This book presents major challenges and opportunities facing agriculture sectors in the wake of the transition from a planned to market economy. Using Albania as a case study, it examines the shift from communism to free markets and the lasting effects of such change on agricultural production and education. Using primary research sources to give readers an accurate portrayal of the path that lies ahead for many developing countries, the book also looks at the future of agriculture in transitioning economies.

It is believed that the major countries of the former Soviet Union—specifically Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine (KRU region)—are the part of the world with the most potential to increase food supplies and strengthen world food security. This book examines the future of the KRU countries in global agricultural markets and will examine a number of agricultural sectors, including meat, dairy, fruits, and vegetables. However particular attention is paid to the region’s potential expansion of the grain sector and why the KRU region emerged during the 2000s as a major grain exporter, and its potential to further expand grain production and exports. It also examine the issues of environmental constraints and trade-offs for agriculture, sustainability, and the possible effects of climate change

Ulrich Koester researches and teaches at the Institute for Agricultural Economics at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany. He has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry for over 20 years. Moreover, he gained experience working with the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington D.C. and with numerous international organizations, including the World Bank, FAO, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors. His teaching experience is based on courses taught at more than ten universities in general economics and agricultural economics. Part I of the book lays the theoretical foundations for understanding price formation in product and factor markets. In addition to neoclassical theory, institutional economics is of particular importance. Part II presents and evaluates agricultural policy with special reference to the EU, whereby the evaluation framework goes beyond the usual welfare theory analysis. The book is also a valuable aid for students of economic policy, especially because of its detailed evaluation of individual agricultural market policy instruments. The book is aimed at students at universities, technical colleges as well as politicians interested in rational agricultural policy making.

This volume in the 'Distortions to Agricultural Incentives' series focus on distortions to agricultural incentives from a global perspective.

Agricultural Development: New Perspectives in a Changing World is the first comprehensive exploration of key emerging issues facing developing-country agriculture today, from rapid urbanization to rural transformation to climate change. In this four-part volume, top experts offer the latest research in the field of agricultural development. Using new lenses to examine today’s biggest challenges, contributors address topics such as nutrition and health, gender and household decision-making, agrifood value chains, natural resource management, and political economy. The book also covers most developing regions, providing a critical global perspective at a time when many pressing challenges extend beyond national borders. Tying all this together, Agricultural Development explores policy options and strategies for developing sustainable agriculture and reducing food insecurity and malnutrition. The changing global landscape combined with new and better data, technologies, and understanding means that agriculture can and must contribute to a wider range of development outcomes than ever before, including reducing poverty, ensuring adequate nutrition, creating strong food value chains, improving environmental sustainability, and promoting gender equity and equality. Agricultural Development: New Perspectives in a Changing World, with its unprecedented breadth and scope, will be an indispensable resource for the next generation of policymakers, researchers, and students dedicated to improving agriculture for global wellbeing.

The world's demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become increasingly scarce, degraded, and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In many poor countries, agriculture accounts for at least 40 percent of GDP and 80 percent of employment. At the same time, about 70 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. 'World Development Report 2008' seeks to assess where, when, and how agriculture can be an effective instrument for economic development, especially development that favors the poor. It examines several broad questions: How has agriculture changed in developing countries in the past 20 years? What are the important new challenges and opportunities for agriculture? Which new sources of agricultural growth can be captured cost effectively in particular in poor countries with large agricultural sectors as in Africa? How can agricultural growth be made more effective for poverty reduction? How can governments facilitate the transition of large populations out of agriculture, without simply transferring the burden of rural poverty to urban areas? How can the natural resource endowment for agriculture be protected? How can agriculture's negative environmental effects be contained? This year's report marks the 30th year the World Bank has been publishing the 'World Development Report'.