Blog
From the Field: Insights from SPIA Country Studies Virtual Event
May 16, 2025
What can we learn from nationally-representative data on adoption of agricultural innovations? This question motivated a recent virtual event with CGIAR System Council and senior management, in which SPIA presented summary findings from the first pillar of our Work Plan: Country Studies with results from four countries - Ethiopia, Uganda, Bangladesh and Viet Nam. Beyond SPIA’s mission of analyzing, expanding, and deepening the evidence of CGIAR research impact, SPIA fosters a collaborative spirit among a strong community of researchers and CGIAR centers, as noted by the Gates Foundation’s Ruben Echeverria. This spirit underpins sustained partnerships in these four countries that have been in place, in some cases for over a decade, in pursuit of better data that can help institutional learning within CGIAR.
The gameplan for the years ahead is laid out in the figure below. As of today, we have completed and reported on at least one round of data collection in each of the four countries. This work will continue, each study being led by new consortium of partners with SPIA backstopping, and with new countries now on-board in Phase 2 (Colombia, India and Nigeria) and qualitative preparatory work taking place for possible future data collection in an additional group of 12 countries.
Pillar 1: Country Studies timeline of work
SPIA being able to look ahead with confidence has not come about by chance. As SPIA Chair, Professor Travis Lybbert, noted SPIA’s role is to bring the evidence up to a certain point to enable others to translate the findings into meaningful decisions for the organization. SPIA has not blurred those lines but instead takes responsibility for communicating our findings in ways that meet the information needs of stakeholders. This event was the latest milestone in our evolving “Use of Evidence” strategy.
The event
Click here to see the agenda
"From the Field" was an event that began by unveiling key findings from the Phase 1 country studies, focused on identifying innovations with potential to scale. Working closely with national statistics offices and relevant stakeholders, SPIA researchers collected data on the scale of adoption of CGIAR-related innovations, with some innovations being supported by clear mechanisms for reaching farmers, while others faced persistent challenges.
The aggregate picture for two different estimates per country – the lower bound (a conservative estimate made up only of innovations for which we have the strongest evidence of farmer reach; shown by the blue box) and an upper bound (a less restricted estimate that includes innovations for which attribution back to CGIAR is not as strong; dark grey box) – is shown in the context of all rural households in the country (light grey box).
Millions of households across the four countries.
blue box: lower bound
dark grey: upper bound
light grey: all rural households
For more detailed information, please refer to the Country Studies website or explore the country-specific reports and briefs:
Emerging Topics
After showcasing the results from the country studies, the event opened the door to broader conversations about valuable cross-cutting insights related to stress-tolerant varieties (STVs), natural resource management (NRM), and agricultural innovation in the context of structural transformation of economies.
On STVs, Travis Lybbert highlighted them as a clear success story, showing strong adoption and measurable impact across regions. For example, drought-tolerant maize adoption in Uganda and Ethiopia reached 58% and 40% of maize-growing households, respectively. In Bangladesh, the adoption of flood-tolerant rice varieties has steadily increased since 2014—despite limited initial uptake.
Beyond reach, the impact of these varieties is notable: in South Asia, flood-tolerant rice has led to increased productivity and offers a “resilience dividend,” particularly in Odisha, India. Additionally, evidence from Mozambique and Tanzania showed that bundling drought-tolerant maize with insurance increased yields by 230 kg/ha.
Sujata Visaria then introduced the case of Alternating Wetting and Drying (AWD) in rice production in Vietnam and Bangladesh – an example of a key Natural Resource Management innovation for CGIAR. AWD adoption was reported at 3–5% in Vietnam and 15–19% in Bangladesh, illustrating both its potential and the challenges in reaching wide adoption. While AWD can significantly reduce water use and methane emissions in rice farming, adoption remains limited due to systemic issues such as irrigation management, pricing structures, and a lack of clear economic incentive for farmers. Measurement challenges abound with AWD adoption, so this innovation remains a priority for future work to refine and update these estimates over time.
Lastly, James Stevenson presented a conceptual framework on the stages of agricultural innovation and economic transformation, drawing from de Janvry and Sadoulet (2020). James’ presentation placed the four countries – Uganda, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Vietnam – at different points on an arc of transformation from needing to build the basic human and physical capital assets of the rural population, through a green revolution-type process of intensification and into subsequent phases of agricultural, rural, and structural transformation.
The key insight here is that depending on where a country is on this arc, the opportunities for interventions by CGIAR will be different, entailing differences in the most appropriate partners, innovations and strategies for scaling. James selected illustrative innovations for each country – orange-fleshed sweet potato (Uganda), drought-tolerant maize (Ethiopia), improved G3 Rohu carp (Bangladesh) and disease-resistant cassava varieties (Vietnam). He closed by underscoring the value of country studies in facilitating comparability across CGIAR priority countries and supporting dynamic tracking in these diverse contexts over time.
Read here the brief: Economic transformation in Phase 1 Country Studies
Virtual panel discussion
The event transitioned into a dynamic virtual panel, with senior CGIAR management and partner representatives including Sandra Milach (CGIAR Chief Scientist), Simeon Ehui (Director General, IITA), and Ruben Echeverría (Gates Foundation & SIMEC Member)—who offered a rich and critical reflection on the challenges and opportunities in scaling agricultural innovations.
Among these reflections, they noted persistent gaps between proven technologies and their long-term adoption on the ground. The panelists agreed on the need for stronger mechanisms to support adoption, and the critical importance of learning from both successes and failures in the process of CGIAR evolution.
On a more technical matter, panelists highlighted the importance of contextualizing data—recognizing that national-level conclusions cannot always be drawn from localized studies carried out by center scientists—underscoring the value of independent evidence at a country level. There was agreement on the need for rigorous and continuous monitoring of adoption, not only as a technical task but also as a strategic priority for guiding investments. The value of collaboration with the private sector and regional organizations was also noted.
The event gave the final word to Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR. Ismahane exhorted that building evidence isn’t a luxury – rather it is a necessity for meaningful, long-term impact. She reflected on the challenge of bridging the gap between agricultural research and development results, especially when the full effects may take a decade to materialize. She concluded by recognizing SPIA’s strength in connecting the dots across the system and encouraged continued momentum. Looking ahead, she called for more dynamic partnerships grounded in co-design and joint implementation and challenged the participants to explore how future collaboration with the private sector can be grounded in both trust and robust evidence of the kind presented.
