Technical Analysis & AgCLIR

Assessing the Role of Gender

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Women play a crucial role in agriculture in developing countries. According to the FAO, two-thirds of the female labor force in developing countries is engaged in agricultural work, as independent food producers or agricultural workers. Rural women produce half of the world’s food and, in developing countries, between 60% and 80% of food crops. Yet, despite this, less than 2% of agricultural land is owned by women.

Addressing the Impact of Climate Change

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Climate change poses many challenges for development. The climate threat comes from three separate but interconnected sources; global climate change due to concentrations of green-house gases; climate patterns (particularly the El Nino Southern Oscillation); and alternations in local climate due to changes in land surface.

Addressing the impact of Climate Change on Agribusiness

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Climate change poses many challenges for development. The climate threat comes from three separate but interconnected sources; global climate change due to concentrations of green-house gases; climate patterns (particularly the El Nino Southern Oscillation); and alternations in local climate due to changes in land surface. These factors are expected to increase the likelihood of extreme weather effects, including higher intensity storms, droughts and floods, and contribute to longer-term changes in temperature and precipitation.

AgCLIR Chapter: Closing A Business

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A farmer deciding, after two rejected shipments, that the risks of producing green onions for the global market are too great and that the production of sweet potatoes for the local market would be better is effectively “closing the business” of green onion cultivation and starting another. The losses from the green onion business have already been absorbed by the household enterprise and sweet potato planting materials can be readily acquired. Such easy entry and exit characterize many agricultural enterprises in the developing world.

AgCLIR Chapter: Enforcing Contracts

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Contracts are legally recognized and enforceable agreements between two or more parties for the exchange of goods or services for something of value in return—“consideration.” Consideration is typically money or other assets but can consist of almost anything, even a promise not to do something. The more informal an agricultural enterprise, the more likely contracts will be unwritten (oral) and/or enforced by social and community norms and processes.

AgCLIR Chapter: Assessing Marketing Infrastructure

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Most market-friendly governments around the globe seek to enable businesses by easing their access to credit and legal services, cutting bureaucratic red tape, and implementing consistent and market-friendly trade policy.  In the agricultural sector, because of the direct links to rural poverty and food security, governments also recognize the need to invest in the industry and boost production through provision of cost-cutting inputs and services.  However, the most important provision to enable sector-wide growth is not private goods (targetin

AgCLIR Chapter: Trading across Borders

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The principle that trade and investment are important for economic growth is widely accepted. By trading with other countries and attracting foreign investment, nations can take advantage of global market forces—competition, human resource development, technology transfer, and innovation generate growth and reduce poverty. The agribusiness sector encompasses half of the world’s labor force and 40 percent of consumer purchases.

AgCLIR Chapter: Paying Taxes

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The fairness and efficiency of a tax system has significant impact on whether entrepreneurs (particularly smaller and micro enterprises) and individual citizens choose to join the formal sector. If they believe that the tax system is fair and that the state will use their tax revenues wisely, they are more likely to participate.

AgCLIR Chapter: Protecting Investors

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Agricultural enterprises have a number of options for raising capital to pay for their inputs, equipment, and other costs of growing a business, most of which are appropriate instead of—or in addition to—seeking a loan from a bank or other lender. Of course, each option carries not only the promise of economic gain, but also the risk of loss.

AgCLIR Chapter: Getting Credit

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Virtually all modern businesses rely upon credit: for operations, to bridge the gap between production of products and payment for them; for investment, as buildings and capital equipment are generally multiples of annual revenues; and to cover swings in supply and demand conditions.

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