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buffalo and cow milk production by 63 and 153 percent, respectively, and increased net incomes by 20 percent within a target group of 50,000 farmers (ACDI/VOCA). • Exports of Tunisia’s high-value olive oil took off after the removal of the public sector monopoly in 1994. Nearly the entire product is exported unbranded and in bulk. However, there is a rapidly growing number of virgin bottled oil brands, which command far higher prices. The emergence of high-value olive oil products depends on farmers’ ability to supply quality raw materials, processor access to finance and modern equipment, market information supplied by producer groupings, and state-run testing and certification facilities (World Bank 2006a). • Morocco’s agricultural development strategy, Plan Maroc Vert, will test several key principles of the new paradigm for regional economic development. Plan Maroc Vert’s model of agricultural development is cluster or supply-chain driven, and the government has assigned itself the role of facilitating links among farmers, trader-processors (aggrégateurs), service organizations, research institutions, and local administrations. The institutional framework for Plan Maroc Vert is decentralized to the regional level so it can ease the coordination among local public and private institutions. By the same logic, responsibility for the ORMVAs (Offices Régionales des Mise en Valeur Agricole) has been transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture’s headquarters to its deconcentrated offices in the regions. The purpose of this brief discussion has been to illustrate how clusterbased, private sector–driven model of regional economic development can be applied to agriculture. As the previous examples show, the starting point is potential investor interest, and the key role for government is that of coordinator and provider of information.
Conclusion Leveling the playing field (Policy Package 1) is the foundation for lagging-area development, but sometimes it is appropriate to add the targeted economic development package. Spatially targeted economic development strategies are relevant where out-migration is not a solution and where there is a genuine prospect of private sector–led growth. This chapter has argued that public financial incentives for regional economic development do not work; their impacts are insufficient, too costly, or unsustainable. MENA economies, like the developed world,