Three-quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas and depend largely on farming. Identifying ways to increase the productivity of farms is crucial to ensuring food security, increasing farmer income, and alleviating poverty.
This is particularly key in Sub-Saharan Africa, where per capita food production lags far behind other regions of the world. Research has identified multiple opportunities for effectively increasing the productivity of small-scale farms through the adoption of profitable new technologies, including appropriate improved seeds and fertilizer. With approximately 100 ongoing or completed research projects in the agricultural sector, IPA is working to identify ways to improve the wellbeing of farming families. MORE »
Highlights
 Study
Risk, rather than a lack of capital, appears to drive underinvestment in agriculture in Northern Ghana - when farmers were provided with weather insurance they spent more on inputs such as... |
 Study
Why do so few people use fertilizer even though it can considerably improve yields? This project measures the increase in yield due to fertilizer and hybrid seed use in Western Kenya. It found... |
 Study
In Malawi, most of the population works in agriculture and many people grow just enough food to survive, sometimes less. Agricultural technology can enable farmers to grow more food, but questions... |
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