India was home to the most cattle in the world in 1970, but even that wasn't enough to prevent a dairy industry crisis. Milk production had dropped to among the world's lowest, and the country's impoverished farmers needed relief. Government leaders responded with one of the largest rural development programs ever, transforming the dairy sector -- and millions of lives in the process. Operation Flood created a vast grid that connected rural farmers directly to consumers. In the process, India's National Dairy Development Board generated massive employment opportunities and enabled farmers to earn a greater percentage of profits. The results were astonishing: Within two decades, India ranked as the world's largest milk producer.

The world has made enormous progress in the past 50 years toward eliminating hunger and malnutrition. While, in 1960, roughly 30 percent of the world's population suffered from hunger and malnutrition, today less than 20 percent doessome five billion people now have enough food to live healthy, productive lives. Agricultural development has contributed significantly to these gains by increasing food supplies, reducing food prices, and creating new income and employment opportunities for some of the world's poorest people.This book examines where, why, and how past interventions in agricultural development have succeeded. It carefully reviews the policies, programs, and investments in agricultural development that have reduced hunger and poverty across Africa, Asia, and Latin America over the past half century. The 19 successes included here are described in in-depth case studies that synthesize the evidence on the intervention's impact on agricultural productivity and food security, evaluate the rigor with which the evidence was collected, and assess the tradeoffs inherent in each success. Together, these chapters provide evidence of "what works" in agricultural development.

Flood Forecasting: A Global Perspective, Second Edition covers hydrologic forecasting systems on both a national and regional scale. This updated edition includes a breakdown by county contribution and solutions to common issues with a wide range of approaches to address the difficulties inherent in the development, implementation and operational success of national-scale flood forecasting systems. Special attention is given to recent advances in machine learning techniques for flood forecasting. Overall, the information will lead to improvements of existing systems and provide a valuable reference on the intricacies of forecast systems in different parts of the world. - Covers global and regional systems, thus allowing readers to understand the different forecasting systems and how they developed - Offers practical applications for groups trying to improve existing flood forecasting systems - Includes innovative solutions for those interested in developing new systems - Contains analytical and updated information on forecasting and monitoring systems