ii CIMMYT (www.cimmyt.mx or www.cimmyt.cgiar.org) is an internationally funded, nonprofit scientific research and training organization. Headquartered in Mexico, the Center works with agricultural research institutions worldwide to improve the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of maize and wheat systems for poor farmers in developing countries. It is one of 16 similar centers supp...

In India, electric utilities are owned and operated by the government. This paper explores whether these utilities have functioned to maximize social welfare and whether electricity pricing, through the provision of agricultural subsidies, has been manipulated for political purposes. We first explore the benefits of electricity subsidies to the agricultural sector between 1995 and 2004. A simpl...

Given its vast land resources and favorable water supply, the Democratic Republic of Congo‟s (DRC) natural agricultural potential is immense. However, the economic potential of the sector is handicapped by one of the most dilapidated transport systems in the developing world (World Bank, 2006). Road investments are therefore a high priority in the government‟s investment plans, and those of its...

At the end of December 1993 and also at the end of January 1995, the river Meuse, one of the major rivers in Europe, flooded and river banks were inundated. We investigated the possible health risks of exposure to heavy metal concentrations in river bank soils resulting from the flooding of the river Meuse at the end of 1993. Soil and deposit samples and corresponding aerable and fodder crops w...