Learning is at the heart of AgResults

Two years’ after the project’s conclusion, Evaluators found that several companies and many farmers were continuing to use (with some adaptation) rice production systems that had been introduced by companies during the competition. Farmers were more likely to use those systems if they received continuing support from the company and if water management systems were reliable.

This brief by External Evaluator Abt Associates discusses quantitative methods for conducting impact assessments of smallholder farmer benefits from donor-devised interventions that stimulate private sector engagement in markets for technologies benefiting the farmers. The brief presents three AgResults Pay-for-Results competitions as examples and offers seven lessons for evaluators.

This one-pager summarizes results and lessons learned from the Vietnam GHG Emissions Reduction Challenge Project, which used a Pay-for-Results prize competition structure to incentivize private sector competitors to test and scale technology packages among smallholder rice farmers in Thai Binh Province. Over four seasons, four competitors reached 37,596 different smallholder farmers across 507 villages.

This evaluation final report by Abt Associates shows that Pay-for-Results spurred private sector development and dissemination of emissions-reducing, yield-enhancing technology packages among smallholder farmers in Vietnam. A 2100-farmer survey showed that AgResults farmers achieved 14 percent higher yields than comparison farmers and used practices associated with lower emissions. However, project measurements of emissions were uncertain, so evaluators could not determine emissions impact. Future projects should pay attention to reliability of field-based emissions measurements.

This brief summarizes the final evaluation report of the Vietnam GHG Emissions Reduction Challenge Project, showing that PfR can spur the private sector to develop and disseminate emissions-reducing technology packages for smallholder farmers. AgResults farmers achieved 14 percent higher yields than comparison farmers and were more likely to use practices associated with lower GHG emissions. The project’s main challenge was obtaining reliable measurements of emissions.

In Vietnam, rice is a critical crop for income and food security. However, current production practices can lead to high rates of unwanted greenhouse gases (GHG) that contribute heavily to climate change. The AgResults Vietnam GHG Emissions Reduction Challenge Project (2016-2021) used a Pay-for-Results (PfR) prize competition to encourage the private sector in Thai Binh to test, develop, and scale improved technology packages among smallholder rice farmers. Over four growing seasons, four competitors engaged more than 25,000 farmers, increasing yields by 4-14% and incomes by 10-15%.

This brief, the fifth and final in the series, provides an overview of the fifth phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers can develop a thorough verification plan to evaluate competitors’ results and determine prize payments. It also summarizes the activities involved in project management of a prize competition.

This brief, the fourth in a series of five, provides an overview of the fourth phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers can determine the size of the prize purse to effectively drive participation and innovation without overpaying for results.

This brief, the third in a series of five, provides an overview of the third phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers can create the set of parameters and rules that determines who competes, how to win the prize(s), and the implementation timeline.

This brief, the second in a series of five, provides an overview of the second phase of AgResults’ approach to Pay-for-Results prize competition design. It explains how program designers conduct deeper research on relevant market systems to articulate a Theory of Change for the competition and to reasonably estimate the project’s impacts.

The first in a series of five, this brief provides an overview of concept sourcing, the first phase of AgResults’ Pay-for-Results prize competition design process. It shows how program designers begin the process by brainstorming and assessing potential development challenges to see if a prize competition is best suited to address the identified problem.

This toolkit is a practical guide for agricultural development practitioners who are interested in using Pay-for-Results prize competitions to stimulate new markets for agricultural technologies and engage the private sector for scale-up. It draws upon the experience of AgResults, which has designed and implemented prize competitions around the world since 2013.

Since 2013, AgResults has been designing and implementing agricultural prize competitions to encourage the private sector to "solve" a market failure and work toward a defined goal to receive a monetary award. In this cross-cutting learning document, AgResults presents 12 key takeaways based on its experience with prize concept design and sourcing; launch and marketing; and running a prize competition.

Abt Associates’ evaluation design of the Vietnam GHG Emissions Reduction Challenge Project envisions a randomized control design. This report assesses the success of the initial randomization and confirms that competitors adhered to rules respecting communes set aside for control; it also confirms similarities between control and treatment groups at baseline.

The evaluation design for the Vietnam GHG Emissions Reduction Challenge Project, by Abt Associates, lays out a mixed methods approach, including a randomized control design. The document highlights the role of interviews, surveys, and farmer diaries to explore the effect of the Vietnam project on the market for emissions-reducing technologies and to estimate impacts on farmers’ knowledge, attitude, practices, and incomes.

The AgResults Prize Concept Review Framework assesses concepts for validity as a prize competition. The framework comprises four key questions on the (a) market failure, (b) missions impact, (c) prize design, and (d) enabling environment. 

This presentation for COP24 highlights the AgResults Vietnam Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Challenge Project, specifically efforts of private sector participants to scale up improved technologies to help farmers increase rice yields while decreasing GHG emissions. The project aims to reach 20,000 smallholder farmer households across the Thai Binh province in the Red River Delta.

In this presentation for the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Congress 2018, Dr. William Salas explores the role that remote sensing and modeling technologies have played to gather critical data on the efficacy of different rice growing practices.

In this presentation for the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Congress 2018, Dr. Tran Thu Ha illustrates key features of the most effective technology packages developed by competitors in the Vietnam Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Challenge Project.

This Lessons Learned Brief provides an overview of the verification process followed to gauge rice crop growth and GHG emission data among farms participating in the Vietnam Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Challenge Project.