Accelerating Agricultural Growth—Is Irrigation Institutional Reform Necessary?

The right to the flow of income from water is vigorously pursued, protected, and fought over in any arid part of the world. Pakistan is of course no exception. Reform of irrigation institutions necessarily changes the rights to water, whether it be those of farmers, government, or government functionaries. Those perceived rights may be explicit and broadly accepted, or simply takings that are not even considered legitimate. Nevertheless they will be fought over. Pakistan has a long history of proposals for irrigation reform, little or none being implemented, except as isolated pilot projects. Thus, to propose major changes in irrigation institutions must be clearly shown to have major benefits to justify the hard battles that must be fought and the goodwill of those who might win those battles for reform. Proponents of irrigation institution reform have always argued the necessity of the reforms and the large gains to be achieved. Perhaps, however, those arguments have not been convincing. This paper will briefly outline the failed attempts at irrigation reform to provide an element of reality to the discussion. It will then proceed to make the case of the urgency of reform in a somewhat different manner to the past. Finally, current major reform proposals will be presented. This paper approaches justification of irrigation reform by focusing on the agricultural growth rate. It does so because that is the critical variable influencing poverty rates and is a significant determinant of over-all economic growth rates. The paper decomposes growth rates and suggests a residual effect of deterioration of the irrigation system that is large and calls for policy and institutional reform. The data are notional, suggesting the usefulness of the approach and paves the way for more detailed empirical analysis and enquiry for the future.

Agricultural Development and Food Security(The Allama Iqbal Memorial Lecture)

It is always a pleasure for me to participate in these annual meetings. The knowledge and the talent displayed are immense. The quality of discussion is high. I had never thought however that I would have the honor of delivering the Aalama Iqbal lecture. To prepare for this lecture I read extensively from Iqbal’s poetry. Of course I read in translation, but even so I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the ideas and the expression. My search for an apt couplet or set of lines for this paper was in vain. Iqbal was speaking to his people and although he was expansive in his view of society, it is still not meant for me to carry the word of Iqbal to you. Nevertheless I do display at the beginning of this paper three lines from Iqbal. He is clear on the importance of doing for oneself and for ones country. At least in the modern world ones efforts are so much more productive if government provides a favourable environment for individual effort. And he would embrace the brotherhood of mankind, leaving some potential for us to help each other. He was very clear that learning from the West was desirable, and he was very selective about that—science and technology in particular. My paper is about what government must do, and specifically the government of Pakistan must do, to create an environment in which not just a few gather dew but in which all people gather dew. As soon as ones concern encompasses the bulk of the population food security comes to the fore. My paper can be seen as addressing how all rural people can gather the dew. It has a prominent place for science and technology.

Institutional finance for agricultural development

The authors review the literature to see at how rural financial institutions (RFIs) are organized, how they can improve their financial viability, and how real interest rates affect the demand for rural loans, the supply of rural deposits, and rural savings. Their purpose is to make the findings of the extensive literature on agricultural credit policy accessible to developing-country policymakers. The review addresses six major questions: Why promote formal RFIs? How should RFIs be organized? What are the transaction costs of RFIs and how should they be measured? What effects do real interest rates and other factors have on rural loans, deposits, and savings? What determines whether an RFI system is a net contributor to or a drain on public resources? And, what policy conclusions can be drawn from this analysis? To answer these questions, Desai and Mellor look at the literature on RFIs in high-, middle-, and low-income countries, both developed and developing. They include countries in four developing regions Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Near East and Mediterranean Basin, and Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Western Europe and North America.Rural credit Developing countries. ,Financial institutions. ,

La croissance agricole en Asie et en Afrique. Démographie, urbanisation, pauvreté, interaction avec l'environnement

Cette conférence, prononcée à Montpellier le 16 janvier 1991, présente une série de propositions d'orientation politique susceptibles d'engager les nations africaines sur la voie de la réussite générale qui caractérise aujourd'hui l'ensemble des pays asiatiques. Après un examen des différences essentielles entre l'Asie et l'Afrique et une brève définition d'une stratégie de développement adaptée aux besoins actuels de croissance, d'urbanisation, d'emploi et de réduction de pauvreté, l'auteur aborde le problème des relations entre agriculture et pauvreté, et entre agriculture et urbanisation, puis introduit le débat sur le rôle de la privatisation. Enfin, il traite du rôle des marchés et de la planification pour terminer sur les choix politiques qu'ils jugent prioritair

Agricultural Development Opportunities for the 1990s: The Role of Research

Presentation on the world food situation to the CGIAR meeting in October-November 1988 by the Director of IFPRI, John Mellor. These talks were a regular feature of ICW every other year.On this occasion, Mellor addressed abolishing hunger, preserving the environment, reduced cost of food production, trade, and stability as comprising the risks and opportunities for agricultural development in the upcoming 1990s. These were topics the CGIAR should address in its research

The Changing World Food Situation: A CGIAR Perspective

Presentation on the world food situation to the CGIAR meeting in November 1984 by the Director of IFPRI, John Mellor. Such a presentation was recommended by the first external review of IFPRI to be made every other year. Mellor focused on three issues: the shift of concern about food production from Asia to Africa; the growth in food exports from the developed countries; and the continued existence of massive malnutrition and poverty, particularly in Asia, in the face of major improvements in food production growth rates

The New Global Context for Agricultural Research - Implications for Policy

Presentation on the world food situation to the CGIAR meeting in October-November 1986 by the Director of IFPRI, John Mellor. This was the second such, following a recommendation by the first external review of IFPRI that the Institute's director should make a presentation to the CGIAR every other year.Mellor's remarks focused on the global food supply/demand balance, an area which linked the interests of developed and developing countries and had important implications for foreign assistance and agricultural research policy