Sub-Saharan Africa is a critical development priority-it has some of the world's poorest countries and during the past two decades the number of poor in the Region has doubled, to 300 million-more than 40 percent of the Region's population. Africa remains behind on most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is unlikely to reach them by 2015. With some of the world's poorest countries, Africa is a development priority for the donor community. A major drag on Africa's development is the underperformance of the critical agriculture sector, which has been neglected both by donors and governments over the past two decades. The sector faces a variety of constraints that are particular to agriculture in Africa and make its development a complex challenge. Poor governance and conflict in several countries further complicate matters. IEG has assessed the development effectiveness of World Bank assistance in addressing constraints to agricultural development in Africa over the period of fiscal 1991-2006.

3. Investing in people.

Operational guidelines on how to provide cost- effective agricultural extension services to women farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper traces the evolution of World Bank support to agricultural services, particularly agricultural extension and research in Sub-Saharan Africa. It describes the Bank's experience with the implementation of national programs in agricultural extension and research and how these are evolving to face the problems of the future. The paper concludes that participation of the beneficiaries in the design and implementation of programs is critical and will ensure the programs' convergence towards rural development.

Published in 1998, this book reviews two of the World Bank's agricultural development projects in southeast Nigeria, and concludes that the objectives of these projects - which include reducing rural poverty and developing indigenous capacity for rural development - have not been fully realized. This book concludes that what these projects have achieved in the past, was the increasing integration of the peasant's political economy into the world's capitalist market with negative consequences. For example, the projects emphasis on export crop production, as opposed to food production, simply led to a diminishing capability among peasant farmers especially in the project areas, to produce food for themselves - while at the same time, reporting increased productivity in export-related production. The end result is widespread poverty amongst the poorest strata of peasant farmers participating in the program. In addition, the book looks at the Bank's structural adjustment programme, which in fact has the potential to reduce whatever benefits its agricultural programs might bring about for peasant producers.

For 25 years, population growth has outpaced increases in agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of food and the degradation of agricultural land have forced policymakers to reassess agricultural strategies for the region. This paper provides such a reassessment by identifying policies and investments that have worked and those that have not. The author sets out the common elements required for agricultural and rural development throughout the region. The strategy presented in this paper comprises elements from several development sectors, including transport, water supply, education, finance, and the environment. The author makes five broad recommendations to promote Region: adoption of policies to promote private sector farming and agricultural marketing, processing, and credit development and distribution of new technologies inclusion of farmers in decisions affecting their livelihood development of infrastructure and social programs in support of agriculture improved management of natural resources Projections of the likely effects of the proposed policies and investments are included. Tables throughout the text present statistics on agricultural growth rates, commodity prices, and deforestation in the region. An annex contains more general tables, with information on population growth and fertility rates, land use, agricultural exports, and droughts. The strategies suggested in this paper will be of interest to policymakers, academics, and to development practitioners involved in African agriculture.

Sustainable infrastructure development is vital for Africa s prosperity. And now is the time to begin the transformation. This volume is the culmination of an unprecedented effort to document, analyze, and interpret the full extent of the challenge in developing Sub-Saharan Africa s infrastructure sectors. As a result, it represents the most comprehensive reference currently available on infrastructure in the region. The book covers the five main economic infrastructure sectors information and communication technology, irrigation, power, transport, and water and sanitation. 'Africa s Infrastructure: A Time for Transformation' reflects the collaboration of a wide array of African regional institutions and development partners under the auspices of the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa. It presents the findings of the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), a project launched following a commitment in 2005 by the international community (after the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland) to scale up financial support for infrastructure development in Africa. The lack of reliable information in this area made it difficult to evaluate the success of past interventions, prioritize current allocations, and provide benchmarks for measuring future progress, hence the need for the AICD. Africa s infrastructure sectors lag well behind those of the rest of the world, and the gap is widening. Some of the main policy-relevant findings highlighted in the book include the following: infrastructure in the region is exceptionally expensive, with tariffs being many times higher than those found elsewhere. Inadequate and expensive infrastructure is retarding growth by 2 percentage points each year. Solving the problem will cost over US$90 billion per year, which is more than twice what is being spent in Africa today. However, money alone is not the answer. Prudent policies, wise management, and sound maintenance can improve efficiency, thereby stretching the infrastructure dollar. There is the potential to recover an additional US$17 billion a year from within the existing infrastructure resource envelope simply by improving efficiency. For example, improved revenue collection and utility management could generate US$3.3 billion per year. Regional power trade could reduce annual costs by US$2 billion. And deregulating the trucking industry could reduce freight costs by one-half. So, raising more funds without also tackling inefficiencies would be like pouring water into a leaking bucket. Finally, the power sector and fragile states represent particular challenges. Even if every efficiency in every infrastructure sector could be captured, a substantial funding gap of $31 billion a year would remain. Nevertheless, the African people and economies cannot wait any longer. Now is the time to begin the transformation to sustainable development.