SPIA is organizing a one-day workshop as a pre-conference to the International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE).

As SPIA comes to the end of its 2019-2024 work plan, SPIA Fest will bring together researchers at the forefront of careful measurement of adoption of agricultural innovations, as well as those who are leading impact evaluations related to CGIAR's research portfolio — including on key themes and geographies of importance in international agricultural research. 

Sessions will include strategies for overcoming constraints to adoption, targeting agricultural technology for impact, and environmental impacts of intensification. In addition, there will be sessions dedicated to research in Ethiopia, Uganda and Vietnam, where SPIA currently has ongoing country-level measurement and impact evaluation studies. The concluding panel discussion will be dedicated to interpretation and use of evidence in agri-food policy.

For information regarding conference registration, please see the dedicated ICAE page.

Agenda Outline

09.00

Plenary Keynote

Discussant: Travis Lybbert, Professor, University of California, Davis

Impacts Assessment for Agriculture In the Context of Structural Transformation (Download PPT)
Douglas Gollin, Professor, Tufts University

11.00

LONG-TERM LARGE-SCALE IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS​​

Session Chair: Sujata Visaria, Associate Professor, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Discussant: Johan Swinnen, Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Mixing methods and data to evaluate the biophysical and socioeconomic impacts of a large-scale common land restoration program in India (Download PPT)
Karl Hughes, Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment, CIFOR-ICRAF

Impact Evaluations in Data Poor Settings: The Case of Stress-Tolerant Rice Varieties in Bangladesh (Download PPT)
Jeff Michler, Associate Professor, University of Arizona

Environmental Impacts of SustainableAgriculture in Practice and at Scale Evidence From Mexico (Download PPT)
Joel Ferguson, Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University

STRATEGIES TO OVERCOMING CONSTRAINTS TO ADOPTION​​

Session Chair: Rachid Laajaj, Associate Professor, University of Los Andes
Discussant: Hope Michelson, Associate Professor, University of Illinois

Small Scale Farm Mechanization
Susan Godlonton, Associate Professor, Williams College

The Value of Value Chains: An Experiment Linking Farmers' Cooperatives with Maize Processors in Rwanda
Shilpa Aggarwal, Associate Professor, Indian School of Business​​

The Complexity of Multidimensional Learning in Agriculture (Download PPT)
Rachid Laajaj, Associate Professor, University of Los Andes

ETHIOPIA: A COUNTRY-LEVEL APPROACH​​

Session Chair: Travis Lybbert, Professor, University of California, Davis
Discussant: Tesfamicheal Wossen, Postdoctoral Fellow, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

Shining a Yet Brighter Light: Dynamics of Adoption of  CGIAR-Related Agricultural Innovations in Ethiopia
Karen Macours, Professor, Paris School of Economics

Scaling Drought Tolerant Maize: Evidence from a  Maize DNA Panel in Ethiopia
Frederic Kosmowski, Senior Scientist, CGIAR

Remote Sensing Evaluation of the Direct Seed Marketing Program in Ethiopia: Results and Limitations
Johanne Pelletier, Postdoctoral Consultant, CGIAR Standing Panel on Impact Assessment

13.30  

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION ​TECHNOLOGIES AND IMPACTS​​

Session Chair: Sujata Visaria, Associate Professor, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Discussant: Travis Lybbert, Professor, University of California, Davis

Monitoring Water for Conservation: A Proof of Concept from Mozambique (Download PPT)
Paul Christian, Economist, World Bank

Long-range forecasts as climate adaptation: Experimental evidence from developing-country agriculture (Download PPT)
Fiona Burlig, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago

Estimating Global Impacts to Agriculture from Climate Change Accounting for Adaptation (Download PPT)
Ashwin Rode, Director, Scientific Research Energy Policy Institute, University of Chicago

TARGETING AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY FOR IMPACT

Session Chair: Susan Godlonton, Associate Professor, Williams College
Discussant: Marie Charlotte Buisson, Senior Researcher, IWMI

Targeted Subsidies for Water Conservation in Smallholder Agriculture (Download PPT)
Ujjayant Chakravorty, Professor, Tufts University

Learning from Self and Learning from Others:  Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh 
John Ashton Loeser, Economist, World Bank

Pricing and Allocation of New Agricultural Technologies (Download PPT)
Mai Mahmoud, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, American University in Cairo

UGANDA: A COUNTRY-LEVEL APPROACH

Session Chair: Rachid Laajaj, Associate Professor, University of Los Andes
Discussant: Laura Meinzen-Dick, Assistant Professor, Villanova University

Integrating Objective Survey Methods into Household Surveys to Improve Assessments of Adoption and Impacts of International Agricultural Research in Uganda:  Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges
John Ilukor, Economist, World Bank

Long-term Large-scale Impacts of Dissemination of Biofortified Sweet Potato on Childhood Malnutrition in Uganda
Julius Okello, Impact Assessment Specialist, International Potato Center

Evaluating Seed Quality in Bean Seed Systems of Uganda:  A Structured Genotyping Study
Enid Katungi, Scientist, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

15.30  

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF INTENSIFICATION

Session Chair: James Stevenson, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Discussant: Joel Ferguson, Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University

LULCC Impacts of Agricultural Intensification in Mali Borlaug or Jevons? (Download PPT)
Dilini Abeygunawardane, Research Associate, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies

Beyond Fields: Conservation Agriculture as a Public Good in Reducing Air Pollution (Download PPT)
Vijesh Krishna, Principal Scientist & Lead Economist, CIMMYT

The Environmental Impacts of Microfinance: Index-Based Livestock Insurance and East African Rangelands (Download PPT)
Christopher Barrett, Professor, Cornell University

AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION

Session Chair: David Spielman, Director, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Discussant: Agnes Quisumbing, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Gender and Mechanization: Evidence from Indian Agriculture (Download PPT)
Kanika Mahajan, Associate Professor, Ashoka University

Diffusion of Machine Harvestable Chickpea and its Impacts on Mechanization and Labor Market in India (Download PPT)
Swamikannu Nedumaran, Principal Agricultural Economist, ICRISAT

Intrahousehold Preference Heterogeneity and Demand for Labor-Saving Agricultural Technology (Download PPT)
Travis Lybbert, Professor, University of California, Davis

VIETNAM: A COUNTRY-LEVEL APPROACH

Session Chair: Monica Biradavolu, CEO & Founder, QualAnalytics
Discussant: Le Canh Bich Tho

Insights into the Adoption of CGIAR-related Agricultural Innovations in Vietnam
Frederic Kosmowski, Senior Scientist, CGIAR

Measuring Adoption by a Single Statistic? The Case of a Complex Bundle (1 Must-do 5 Reductions) in Vietnam
Thao Thi Nhat Bach, Consultant, CGIAR Standing Panel on Impact Assessment

One Size Does Not Fit All: Planting Calendar as an Adaptation Strategy in the Mekong Delta
Dung Phuong Le, Doctoral  Researcher, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

17.30  

PANEL DISCUSSION: Mapping Rigorous Methods into Impactful Decisions:  Interpretation and Use of Evidence in Agri-food Policy

Panel Chair: J V Meenakshi, Professor, University of Delhi
Panelists: 
Jyotsna Puri, Associate Vice-President, IFAD
Johan Swinnen, Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Prabhu Pingali, Professor, Cornell University

18:30

Reception