Today’s agricultural technologies hold tremendous promise for the 800 million worldwide who are chronically undernourished. It remains important to advance agronomic innovations, but average smallholder farm yields consistently fall well below what is technologically possible. For many farmers, these innovations remain out of reach.

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access at UC conducts and supports research on policies and programs designed to help poor and smallholder farmers worldwide to manage risk, adopt productive technologies and take an active part in economic growth. As a virtual institute comprised of researchers from around the globe, our research agenda focuses on:

• Financial innovations and risk management
• Adoption of more productive agricultural technologies
• Synergies possible by bundling financial and technological innovations

Our work shows that reducing financial constraints and improving insurance models make it easier for farmers and pastoralists to take advantage of technological improvements for higher yields. Strengthening markets and increasing access can help small-scale producers—especially women—increase their profitability from production to end-market retail.

Maintaining gains in the long-term will require that we explore integrated, flexible systems that cultivate resilience and self-reliance. Our body of research on well-established risk-reducing instruments shows that pulling risk out of agricultural systems helps farmers protect their assets and make prudent investments toward a future free of the need for emergency aid.

U.S. based partners

The Brookings Institution, Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, George Washington University, Harvard University, Innovations for Poverty Action, International Fertilizer Development Corporation, International Food Policy Research Institute, Mercy Corps, Michigan State University, New York University, The Ohio State University, Oxfam America, Stanford University, Syracuse University, University of Alaska Anchorage, University of California Berkeley, University of Colorado, University of Georgia, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of San Francisco, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Weber State University, The World Bank, Yale University

Focus country partners 

The African Center for Economic Transformation, The Agricultural Insurance Company of India, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, CIMMYT, Compagnie malienne pour le développement du textile, Consortium pour la recherche économique et sociale, Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral, Fonkoze, The Institute for Finance Management and Research, Institute of Environmental and Agricultural Research, Institute of Rural Development Planning, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, International Livestock Research Institute, International Rice Research Institute, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Makerere University, Maseno University School of Business and Economics, Mumias Sugar Company, Nyala Insurance Company, Oromia Insurance Company, Qué Funciona para el Desarrollo, Sana Kisan Bank, Savannah Agriculture Research Institute, REDDOM, Senegal Government PAPSEN Project, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, Université d'État d'Haïti, University of Dar es Salaam, VisionFund Tanzania, Western Seed Company, World Education Inc.

Learn more 

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