The World Bank has announced an ambitious plan to expand lending and investment in the agricultural sectors of developing countries.
In a review conducted by the Overseas Evaluation Group, covering close to US$ 2 billion that the International Finance Corporation has invested in the agricultural sector between 1990 and 2001. But both projects were unsatisfactory and unsustainable. The World Bank is also rolling out a new plan to invest in agriculture in developing and middle-income countries. World Bank chief economist Francois Bourguignon, stated that 75 percent world’s poorest people are dependent on agriculture and countries like India and China, where millions remained stuck in agriculture and poverty despite there is growth in the service and manufacturing sectors. The report notes that although 2.5 billion people around the world, including three out of four of the poorest, depend on agriculture, public spending and aid to agriculture has fallen from historical highs of 12 per cent to around 4 per cent. According to the World Bank study on finance on Africa, only 20 per cent of adults in sub-Saharan African hold a bank account at a formal or semi-formal institution.
