World Bank Rediscovers Agriculture

Agriculture is the foundation of civilization. You can't have much of an economy without a sound foundation.


World Bank gives farming renewed role

By Andrew Walker Economics Correspondent, BBC World Service

The World Bank has rediscovered agriculture.

Perhaps that's an exaggeration, but clearly the farming sector is gaining a renewed significance in the Bank's work.

Last week its own assessors produced a report criticising the Bank for not taking the sector seriously enough. The Bank duly accepted some - though not all - of the strictures.

And now the new edition of its annual World Development Report is all about agriculture, a kind of...

...The Bank's chief economist Francois Bourguignon says that for the poorest countries, most of which are in Africa, growth in agriculture is four times as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other areas of the economy...(complete article here).

I'm happy to see the World Bank is waking up.