On farm conservation of crop diversity poses obvious policy challenges in terms of the design of appropriate incentive mechanisms and possible trade-offs between conservation and productivity. This paper compares factors explaining the inter-specific diversity (diversity among species) and infra-specific diversity (diversity among varieties within a species) of cereal crops grown in communities and on individual farms in the northern Ethiopian highlands.

Food credence attributes are food features that are difficult to verify even after consumption. Consumers, today, are concerned about many food credence attributes, including animal rights, contamination risk, fair trade practice, genetic modification, geographical origin, and organic farming. For the past several decades, many scholars have analyzed the value consumers place on credence attributes and have reported that consumers will pay a premium for foods with these desirable properties. In addition, their studies reveal that individual consumers place greater importance on some credence attributes than others. For example, some are seriously concerned about animal welfare, while others are solely concerned about food safety. One of the objectives of this book is to summarize recent empirical findings from scholarly works on how consumers value food credence attributes. Such knowledge would benefit producers, processors, retailers, and policy makers. Another objective of this book is to discuss the effectiveness of the programs that have been introduced to strengthen the relationship between producers and consumers. Many programs have been developed to more effectively inform consumers regarding food production processes.

This paper investigates the relationship between adoption of modern rice varieties and rice varietal diversity on household farms in Bangladesh. As shown in previous studies, adoption of modern varieties depends on agroecological- and input-related factors, including the availability and use of irrigation facilities, such as tubewells. Having irrigation affects the diversity index significantly and positively, which could be due to the diffusion of more modern varieties (MVs) in areas where irrigation is available and accessible.

This book examines the challenges faced by farmers trying to maintain crop biodiversity in developing and transitional economies. Using a collection of empirical case studies of farmers and crop scientists across a range of agricultural economies and income levels, it presents economic tools and methods for valuing and managing crop biodiversity. It discusses the economic benefits of crop biodiversity for farmers and suggests ways in which crop biodiversity can be supported by national policies. The book provides an indispensable 'tool kit' for all those concerned with the development of strategies to facilitate sustainable management and conservation of crop genetic diversity for future generations.

An estimated 1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar a day, and recent estimates indicate that over 850 million people lack sufficient food for an active healthy life, mostly in rural areas. This FAO report examines the links between agriculture, trade and poverty and considers how international agricultural trade and trade liberalisation affect the world's poor and food-insecure. Topics discussed include: trends and patterns in international agricultural trade, including trade in the least developed countries and within regions, and the role of supermarkets; policy issues including domestic support, export competition and market access; macroeconomic impacts of agricultural trade reforms for poverty reduction and pro-poor development objectives; food insecurity and trade liberalisation measures. The report recommends a twin-track approach which seeks to invest in human capital, institutions and infrastructure to enable the poor to take advantage of trade-related opportunities, while establishing safety nets to protect vulnerable members of society. This publication contains a mini CD-ROM of the "FAO Statistical Yearbook 2004 Vol. 1/1" in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish.