DFID’s support to agricultural research

One billion people in the world face hunger. Our report looks at DFID’s agricultural research work to improve food security and tackle hunger, to which it has committed £350 million over 2010-15.

Score: Green/Amber
  1. Status: Completed
  2. Published: 25 October 2013
  3. Type: Other
  4. Subject: Climate change and biodiversity, Global health
  5. Assessment: Green/Amber
  6. Location: Kenya, Uganda
  7. Lead commissioner: John Githongo

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Review

We gave a rating of green-amber and made three recommendations after finding DFID has an effective and innovative agricultural research programme, but could have greater impact by focusing more on the needs of poorer farmers and people in urban areas.

Findings

We found that DFID’s effective and innovative agricultural research programme has contributed significantly to improved food security and nutrition  in developing countries in the past and could do so in the future.

The programme would have a greater impact on DFID’s overall objectives if it focused more on the needs of poorer farmers, especially women farmers, and people in urban areas needing access to cheap food. The main challenge DFID faces is to ensure that its research innovations are delivered effectively to farmers in Africa and Asia and taken beyond pilot to scale. As part of this, DFID’s agricultural research and development programmes should collaborate better to accelerate learning and impact.

Recommendations

  1. DFID should ensure its agricultural research and development programmes collaborate better to deliver research outputs to farmers as quickly as possible and at scale to maximise the benefits for poor people.
  2. DFID should develop explicit theories of change to map out the steps and partnerships needed to ensure research outputs lead to improved food security and nutrition for poor people and women.
  3. DFID should aim to increase agricultural productivity, while minimising negative environmental impacts. It should focus strongly on environmentally sustainable intensification of agriculture.

 

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Timeline

Review publication

Published 25 October 2013

Government response

Published 18 November 2013

ICAI follow-up

Published 18 June 2015