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This book brings together two studies both related to the very important issue of land: it examines the way in which agricultural and other policies affect how it changes hands, its value and use patterns. The first study looks at policies affecting farmland mobility and calls for an easing of regulations to allow the agricultural sector to be more responsive to market forces. The second study shows that agricultural support is often capitalised into land and other asset values. As a result there is strong resistance to policy reform, entry into the agricultural sector is difficult and the recipients of benefits are not always those intended when the policies were put in place.

Food insecurity and malnutrition are major international concerns, especially in rural areas. At the global scale, they have received considerable attention and investment, but the results achieved so far have been mixed. Some countries have made progress at the national level, but still have many citizens who are food insecure, often concentrated in specific geographic areas. Food insecurity and poverty are highly interlinked and have a strong territorial dimension. To provide effective long-term solutions, policy responses must therefore be tailored to the specific challenges of each territory, taking into account a multidimensional response that includes food availability, access, utilisation and stability. This report highlights five case studies and the OECD New Rural Paradigm, presenting an effective framework for addressing food insecurity and malnutrition.

- What has been achieved in rural finance and institutional reform during more than a decade of transition and what challenges remain? - What are the special needs of South Eastern European countries to attract agricultural credit and finance to their troubled agro-food sectors? - What should be the role of governments to facilitate the development of sustainable rural finance and credit systems? - How should the banking sector innovate to respond to significant transformations in farm ownership and production structure? - What are the advantages and perspectives of rural credit co-operatives? - What is the role of trade and manufacturer credit? - Can micro-finance be successful in helping to reduce rural credit constraints and stimulate rural development? These are some of the issues addressed in the proceedings of the OECD expert meeting: "Agricultural Finance and Credit Infrastructure in Transition Economies", held in Portoroz, Slovenia on 29-30 May 2001. Over 90 participants, including policy makers, government officials, bankers, agro-business, independent experts, and academics from 22 countries and international organisations focused on the special issues in this sector for South Eastern Europe, Russia and Ukraine. This book is part of the OECD's ongoing co-operation with non-Member economies around the world.

This report reviews recent trends in agricultural innovation systems (AIS) and discusses the impact of a wide range of policies on the creation and diffusion of innovation in the agricultural and agrifood sector. It suggests a framework for analysing the role of governments in fostering increased innovation, with a view to helping to identify practical actions that governments could take to improve productivity growth, sustainable use of resources, and resilience to future market developments in national and global agriculture and agri-food systems.

This book synthesizes the findings of a longer work which sets out a strategy for raising rural incomes. It emphasises the creation of diversified rural economies with opportunities within and outside agriculture. Agricultural policies need to be integrated within an overall mix of policies and institutional reforms that facilitate, rather than impede, structural change. By investing in public goods, such as infrastructure and agricultural research, and by building effective social safety nets, governments can limit the role of less efficient policies such as price controls and input subsidies.

With more than two-thirds of the world’s poor living in rural areas, higher rural incomes are a pre-requisite for sustained poverty reduction and reduced hunger. This volume sets out a strategy for raising rural incomes which emphasises the creation of diversified rural economies with opportunities within and outside agriculture. Agricultural policies need to be integrated within an overall mix of policies and institutional reforms that facilitate, rather than impede, structural change. By investing in public goods, such as infrastructure and agricultural research, and by building effective social safety nets, governments can limit the role of less efficient policies such as price controls and input subsidies.

Costa Rica’s strong agricultural sector is underpinned by the country’s political stability, robust economic growth and high levels of human development.  The sector has achieved significant export success, yet raising productivity and staying competitive in world markets will require efforts to address bottlenecks in infrastructure, innovation and access to financial services.  Maximising Costa Rica’s comparative advantage in higher-value niche products will depend upon more efficient services to agriculture, including better implementation of programmes, improved co-ordination among institutions, and reduced bureaucracy. While overall protection for agriculture is relatively low compared to OECD countries, it is nonetheless highly distorting to production and trade. Managing the transition to scheduled liberalisation presents an opportunity to reform costly policies, and to implement an alternative policy package with new investments in innovation, productivity and diversification, supported by transition assistance where needed. Costa Rican agriculture’s vulnerability to extreme weather events is expected to worsen with climate change, and even while the country is among global leaders in environmental protection, sustainable development and climate change mitigation, further adaptation efforts will be necessary.

Are the central and eastern European countries (CEECs) now firmly on the path to sustainable levels of agricultural output? What are the remaining impediments to the emergence of a competitive agro-food sector in the major New Independent States (NIS)? What are the recent developments in other major players in the global agricultural economy, such as Brazil, China and India? These are some of the questions addressed in the 1998 edition of the annual OECD report Agricultural Policies in Emerging and Transition Economies: Monitoring and Evaluation 1998. In its sixth edition, the report also takes a critical look at three issues which are key elements to structural reform in the agro-food sector: credit and finance; foreign direct investment; and impediments to efficiency. The 1998 report also features: -- a statistical annex of major agricultural indicators for various non-OECD Member countries -- a watch on support levels to agriculture, featuring producer and consumer subsidy equivalents (PSEs/CSEs) in Russia and selected CEECs. The countries covered in this publication are: Albania, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Estonia, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

What impacts have the Asian and Russian economic crises had on economic growth, agricultural trade and output in emerging and transition economies? What have been the key policy developments in major agricultural economies, such as Brazil, China, India and South Africa? What progress has been made in restructuring the agro-food sector in the central and eastern European countries (CEECs) and New Independent States (NIS)? These are some of the questions addressed in the 1999 edition of Agricultural Policies in Emerging and Transition Economies. This seventh edition also takes a critical look at two issues which are crucial to the on-going reform in the agro-food sector: labour adjustment in rural areas, and the development of agricultural land markets. This edition also features: - a statistical annex of major agricultural indicators for 21 countries; - a watch on support to agriculture, featuring producer and consumer support estimates (PSEs/CSEs) in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and the Slovak Republic; - possible implications of the Agenda 2000 agreement on eastward enlargement of the European Union; - an assessment of the global medium-term outlook for agricultural commodity markets. Special supplement This edition is accompanied by a special supplement entitled Agriculture at a Glance in Emerging and Transition Economies. It provides a profile of the key policy developments and trends in 18 emerging and transition economies, with a country-by-country coverage of the following policy issues: What have been the major macroeconomic changes and their effects on the agricultural sector? What are the underlying trends in the performance of primary agriculture? How are the ongoing structural policies and processes affecting agriculture? What have been the major changes in price and income support policies?  What impacts are recent changes in trade policies likely to have on trade flows? For each country the policy highlights are supported by key agricultural statistical indicators.

This eighth edition of Agricultural Policies in Emerging and Transition economies presents the latest available data on agricultural policies and support in emerging and transition economies and analyzes the interactions between  OECD member countries policies and those of emerging and transition economies.

This ninth edition of Agricultural Policies in Emerging and Transition economies finds that the use of non-tariff measures on food and agricultural products has risen rapidly in recent years.  At the same time, countries outside the OECD area face constraints that limit the effectiveness of their participation in the multilateral system and their say in which NTMs should be considered legitimate. This report suggests that technical assistance can help countries to address the economic and legal challenges that they face, but that such assistance needs to be combined with easier access to OECD markets.  This publication includes country-by-country analysis of policies and support as well as statistics on support. 

The agricultural sector and related support policies of many OECD trading partners are changing rapidly. This report monitors agricultural policy developments in Brazil, Bulgaria, China, India, Romania, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine following the same approach applied to OECD countries, providing a common benchmark for evaluating reforms and for facilitating international dialogue.  A comprehensive statistical annex containing a wide range of contextual information for these countries is also included.  This book includes StatLinks, URLs under tables and graphs linking to Excel® spreadsheet files containing the underlying data.