One of 8 briefs in Research at a Glance — Promising crop biotechnologies for smallholder farmers in East Africa. Briefs 19-26

Pollution of the environment by metals and organic contaminants is an intractable global problem, with cleanup costs running into billions of dollars using current engineering technologies.

Phytoremediation is the use of living plants, known as hyperaccumulators which absorb unusually large amounts of metals in comparison to other plants.

In this paper, we derive estimates for willingness to pay for rainfall-index based insurance contracts. Surveys were undertaken in four regions in Morocco, representing different mean and variability of rainfall conditions.

"CORPOICA and IFPRI implemented a research project in Ventaquemada, Colombia.

Meeting the food needs of the world’s growing population while reducing poverty and protecting the environment is a major global challenge. Genetically modified crops appear to provide a promising option to deal with this challenge.

The successful management of transgenic technology is likely to depend on the economic behavioral response of farmers to the regulated use of transgenic crops.

By December 2007, there was a continuum of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 affected countries along the West African coast from Côte d’Ivoire to Cameroon.

Spatial analysis of the distribution of disease risk and its visual presentation through risk maps can be used to inform the design of animal disease surveillance resulting in more cost-effective strategies.

As part of the DFID funded Pro-poor HPAI Risk Reduction Project, a qualitative risk assessment was conducted for risk questions, agreed during stakeholders workshop in September, 2008, related to introduction of highly pathogenic avian influenza (

By December 2007, there was a continuum of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 affected countries along the West African coast from Cote d’Ivoire to Cameroon.

The spatial distribution of disease risk and its visual presentation through risk maps can assist in the design of targeted animal disease surveillance and control strategies.

The results of an analysis of the spatial distribution of disease risk and its visual presentation through risk maps allow for the design of targeted and therefore more cost-effective animal disease surveillance strategies.

From 2006 to the present, 11 countries in Africa reported outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1: Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Cameroon.

The majority of African farmers lack the means to mitigate the impact of risks such as those associated with rainfall and commodity prices.

This series of IFPRI Research Briefs is based on research supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany, under the project "Food and Water Security under Global Change: Developing Adaptive Capacity with a

Agricultural production remains the main source of livelihood for rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, providing employment to more than 60 percent of the population and contributing about 30 percent of gross domestic product.

Agricultural production remains the main source of livelihood for rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, providing employment to more than 60 percent of the population and contributing about 30 percent of gross domestic product.

"This paper investigates the effects of wheat genetic diversity and land degradation on risk and agricultural productivity in less favored production environments of a developing agricultural economy.