Using sustainable food value chain development (SFVCD) approaches to reduce poverty presents both great opportunities and daunting challenges. SFVCD requires a systems approach to identifying root problems, innovative thinking to find effective solutions and broad-based partnerships to implement programmes that have an impact at scale. In practice, however, a misunderstanding of its fundamental nature can easily result in value-chain projects having limited or non-sustainable impact. Furthermore, development practitioners around the world are learning valuable lessons from both failures and successes, but many of these are not well disseminated. This new set of handbooks aims to address these gaps by providing practical guidance on SFVCD to a target audience of policy-makers, project designers and field practitioners. This first handbook provides a solid conceptual foundation on which to build the subsequent handbooks. It (1) clearly defines the concept of a sustainable food value chain; (2) presents and discusses a development paradigm that integrates the multidimensional concepts of sustainability and value added; (3) presents, discusses and illustrates ten principles that underlie SFVCD; and (4) discusses the potential and limitations of using the value-chain concept in food-systems development. By doing so, the handbook makes a strong case for placing SFVCD at the heart of any strategy aimed at reducing poverty and hunger in the long run.

This paper looks at the prioritization of agricultural value chains (VCs) for the allocation of R&D resources that maximize development outcomes (poverty, growth, jobs, and diets). Considering that growth in VCs affects those various outcomes differently, as expansion pathways result in the diverse use of production factors and inputs, trade-offs from linkages across sectors, and changes throughout the agri-food system, this analysis uses (i) the RIAPA dynamic computable general equilibrium model to identify which agricultural VCs, when expanded through TFP growth, provide the strongest effects on the development outcomes of interest; (ii) the perpetual inventory model (PIM) to represent the lagged effect of research through knowledge stocks of agricultural R&D investments; and (iii) information on the elasticities of VC agricultural activity TFP with respect to agricultural R&D knowledge stocks, to discuss the VC priority allocations of R&D resources in Senegal. Results indicate that no one VC (crop- or livestock-related) is the most effective at improving all development outcomes. When accounting for policy preferences that attribute relative priority weight to development objectives, results (based on a ranking scale) indicate that R&D investments for maximizing development objectives can be most effective in Senegal’s VCs for traditional export crops (growth, diets, jobs, and to some extent poverty), groundnuts (poverty, diets, and jobs), rice (poverty and jobs), poultry/eggs (diets and jobs), sorghum/millet (poverty and growth), and cattle (diets and growth). Other promising VCs with potential effects at scale if strategically targeted include vegetables (poverty, diets, and jobs), oilseeds (poverty and growth), and fruits (diets and jobs). While these results can inform strategies aimed at improving multiple development outcomes, future modeling needs to focus on deepening the standardization and integration of R&D investments costs into the framework, disentangle the relevance of different types of R&D investments sources, and bring together other factors and complementary agrifood system investment dimensions relevant to sustainable and inclusive agricultural VC growth.

`This is a "must read" for anyone interested in value chain finance.---Kenneth Shwedel, Agricultural Economist --Book Jacket.

Value chain based approaches offer tremendous scope for market-based improvements in production, productivity, rural economy diversification, and household incomes, but are often covered by literature that is too conceptual or heavily focused on analysis. This has created a gap in the information available to planners, practitioners, and value chain participants. Furthermore, few references are available on how these approaches can be applied specifically to developing agriculture in Africa. 'Building Competitiveness in Africa s Agriculture: A Guide to Value Chain Concepts and Applications' describes practical implementation approaches and illustrates them with scores of real African agribusiness case studies. Using these examples, the 'Guide' presents a range of concepts, analytical tools, and methodologies centered on the value chain that can be used to design, implement, and evaluate agricultural and agribusiness development initiatives. It stresses principles of market focus, collaboration, information sharing, and innovation. The 'Guide' begins by examining core concepts and issues related to value chains. A brief literature review then focuses on five topics of particular relevance to African agricultural value chains. These topics address challenges faced by value chain participants and practitioners that resonate through the many cases described in the book. The core of the book presents methodological tools and approaches that blend important value chain concepts with the topics and with sound business principles. The tools and case studies have been selected for their usefulness in supporting market-driven, private-sector initiatives to improve value chains. The 'Guide' offers 13 implementation approaches, presented within the implementation cycle of a value chain program, followed by descriptions of actual cases. Roughly 60 percent of the examples are from Africa, while the rest come from Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The 'Guide' offers useful guidance to businesspeople, policy makers, representatives of farmer or trade organizations, and others who are engaged in agro-enterprise and agribusiness development. These readers will learn how to use value chain approaches in ways that can contribute to sound operational decisions, improved market linkage, and better results for enterprise and industry development.

The first of three books in IFPRI's climate change in Africa series, West African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis examines the food security threats facing 11 of the countries that make up West Africa -- Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo -- and explores how climate change will increase the efforts needed to achieve sustainable food security throughout the region. West Africa's population is expected to grow at least through mid-century. The region will also see income growth. Both will put increased pressure on the natural resources needed to produce food, and climate change makes the challenges greater. West Africa is already experiencing rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and increasing extreme events. Without attention to adaptation, the poor will suffer. Through the use of hundreds of scenario maps, models, figures, and detailed analysis, the editors and contributors of West African Agriculture and Climate Change present plausible future scenarios that combine economic and biophysical characteristics to explore the possible consequences for agriculture, food security, and resources management to 2050. They also offer recommendations to national governments and regional economic agencies already dealing with the vulnerabilities of climate change and deviations in environment. Decisionmakers and researchers will find West African Agriculture and Climate Change a vital tool for shaping policy and studying the various and likely consequences of climate change.

This analysis aims to summarize the views submitted on KJWA topics 2(e) and 2(f) that were provided by Parties and observers as at 16 October 2020, namely: Topic 2(e) - Improved livestock management systems, including agropastoral production systems and others; and Topic 2(f) - Socio–economic and food security dimensions of climate change in the agricultural sector. The analysis intends to make the wide range of views submitted more easily accessible to those interested, including to Parties and observers to the UNFCCC, but also experts working on climate change more generally, as well as interested members of the public.

The war in Ukraine is disrupting the post-pandemic recovery and exacerbating difficult policy trade-offs. This adds to a series of challenges facing the country, including the pandemic, the Ecowas sanctions against Mali, regional instability, and rising social demands. As a result, growth was revised down to 5 percent and inflation up to 5.5 percent in 2022. Medium-term prospects remain favorable with oil and gas production expected to start in 2023.