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.

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

A four-year study of smallholder farmers in Malawi finds that combining cash transfers with intensive agricultural extension produces larger and more durable gains in crop production and household consumption than either intervention alone.

New research quantifies how China's mass campaign to eradicate sparrows during the Great Leap Forward disrupted natural pest control, reduced crop yields, and contributed to millions of deaths during the Great Famine.

Evidence from over 6,600 farm households in Zambia finds that droughts reduce yields of maize, beans, and groundnuts while prompting smallholders to diversify crops, adopt resilient seed varieties, and expand cultivated area. This suggests that well-...

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.

Despite a long decline in agriculture's share of Ghana's economy, the sector remains vital, yet productivity gains are undermined by partial and uneven adoption of modern technologies across seeds, fertiliser, mechanisation, irrigation, and digital s...

A randomised trial testing digital input loans for smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana found that access to credit increased farm input spending but failed to raise profits, primarily because inputs arrived too late in the planting season to have the intended effect.