Agricultural Diversification: Implications for Crop Production-The Case in the Middle East and North Africa Region

The purpose of this paper is to describe briefly the work of the Agriculture Dept. of the World Bank on agricultural diversification. Diversification within agriculture and between agriculture and nonagricultural sectors has become a live issue in policy and strategy formulation in a number of developing countries. With the cur rent low international commodity prices, all countries face the prospect of poor export earning. For some economies, the overproduction of agricultural commodities is motivating a concern for the diversification in the annual crops subsector. The contribution of weak trade potential, a price-inelastic demand for cereal crops combined with a sluggish demand world-wide. has caused deterio ration in prices of cereal crops and, in time. in farm income. The countries of the Middle East and North Africa face similar condi tions in the changing role of the agricultural sector and its contribution to export markets.