Agriculture

New research on agrifood employment across Africa and Asia shows that youth engagement in farming is stronger than commonly assumed, and that bundled investments, appropriate mechanisation, and upskilling programmes can generate better jobs across the sector. Realising this potential will require stronger labour data, clearer evidence on sustainable intensification, and greater attention to the employment effects of digitalisation and AI.

A model of trade and agriculture applied to Sri Lanka’s 2021 chemical fertiliser import ban shows how costly fertiliser shortages can be. However, the model also shows why local field-experiment estimates of fertiliser’s effect on crop yield can exag...

In the Brazilian Amazon, large landholders strategically donate to local politicians, who promote agriculture in return – with negative environmental consequences.

Credit, subsidies, and cash transfers can improve yields and revenues for smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries, but translating these gains into higher profits proves far harder. The evidence suggests that credit works best not as a standalone intervention but when paired with new agricultural technologies that give farmers something genuinely worth investing in.

In India, a guaranteed income programme acted as insurance rather than a substitute for credit, reducing downside risk for small farmers and increasing their willingness to borrow – unlocking large credit-financed gains in investment, productivity, a...

Mines pollute their surroundings, including water flows. In Africa, new evidence shows that plants and crops are less healthy downstream of mining sites, with the largest impacts in fertile, densely vegetated areas and regions dominated by gold minin...

Climate change is likely to keep more labour in agriculture in the very regions where agricultural productivity suffers most, exacerbating the ‘food problem’ just as economies would benefit most from diversifying away from agriculture.

Internal migration of agricultural workers in India leads to a downsizing of farms near cities and an expansion in remote areas, prompting a spatial reorganisation of agriculture whereby remote, non-migrant households adopt more technology and expand...