Investing to promote agricultural growth and poverty reduction is a central pillar of the World Bank’s current rural strategy, Reaching the Rural Poor, which was released in 2003. One major thrust of the strategy outlines the priorities and the approaches that the public sector, private sector, and civil society can employ to enhance productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector in ways that reduce rural poverty and sustain the natural resource base. These actions involve a rich mixture of science, technology, people, communication, management, learning, research, capacity building, institutional development, and grassroots participation. This Sourcebook has been prepared to help in implementing the rural strategy, by sharing information on investment options and innovative approaches that will aid the design of future lending programs for agriculture. The Sourcebook provides generic good practices and many examples that demonstrate that investment in agriculture can provide rewarding and sustainable returns to development efforts. The contents have been assembled from all regions and thematic groups of the Bank, and from the experiences of many partners.