Madagascar Étude économique et sectorielle (ESW) : Marchés agricoles à Madagascar : contraintes et opportunités. Rapport de synthèse, No. 66028

Ce rapport présente les principaux résultats et les principales conclusions de l'étude sur les marchés agricoles à Madagascar menée conjointement par la Banque Mondiale et le Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD). L'étude poursuivait quatre objectifs : (i) Pour les produits agricoles de base et groupes de produits sélectionnés, décrire la structure de la production et de la consommation, les échanges commerciaux sur les marchés nationaux et internationaux et les prix ; (ii) Pour les produits agricoles de base et groupes de produits sélectionnés, décrire les principales filières existantes en mettant en exergue la structure des marchés et leurs degrés de concentration, les agents concernés, les activités réalisées, les mécanismes de coordination et les principales sources de risques et d'incertitude ; (iii) Pour chaque grande filière identifiée, estimer les coûts et marges pour évaluer sa performance et identifier les goulots d'étranglement qui entravent sa compétitivité ; (iv) Identifier les mesures politiques et institutionnelles, concernant les différents domaines d'intervention, pour améliorer la performance des filières et accroître la compétitivité des produits cibles. (Résumé d'auteur

Final Report

This study focuses on the potential contribution of redistributive land reform to employment creation. Can land redistribution be undertaken in a manner that also creates jobs, and if so, through which types of land use and farming systems, operating at what scales? What is the potential of small-scale farming, in particular? Despite its many limitations, the study breaks new ground by investigating the potential of small-scale farming for employment generation in specific locations. It highlights the potential for job creation in many commodities produced by small-scale farmers, and recommends a particular focus on extensive livestock and vegetable production

Conventional direction to unconventional measures: using quantitative easing to shape Eurozone fiscal capacity

Eight years after the outbreak of the crisis, the Eurozone (EZ) fiscal policy remains fragmented at the national level. This paper fills the structural gap between the monetary and fiscal dimensions of EZ economic policy by suggesting a ‘conventional’ direction to the unconventional Quantitative Easing (QE) policy of the European Central Bank (ECB). We propose an evolution for QE to tackle the shortcomings of the current ‘decentralized’ fiscal policy in the EZ. In a nutshell, we suggest a change in the composition of QE asset purchases, focusing on buying European Investment Bank (EIB) bonds that, in turn, would be used to finance real investments through the Juncker Plan programme. The rationale of our proposal is legitimised by an overview of the gloomy macroeconomic conditions of the EZ, and the situation in ongoing policies. The mechanism is described in detail, with a discussion of both its strengths and possible limitations

Southern Boundaries in Global Ocean Models: Can We Do Better?

Dense water masses form on the continental shelves around Antarctica, sink,and spread as a ma jor contributor to the overturning circulation into theglobal abyss. Global ocean circulation models often do not adequately re-solve high latitude processes due to, for example, a poor representation ofthe continental shelves and an insufficient spatial resolution. Without theseprocesses which are important for the lower part of the global overturningcirculation, the characteristics and flow of deep and bottom waters often re-main unrealistic in these models. We present two approaches to treat thesouthern boundary in global ocean models and in turn improve the hydrog-raphy of the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and theglobal circulation in those models. First, a modified Large Scale GeostrophicModel (LSG) with global data assimilation and an integration time scaleof 13 years is constrained further by hydrographic sections in the Ross andWeddell seas. These sections are obtained from an accurate regional model.Secondly, in a long (3000 years) forward integration, a global 2 degree general cir-culation model takes into account high latitude processes by restoring thesouthern boundaries at 76S in the Ross and Weddell seas to hydrographyand velocity values from the same regional model. Sensitivity experimentswith both model configurations shed light on the influence of the additionaldata in the individual basins (Ross and Weddell Sea) on a regional andglobal scale. The Weddell Sea circulation significantly affects the course ofthe Antarctic Circumpolar Current with consequences for Southern Oceanwater mass characteristics and the spreading of deep and bottom waters inthe South Atlantic. Regional changes in the Pacific sector of the SouthernOcean can be attributed to the additional data in the Ross Sea. In spiteof different physics, time scales of integration, and methods of incorporatingthe regional model data between the two global models, the effects of theadditional information are consistent in both global models

Estimating Pine Island Ice Shelf melt rates from hydrography and an ocean circulation model

The fast flowing ice stream of the Pine Island Glacier (PIG) in West Antarctica feeds the Pine Island Ice Shelf (PIIS). Its flow acceleration, thinning and mass loss has been associated with changes in sub-ice shelf ocean circulation. Several recent field and remote sensing programs focused on the Pine Island Embayment and PIG to study the local circulation, water mass properties, as well as bathymetry and cavity geometry. Observations of water mass properties entering and leaving the ice-cavity of the PIIS, as well as observations within the cavity are used to estimate a horizontal map of basal melt rates for the PIIS. For this purpose a regional ocean general circulation model that includes ice-ocean interactions is fitted to observations using optimal estimation methods. Hence, the estimates combine on both observations and the dynamical information about the circulation underneath the ice-shelf as resolved by the numerical model. The control variables, that are adjusted during the estimation process, are initial conditions, open boundary conditions, vertical mixing parameters, and melt rates. Data coverage, but also the choice of bathymetry and melt-rate parameterization, affect the state estimate and the net melt rate