Agriculture

Le secteur Agriculture de J-PAL se concentre principalement sur l’optimisation des systèmes agricoles dans les pays en développement, sur les moyens d’aider les exploitants à adopter des pratiques ou des technologies rentables et respectueuses de l’environnement, ainsi que sur les programmes pouvant améliorer le lien entre agriculteurs et marchés.

Au niveau mondial, les trois quarts des personnes pauvres vivent à la campagne, et nombre d’entre elles dépendent directement ou indirectement de l’agriculture. Les technologies agricoles peuvent améliorer leurs conditions de vie grâce à de plus hauts rendements, de meilleurs prix, des risques réduits et une meilleure alimentation. Cependant, ces dispositifs (qui vont des semences enrichies à des produits financiers tels que la micro-assurance) se heurtent à une demande faible. Des chercheurs affiliés à J-PAL conduisent des recherches rigoureuses dans le but de tester de nouveaux leviers d’augmentation de la demande, de maîtriser les risques inhérents à l’agriculture, de renforcer le lien entre exploitants et marchés et de promouvoir des pratiques agricoles respectueuses de l’environnement.

Policy Insight

Protecting farmers from weather-based risk

When designed well, insurance does protect small-scale farmers from adverse weather events, but farmers have low demand for these products at market prices. New technologies and climate-smart agricultural practices can reduce farmers’ risk exposure and increase their climate resiliency. More...

Blog

Using insurance and climate-smart technologies to help farmers cope with weather-based risk

An urgent policy priority, both to increase farmers’ own productivity and profits and to contribute to stabilizing food security throughout these regions, is to provide accessible forms of risk protection. J-PAL’s updated Policy Insight reviews 23 randomized evaluations on common interventions...

Blog

J-PAL and UM6P launch new agriculture research lab to improve food security and support evidence-informed decision-making in sub-Saharan Africa

On October 10, J-PAL in partnership with University Mohammed VI Polytechnic launched the UM6P-J-PAL Agricultural Lab for Africa. Chaired by Tavneet Suri (MIT, J-PAL Agriculture sector Co-Chair), the lab will be hosted at University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) in Rabat, Morocco, with the goal of...

Policy Insight

Improving agricultural information and extension services to increase small-scale farmer productivity

Agricultural extension services can be improved by leveraging tools like information and communication technologies, trainer incentives, or social learning to support small-scale farmers’ decisions to invest in new, profitable practices. Extension programs that target both male and female members of...

Local farmers work in rice fields in Lombok, Indonesia.

Blog

Tailoring information to increase technology adoption among farmers

J-PAL’s updated Policy Insight reviews strategies to improve information dissemination to help farmers make optimal production decisions and investments to improve their livelihoods.

Evaluation

Are Rainwater Harvesting Techniques Profitable for Small-Scale Farmers? The Adoption and Impact of RWH Techniques in Niger

In Niger, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing training and conditional or unconditional cash transfers on farmers’ adoption and use of an environmental technology, their resulting land use, agricultural production and profitability, and labor allocation...

Robert Darko Osei stands under a wood structure with a mule in the background.

Blog

Affiliate Spotlight: Robert Darko Osei on the intersection of agriculture, technology, and development

Robert Darko Osei is an associate professor at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research and Dean for the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Ghana. Robert also serves as co-chair of the Digital Agricultural Innovations and Services Initiative (DAISI), which funds...

Farmer standing in his growing soybean field examining the progress of plants.

Blog

Identifying and testing gender-sensitive and climate-resilient agricultural solutions: The Digital Agricultural Innovations and Services Initiative’s first round of projects

J-PAL and the Center for Effective Global Action’s (CEGA) Digital Agricultural Innovations and Services Initiative (DAISI) was launched in 2021 to rigorously evaluate programs that increase the availability, quality, and reach of bundled, digital agricultural solutions and services for small-scale...