One billion people around the world are still chronically poor. Agricultural growth and productivity remains central to poverty reduction, particularly in the poorest countries, where a large share of the population relies on agriculture  and agribusiness for their livelihood.

In recent years, IEG has undertaken a series of evaluations of World Bank Group’s support to agriculture, rural development and agribusiness and other relevant fields such as rural finance, land redistribution, safeguards and sustainability policies, and competitive grant schemes.  These evaluations aim to provide an opportunity for the institution to learn from the past experiences and to inform emerging strategies and programs.