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PR, IFPRI4, DSGD; PHND; SAR, Agriculture, natural resources, and the nutrition landscape in South Asia (SA) are unique. As in other Asian regions, SA’s agriculture is largely smallholder based and continues to employ a large share of the workforce, compared with Latin America. Compared with Africa south of the Sahara (SSA), agricultural modernization and intensification in SA have progressed more substantially. However, compared with East Asia (that is, Northeast and Southeast Asia), the speed of agricultural transformation has remained slower in terms of the exit of labor from farming, despite comparable intensification levels. The region is still home to almost 300 million of the poor, a majority of whom live in rural areas, engaging in agriculture. SA is also one of the regions with the scarcest natural resource endowments per capita, including water resources.1 Finally, the multiple burden of malnutrition persists, as the region remains one of the largest contributors to global undernutrition, while simultaneously overnutrition continues to emerge (Meenaksh 2016). Therefore, in SA, understanding the evolution and implications of agricultural development is important particularly in the context of agricultural transformation, natural resource management, poverty, and food/nutrition security improvement.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP2; DCA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; Capacity Strengthening; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), While the COVID-19 pandemic resulted about 24% decline in Indian GDP during April-June 2020 quarter, the nation’s agricultural sector, somewhat surprisingly, seems to have done remarkably well during the same period. Using phone survey of a sample of previously interviewed households from Northern India, this paper examines whether the package of public transfer program announced during the lockdown, called Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PM-GKY), has helped farmers deal with the shock. Overall, results show that 95 percent of the small holders received supports from at least one of the components of the PM-GKY scheme. Direct cash transfers have performed better than the in-kind transfer schemes. The econometric analysis, using a quasi-experimental method, suggests that the fungibility of funds received under the transfer package was significant in alleviating credit constraints and increasing agricultural investments in modern inputs. This is evident from the results that when only income support program (PM-KISAN) is considered, impact was limited to seed, not fertilizer and pesticides. By contrast, farmers who received benefits from all four programs (i.e., PM-KISAN, cash transfer for women, conditional cash transfers, and free food rations-KISAN) had spent significantly more on procurement of seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP4; CRP2; DCA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; A4NH; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme aims to provide income support to farmers to facilitate timely access to inputs by easing their liquidity needs. This study, based on 1,406 farmers of Uttar Pradesh and using a binary choice model, examines the scheme’s targeting accuracy and the correlates of farmers’ spending patterns. Triple difference with matching estimators are used to identify the differential impact of PM-KISAN on Krishi Vigyan Kendras (farm science centers, or KVKs) beneficiaries. Results show that PM-KISAN reached to one-third of all the farmers in the first three months of its implementation. Moreover, the study finds no selection bias based on social, economic and agricultural characteristics. The scheme has significantly helped those who are relatively more dependent on agriculture and have poor access to credit. Moreover, scheme has significantly stimulated the KVK ’s impact on the adoption of modern cultivars.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; DCA; CRP2; CRP4; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration (ATMI), SAR; A4NH; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), In this paper, we address the question of the agricultural market integration of Cambodia within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and its other top trading partners. Focusing on agricultural trade, we use two indicators, namely, “Trade Potential” and “Competition Indices,” to assess the nature and extent of the integration. More specifically, we identify the exports of Cambodia with high export potential and comparatively low competition in export markets. Higher trade potential with lower competition (value or volume) indicates an opportunity of higher returns for agricultural producers. In the case of Cambodia, “maize,”and “starches” are identified as high-potential exports with lower intra-ASEAN competition. There is also scope for regional cooperation in traditional exports such as “rice,” “manioc (cassava),” “molasses,” and “pepper” between Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries for which both the export potential and intra-ASEAN competition are high. Finally, to demonstrate the upward movement in the value chain, possibly due to quality upgradation, we present the dynamics of the unit values of Cambodia’s agricultural exports.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; DCA; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), Agricultural advisory services are the most important knowledge-delivery institutions for accelerating the adoption of advanced technologies, and for improving farmers’ learning abilities for their implementation. These technologies have implications for the larger goal of agricultural development and farmers’ welfare. This study explores the spillover effects of an innovative public-sector program in India that provides agricultural advisory services. At the Farm Science Centre (known locally as Krishi Vigyan Kendra [KVK]), scientists demonstrate modern technologies and develop capacity-building programs. This paper examines the extent of direct and spillover benefits of KVKs. It also evaluates the impact of KVKs on the adoption of improved technologies for primary beneficiaries (those who receive the benefits directly from KVKs), and for those farmers who receive information flow from them. The study is based on a primary survey of 1,496 wheat farmers in Uttar Pradesh, India. Spillover information flows are captured by: a) farmers who visit frontline demonstration (FLD) sites by their own curiosity and are categorized as secondary beneficiary farmers, and b) farmers who obtain information flows from primary and secondary beneficiaries being in their social network and are categorized as network beneficiary. Identification is achieved by exploiting non-universal coverage of KVKs, and through the availability of recall-based panels for pre- and post-intervention years on the adoption of improved technologies. The study applied matched difference-in-difference (MDID) approach to examine the effect of frontline demonstrations (FLDs) and training programs. It also examine pre-intervention trends to provide a check on the validity of our estimates. Findings revealed that 3% of primary beneficiaries of FLDs can generate information spillover to 31% of farmers. For capacity building, the results showed that 3% of primary beneficiaries can generate information spillover to

Non-PR, IFPRI1; DCA; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration (ATMI), SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), This study’s objective is to examine the factors that have driven structural transformation (ST) in the Southeast Asian (SEA) economies and the policies supporting the process. It sets the stage by evaluating the ST in each country, quantifying the contribution of “within sector” and “structural change” to overall productivity growth and estimating the turning points (TPs) to gauge the prospects of income convergence. Eight SEA countries, undergoing a steady rate of economic growth —Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Viet Nam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand (CLMVPMIT) are chosen for analysis. We find their progress on ST to be consistent with the theory and historical patterns experienced in several developed and developing countries. However, progress is diverse across these countries and lags behind developed countries, indicating that labor is not exiting agriculture as fast as agriculture’s share of value added has been declining. The ST has decreased from 49 percent in Thailand to almost 3 percent each in Cambodia and Malaysia during 1991 to 2016. Further, the contribution of within change to productivity, which was pivotal during the 1990s in each country is rather subdued during the 2000s, thereby giving comparative primacy to structural change. A relatively higher—57 to 80 percent—contribution of structural change in Cambodia and Lao PDR, together with productivity growth, may be explained by increasing migration and trade in nonagriculture products. We also find that while Lao PDR, Thailand, and Indonesia have reached their TPs, other nations, especially the poorer ones such as Viet Nam, Myanmar, and Philippines are predicted to take at least a decade towards this goal. Empirical analysis suggests ST in CLMVPMIT is positively driven by agricultural productivity, terms of trade, and public investments in infrastructure, with little role for rural to urban migration and market integration. Large inter-sectoral productivity differentials across SEA co

Non-PR, IFPRI1; DCA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; CRP2; Capacity Strengthening; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), The paper examines the impact of access to India’s farm science centers (Krishi Vigyan Kendras, or KVKs) on agricultural households’ welfare using household-level data from the nationally representative Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households conducted by India’s National Sample Survey Office in 2013. Employing different matching techniques and endogenous switching regression models, we find that the KVKs have a positive and statistically significant impact on agricultural households’ economic welfare, although that impact is heterogeneous. Further, the investments made in expansion of India’s network of KVKs have been quite remunerative, as the benefit-to-cost ratio of expenditure on KVKs ranges from 8 to 12. Moreover, our findings suggest that expanding rural formal credit markets and promoting literacy can maximize the potential impact of KVKs on agricultural households’ economic welfare.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP4; DCA; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration (ATMI), SAR; A4NH; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), Over the past few decades, the agricultural sector of Southeast Asia has experienced robust growth and undergone a structural transformation albeit differentially across the countries in the region. The main aims of this paper are to understand the process of transformation and sources of growth in agriculture in the broader context of economy-wide changes in domestic and international markets, and to suggest technological, institutional and policy measures for faster, efficient and sustainable growth. Our findings show faster growth in agriculture in comparatively low-income countries, with technological change, area expansion and diversification being the main drivers. On the other hand, agricultural growth in high-income countries has been relatively slow, and driven by price increases, mainly of the export-oriented commercial crops, such as oil-palm, rubber and coconut; and also, by area expansion. In view of the fixed supply of land and high volatility in global food prices, area and price driven growth is unlikely to sustain in the long-run. For efficient, sustainable and inclusive growth, the recourse has to be with exploiting potential of (i) existing and frontier technologies, by investing more in agricultural research and extension systems, and (ii) diversification of production portfolio towards higher-value food commodities by strengthening institutions that link farmers to remunerative markets; and investing in post-harvest infrastructure for food processing.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; DCA; CRP2; CRP4; ReSAKSS Asia; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; Capacity Strengthening, SAR; A4NH; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM); CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Contract farming is emerging as an important institutional innovation in the high value food chain in developing countries including Bangladesh, and its socioeconomic implications are topic of interest in policy debates. This study is an empirical assessment to explore the determinants of participation and the impact of contract farming on welfare and adoption of food safety practice in Bangladesh. Our analysis indicates that contract farmers are more likely to have better access to agricultural extension services, attended proportionately more community meetings, households members are member of organizations, access more credit, are located farther from output market, and have larger herd sizes. We also find that network variables such as time spent with cooperatives and other institutions and price fluctuation and average prices received experience before participation in contract are strongly associated with participation in contract farming. We find that contract farming has a robust positive impact on welfare measured by expenditure, farm profit and farm productivity, and food safety practice adoption even after innovatively controlling for observed and unobserved heterogeneity among dairy farmers. More specifically results indicate that a one unit increase in the likelihood of participating in contract farming is associated with a 42, 35,34 and 9 percent increase in household expenditure, gross margin and net margin per cow, and food safety practice adoption rate respectively, among other positive impacts.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; DCA; CRP2; CRP4; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; Capacity Strengthening; Policy Reform Initiative Project (PRIP), SAR; A4NH; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM); CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), Food quality and safety have been the central issues of food economics and are considered among the most important food attributes. However, evidence of the impact of food safety consciousness on consumers' food purchasing behavior is limited. This paper studies the impact of food safety consciousness on weekly milk expenditure, milk price paid, milk quantity purchased, and the probability of purchasing milk from modern market outlets in Nepal. We conducted dairy consumer survey in four selected districts of the country and employed an instrumental variable regression and quantile instrumental variable to estimate the heterogeneous treatment effects. The results suggest that education, income, and social network are the major factors that positively influence food safety consciousness. An increase in the food safety consciousness level by 1% increases the weekly milk expenditure, milk price paid, and weekly milk purchased by 1.37%, 0.66%, and 1.27%, respectively. Furthermore, we found that an increase in food safety consciousness by 1% is associated with a 37% higher probability of selecting a modern milk outlet. At higher levels of food safety consciousness, female-headed households are significantly more likely to purchase milk from modern outlets in comparison to male-headed households. Our findings imply that increasing food safety consciousness is likely to improve food security (through more consumption of milk and other healthy food) and the welfare of smallholder dairy farmers (through increased milk demand and higher milk prices paid by consumers).

Non-PR, IFPRI1; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; CRP2; Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration (ATMI), DSGD; SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), Despite the importance of Southeast Asia (SEA) region in the world for economy and agriculture, and despite reported evidence of the modernization of various aspects of the agricultural sector, the information has not been compiled in ways that provides more representative insights of the regions, as well as chronological, dynamic perspectives across different aspects of the overall agricultural developments. This report partly fills this knowledge gap by summarizing the key characteristics in SEA region of the agricultural development, as well as changes in related outcomes, such as nutrition, natural resource endowments, and the labor movement into non-farm economies. In doing so, the report gathers secondary cross-country data on key aspects of the agricultural modernization and diversification. Overall, the SEA region has seen a relatively fast movement of labor out of the agricultural sector into non-farm sectors including trade, restaurants and hotel industries in the last few decades, leading to higher labor productivity growth than land productivity growth. Despite the important roles of trade, the agricultural production within the region and in each country continues to account for important sources of food and nutrition. The modern production technologies and inputs have spread constantly within the region, but with considerable time lags across countries. The growth of vegetable oils and aquaculture production have been considerable, and contrast with South Asia (SA)where similar patterns have been observed for vegetables and milk production. The public sector has played important roles in agricultural research and development (R&D)on genetic improvements, and infrastructure development, while keeping the nominal assistance to the sector through market interventions to a relatively modest level, which has been accompanied by the significant growth of the private-sector participation in the provisions of inputs, services and agricultural finance. The agri

PR, IFPRI1; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; EgyptSSP; BPRSSP, DGO; CPA; AFR; SAR; LAC; DSGD; MTID; PHND; ECAO, At the regional and country level, developments in 2018 had important repercussions for food security and nutrition. This section of the 2019 Global Food Policy Report offers perspectives on food policy developments across the major regions: Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, East and Southeast Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to events and policy changes, the growing focus on rural revitalization in many places and its potential to spark change are examined for each region.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; CRP2, DSGD; SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), The frontiers of technologies have been constantly expanded in many industries around the world, including the agricultural sector. Among many “frontier technologies” in agriculture, are protected agriculture, precision agriculture, and vertical farming, all of which depart substantially from many conventional agricultural production methods. It is not yet clear how these technologies can become adoptable in developing countries, including, for example, South Asian countries like India. This paper briefly reviews the issues associated withthese three types of frontier technologies. We do so by systematically checkingthe academic articleslisted in Google Scholar, which primarily focus on these technologies in developing countries in Asia. Where appropriate, a few widely-cited overview articles for each technology were also reviewed. The findings generally reveal where performances of these technologiescan be raised potentially, based on the general trends in the literature. Where evidence is rich, some generalizable economic insights about these technologies are provided. For protected agriculture, recent research has focusedsignificantly on various features of protective structures (tunnel heights, covering materials, shading structures, frames and sizes) indicating that there are potentials for adaptive research on such structures to raise the productivity of protected agriculture. The research on protected agriculture also focuses on types of climate parameters controlled, andenergy structures, among others. For precision agriculture, recent research has focused on the spatial variability of production environments, development of efficient and suitable data management systems, efficiency of various types of image analyses and optical sensing, efficiency of sensors and related technologies, designs of precision agriculture equipment, optimal inputs and service uses, and their spatial allocations, potentials of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and nano-technologies.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; CRP4; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; A4NH; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM); CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), This paper evaluates the role of social networks in the adoption of mustard hybrids. The objectives of the paper are (i) to examine how the farmer’s adoption decision relates to the adoption choices of their network members particularly in case of hybrids; (ii) to test whether the lower-caste (Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe [SC/ST]) farmers relied more on social networks for information as compared to the higher-caste (non-SC/ST) farmers; and (iii) to explore whether social network effects are more pronounced when farmers interact within their caste as compared to outside the caste, the issue of homophily versus heterophily. The paper follows the model of social learning in Bandiera and Rasul (2006) extended by introducing the individual level covariates of network members. Further, we try to address endogeneity concerns by including village fixed effects and by analyzing the social network effects in a dynamic adoption framework. We establish evidence of endogenous effects in the adoption choices of hybrids i.e. more pronounced for the lower caste (schedule caste/tribe) vis-a-vis the higher caste. Further, network effects are stronger with homophily within the same caste.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP4; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; A4NH; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), One of the most promising strategies to boost farmers’ income in developing countries is the adoption of improved technologies, such as modern cultivars that may produce higher yields. This study aims to examine the adoption of modern cultivars in Rajasthan, one of India’s northern states. Our analysis is based on a primary survey of 1,500 farmers covering four major crops: wheat, mustard, pearl millet, and gram. The study aims to identify the farmer-level constraints in adopting modern cultivars and decomposing into the elasticity of adoption probability and the use intensity. The study also attempts to assess the role of the key characteristics of cultivars in their adoption. The authors implemented McDonald and Moffitt’s (1980) approach to decompose the overall elasticity into the elasticity of adoption probability and use intensity. To present cultivar-specific analysis, the authors modeled farmers’ decisions to adopt top cultivars accounting for concerns regarding independence of irrelevant alternative assumption in a multinomial logistics framework.

Non-PR, CRP4; IFPRI1; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; A4NH; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), The study explores the diffusion process of innovators, early adopters, and late adopters of agricultural technologies. We define innovators, early adopters, and late adopters based on the time taken to adopt improved technology in a well-defined geographic area. The paper is based on a primary survey of 866 wheat farmers conducted in the state of Rajasthan, India. The primary objective of the study is to identify the structural characteristics and information channels for farmers classified as innovators and early adopters. The secondary objective is to present a more disaggregated analysis by assessing the factors that affect the adoption of recent seed varieties. The first objective is based on binary choice modeling, and the second objective relies on the empirical formulation drawn from Besley and Case (1993) that accounts for the dynamic processes related to adoption in the cross-sectional framework.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP2; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; Capacity Strengthening; DCA; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), This paper attempts to quantify the benefits of contract farming (CF) on farmers’ income and investigates the determinants of participation in CF. This is based on a survey of 1,331 farmers from Maharashtra State in India engaged in onion, okra and pomegranate cultivation. The study, using 2-Stage Least Squares method and propensity score matching approach, reveals that CF ensures higher returns for smallholders to the tune of Rs 14.5 per kilogram over independent farmers. Access to institutional credit, extension services, farm size, personal ownership of transport and migration significantly affected farmers’ participation in CF. The empirical evidence of the benefits of CF for high-value export commodities should encourage government policies to promote and scale up the use of CF in India.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; DCA; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; Capacity Strengthening; Policy Reform Initiative Project (PRIP), SAR; DSGD; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), Adoptions of improved technologies and production practices are important drivers of agricultural development in low-income countries like Nepal. There are still knowledge gaps concerning what determines the adoption of different types of technologies and practices, how information about them is diffused, and what general impacts the interventions promoting them are having. In this paper we partly close the gap, using data collected for evaluations of the Knowledge-Based Integrated Sustainable Agriculture in Nepal (KISAN) project led by USAID. We find that factors important to increasing the adoption of improved technologies and practices include improved access to markets, the role of the private sector in selling improved seeds and disseminating information, membership in progressive farmers’ groups and cooperative societies, participation in agricultural training and farm visits, the provision of subsidies for seeds, and access to credit. Different factors are also found to affect the sources that farmers use for gathering information before adoption. The effects of KISAN projects vary significantly across the different crops grown, based on the evaluation models that address self-selection of both project participation and crop choices.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP4; DCA; CRP2; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; Agricultural Transformation and Market Integration (ATMI), SAR; A4NH; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), In this paper, we address the question of market integration of Myanmar with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its other top trading partners. Focusing on agricultural trade, we use indicators – ‘Trade Potential’ and ‘Competition Indices’ to assess the nature and extent of the integration. This study highlights the exports of Myanmar which are competitive in the ASEAN markets and have high export potential. A higher trade potential with lower competition (value or volume) would indicate an opportunity for higher returns for agricultural producers. In the case of Myanmar, “dried legumes and beans,” “crustaceans,” “frozen fish,” “other oilseeds,” “maize,” and “preserved fruits and nuts” are identified as high-potential exports with lower competition in ASEAN markets which can be targeted for trade expansion. Finally, to demonstrate the upward movement in the value chain, possibly due to quality upgradation, we present the dynamics of the unit value of Myanmar’s agricultural exports.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; Capacity Strengthening; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR, This paper studies the high adoption of Pusa 44, a long-duration and old rice variety cultivated in Punjab, despite the availability of new short-duration varieties and the overall technological advancement of agriculture. We use farm-household data from a primary survey conducted in 2016-17. Pusa 44 yields on average 2.5 quintals higher per hectare than competing short-duration variety PR 121. It also consumes 16 percent additional water because of its longer duration. As energy for groundwater irrigation is provided tariff-free by the state, Pusa 44 farmers obtain higher net returns even though they pump additional groundwater. Consequently, they have little economic incentive to switch to new short-duration varieties. This varietal stickiness is a pressing policy issue considering the ongoing groundwater crisis in the state. We show that Punjab currently incurs an additional energy-subsidy cost of US$ 49 million per annum on irrigating Pusa 44. Future costs will continue to multiply unless farmers are incentivized to switch to short-duration rice varieties.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP2; IFPRI-ICAR, SAR; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), This study investigates the impact of contract farming (CF) in baby corn production on yield, irrigation costs, fertilizer costs and usage of chemical fertilizer. We find that adoption of CF by baby corn smallholders, after controlling for characteristics of both control and treatment groups, leads to higher yields and lower spending on fertilizers and irrigation. Additionally, CF in baby corn farming leads to a reduction in the use of chemical fertilizers (Urea and DAP). Thus, CF intervention benefits the livelihood of smallholders, reduces environmental degradation and reduces stress on groundwater without compromising yield.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; Capacity Strengthening; IFPRI-ICAR, SAO; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), In this paper we apply duration analysis to study the factors driving the speed of adoption of a popular Basmati rice variety called Pusa 1121. We use data from a primary survey on variety adoption and crop economics conducted in 2017. The sample comprises of 1305 Basmati growing farmers from the north Indian states of Haryana and Punjab. Pusa 1121 was adopted rapidly by 60% farmers between 5 and 10 years from its release in 2005. Results from the duration analysis highlight the key role of superior quality traits of Pusa 1121 and assured market demand. Access to varietal information from extension agents also shortened farmers’ time to adoption. Moreover, we show that early adopters of Pusa 1121 positively influenced other farmers’ speed of adoption within their village network.

PR, IFPRI1; IFPRI4; EgyptSSP; PRSSP, DGO; MTID; DSGD; LAC; WCAO; AFR; SAO; SAR; ECAO; AFR, At the regional and country level, developments in 2017 had important repercussions for food security and nutrition. This section offers perspectives on food policy developments across the major regions: Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, East and Southeast Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Globalization and the impact of growing antiglobalization pressures on food security are examined for each region, along with many other current topics.

PR, IFPRI1, DGO; CPA; WCAO; DSGD; SAO; PHND; LAC, 2016年，食物领域出现的重要进展可能对各个国家和地区的食物安全与营养状 况产生深远影响。本报告将研究非洲、中东、北非、中亚、南亚、东亚、拉美和加勒 比海等主要地区在粮食政策方面的进展、城市化趋势，以及这些趋势对食物安全 与营养状况的影响。以下章节将探究不同地区的情况，包括： ■■ 非洲地区合作与投资增长，如何在气候变化和商品价格走低的情况下加强食 物安全 ■■ 中东北非地区持续的冲突、某些国家的政策改革需求以及较低的油价 ■■ 中亚如何推广农业多样性，加强区域一体化，增强经济恢复力 ■■ 南亚的增长迅速，针对农业出台新政策，展开新投资 ■■ 东亚的城市化、饮食结构变化与地区增长 ■■ 拉美及加勒比海主要经济体的衰退和厄尔尼诺现象对该地区未来的影响

PR, IFPRI1, DGO; CPA; WCAO; DSGD; SAO; PHND; LAC, 2016 saw important developments with potentially wide repercussions for food security and nutrition in individual countries and regions. This section offers perspectives on food policy developments across the major regions: Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Urbanization trends and related impacts on food security and nutrition are presented for each region. The individual regional sections cover many other critical topics: Acceleration of cooperation and investment in Africa to improve food security in the face of climate challenges and low commodity prices; Continuing conflict in the Middle East and North Africa, while some countries begin to face policy reform needs and realities of low oil prices; Central Asia’s promotion of agricultural diversification and regional integration to increase economic resilience; South Asia’s rapid growth and new investments and policies in the agriculture sector; Urbanization, changing diets, and regional growth in East Asia Recession in major economies of Latin America and the Caribbean along with El Niño’s effects on regional prospects.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP7; A Ensuring Sustainable food production; D Transforming Agriculture; E Building Resilience; F Strengthening institutions and governance, SAO, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Zero tillage (ZT) for wheat is one of the most widely adopted resource-conserving technologies in the rice-wheat systems in northern India. In areas of Haryana with rice-wheat systems, 36.5 percent of all farmers practice ZT on 35 percent of their wheat area. Yet the literature measuring the impact of ZT on farmers’ fields is scarce. This study fills this gap by using the data collected from a random sample of 717 farmers from 50 villages in 10 districts of Haryana. It applies the difference-in-differences method to five-year recall data on wheat yields in ZT and conventionally tilled plots of land to quantify the crop loss due to unseasonal rains right before wheat harvests in March 2015. The results reveal significantly lower wheat yield losses in the ZT plots than in the conventionally tilled plots. On average, farmers suffered yield losses ranging between 3.73 and 4.53 quintals per hectare in 2015 due to unseasonal rains. The loss was lower by 1.05–1.10 quintals per hectare in ZT plots. The analysis clearly shows that adoption of ZT helped in reducing crop loss in wheat by 24–28 percent, valued at 1,523–1,595 Indian rupees (Rs.) per hectare (approximately US$22.50 per hectare). The loss avoided due to ZT is nearly equal to the prevailing rental rate of the ZT machine (Rs. 1,500 per hectare) in Haryana. Climate models suggest that the incidence of short-duration acute hydro meteorological events is likely to increase in years to come. Such events are hard to predict and prepare for, and dealing with them hinges mainly on disaster relief. However, our results show that adoption of ZT is one possible way to reduce potential loss from some of these weather events and that ZT is therefore well characterized as a climate-smart technology.

Non-PR, IFPRI1; C Improving markets and trade; TARINA; IFPRI-ICAR, MTID; SAO, Rising prices and declining consumption of pulses cause concern in terms of both nutrition and food inflation in India. This paper outlines policy strategies to increase the availability of pulses at affordable prices in India and also points out limitations of some of the most common recommendations for achieving these objectives. There seems to be no option but to increase domestic production of pulses in India. The global supply of pulses is limited compared with India’s needs, and sizable imports by India are bound to increase world prices. Domestic production of pulses in India is most likely piecewise inelastic, meaning that small price increases do not translate into a significant supply response. Because farmers face both production and marketing risks, they increase pulse area and intensify production only when there is a large increase in expected prices that covers the risk premium. Droughts, too, are a major risk for pulses. Access to one or two protective irrigations during the growing season can possibly lead to sizable increases in pulse production and reduce the production risk. The har khet ko paani (assured irrigation) initiative under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) program should give priority to pulse-producing areas. The minimum support price (MSP) for pulses, without direct government procurement, helps traders more than farmers because it acts as a focal point for tacit collusion among traders. Farmers will benefit from the MSP only if it is raised substantially from its current levels. The increase in farmgate prices due to a higher MSP will not necessarily lead to an increase in the retail price of pulses because much of the wedge between farmgate prices and consumer prices is traders’ margin. Including subsidized pulses in public distribution systems can save households some money, but it has only a small effect on total consumption of pulses and almost no effect on total protein intake. We suggest, as more potent soluti

Non-PR, IFPRI1; CRP2; C Improving markets and trade; DCA, SAO; PIM, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), Despite a growing dairy industry in India, farmers’ lack of access to organized markets and institutional credit remains one of the major hindrances in improving the scale and productivity of dairying. Using data from a survey of 612 households from the state of Punjab, India, this paper evaluates farmers’ choices of dairy value chains and their financing mechanisms. The study finds that 62 percent of the sample farmers representing 69 percent of the total milk sales are connected with formal value chains driven by cooperatives, multinational companies and private domestic processors. Small dairy farmers are associated more with informal value chains but they are not excluded from the formal value chains. The performance of different value chains in terms of productivity and profitability of dairying is almost on par. Also, there is hardly any difference in the milk price offered by formal and informal buyers pointing towards milk market being competitive. More than half of the farmers borrow credit both from within and outside the chain for dairying related activities. Chain-based financing is restricted to only one-fourth of the borrowers and mostly to those associated with informal value chains. Financing by commercial banks and other financial institutions is limited to only 9 percent of the borrowers, mainly larger farmers. The socially-disadvantaged and smallholder farmers are often neglected in institutional lending because of their lack of physical assets to use as collateral against loans. Value chain approach, due to its product market orientation, can serve as an entry point for financial institutions to improve their outreach to smallholders. The innovative financial products, such as ‘dairy credit card’ and ‘contract as collateral’ would enable them to adopt yield-enhancing technology and inputs and also to scale up their dairy activity.

IFPRI1; Open Access, SAR, The data is collected through a primary field survey of around 600 ginger-cultivating farm households in Nepal, using a structured questionnaire. It aims at identifying the determinants of participation in contract farming of ginger in Nepal and assess impact of contract on farmers’ profits and adoption of food safety practices at farm-level. The data includes farm and farmer characteristics, cropping pattern, economics of cultivation, marketing channels, and good agricultural practices. The survey was conducted during December 2014 in the hill districts of Pyuthan, Palpa, and Arghakhanchi, located in the Western and Mid-western development regions of Nepal. These districts were chosen due to high concentration of contract farmers there. The sample comprises 322 contract farmers and 283 noncontract farmers.

Non-PR, IFPRI1, MSSD, The South Asian countries are gradually diversifying with some inter-country variation in favor of high value commodities, namely fruits, vegetables, livestock and fisheries. Agricultural diversification is strongly influenced by price policy, infrastructure development (especially markets and roads), urbanization and technological improvements. Rainfed areas have benefited more as a result of agricultural diversification in favor of high value crops by substituting inferior coarse cereals. Agricultural diversification is also contributing to employment opportunities in agriculture and increasing exports. The need is to suitably integrate production and marketing of high value commodities through appropriate institutions. Market reforms in developing and strengthening desired institutions through required legal changes would go a long way in boosting agricultural growth, augmenting income of small farm holders and promoting exports.

Non-PR, IFPRI1