent government administration, and political stability“. Today, these regions are important agricultural producers, in Thailand mainly commercially oriented small-scale farms, in Brazil mainly large scale plantations ...

... this article comes up in WDEV 5/Sep-Oct 2009 and is for subscribers only. For direct log in >>> click here. If you have no subscription >>> pick your option or >>>

... buy the article here >>>

Quantity: item

Add to My WDEV.

More on the subject:

>>> WDEV Dossier: The Global Crisis and the South

Development Aid and Low Tax Developing Countries / The Scent of Money and the Stench of Corruption

Top of page

Imprint General Terms and Conditions RSS Feeds Site Map

WDEV Recent Issues

Issue 1/Jan-Feb 2010
The Superiority of the Financial Transaction Tax + Global Unemployment on Record Levels + New Beginning in European Development Policy? + Clean Development for the South
Issue 6/Nov-Dev 2009
Global Economic Prospects for 2010 + Does Copenhagen Really Matter? + Quo Vadis, German Development Cooperation? + Mapping Social Protection in South Asia
Issue 5/Sep-Oct 2009
A New Exchange-Rate Management + Dams and Corruption + World Bank Promotes Land Grab + ODA and Low Tax Countries
Issue 4/Jul-Aug 2009
EU Presidency outlook for development + Luxembourg: Tax haven or financial centre? + Moyos book as an opportunity + Crisis in South Asia + New LDC report
Issue 3/May-Jun 2009
The G20's unfinished business: The potential of SDRs + Compensating poor food importers + EU strategy on aquaculture + World Bank suspends labour indicator
www.wdev.eu

WDEV Highlights

Lisbon Treaty and EU Development Cooperation
In December 2010 the Lisbon Treaty came into force. What difference will this make for European Union development co-operation and humanitarian assistance? Mirjam van Reisen identifies the changes in the legal framework and interprets what difference this will make for the policy in practice.
Ahead of the Curve: Ideas that Changed the World
"Ideas matter, people matter" - and powerful ideas "become embedded in institutions" said two authors of the United Nations Intellectual History Project series, Sir Richard Jolly and Thomas G. Weiss, at a meeting at UNCTAD's headquarter this month arguing that the UN, despite its shortcomings, has had a massive positive influence on the world.
Reconciling Climate and Livestock Production?
The 2009 State of Food and Agriculture report was delayed for several months. After the disaster of Copenhagen, one could have expected it to provide the necessary guidance to policy changes for saving the Planet from further increases of greenhouse gases emitted from livestock. But FAO's suggestions are comparable to rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.
The Superiority of the Financial Transaction Tax
There is an extraordinary strong support of civil society in Europe for the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). This reflects a general trend in public opinion. Not only many politicians - Merkel, Sarkozy, Brown, Barroso - have supported the FTT, there is - like all opinion polls show - an overwhelming majority of people in favour of stricter regulation and taxation.
Global Unemployment on Record Levels
The number of jobless worldwide reached nearly 212 million in 2009 following an unprecedented increase of 34 million compared to 2007, on the eve of the global crisis, the International Labour Office (ILO) says in its recent annual "Global Employment Trends" report.