Audio: Agricultural Productivity in Changing Rural Worlds

Johanna Nesseth speaks to Melinda Smale and Timothy Mahoney about their new paper Agricultural Productivity in Changing Rural Worlds, commissioned by the CSIS Global Food Security project. The authors provide an introduction and overview of the main topics of the paper, including: investing in agricultural productivity from a longer-term, resource-based, farmer-centered perspective; revamping the way that technology is developed and diffused to better diagnose and solve the practical problems of rural people; and complementing investments in the “hard” infrastructure of markets (roads, rural electrification) with investments in “soft” infrastructure, including rules, regulations, policies, financial and market information systems that kick-start private-sector investments.

Please click here to read the full report, co-authored by Melinda Smale and Timothy Mahoney.

Photo: © Curt Carnemark / World Bank