SPIA has approved funding for a study of long-term and large-scale impacts of improved lentil varieties in Bangladesh. The expression of interest for this study was submitted by ICARDA to the second SPIA call for proposals on long-term and large-scale impacts of CGIAR research on development outcomes. After discussions with the ICARDA team, SPIA decided to fund a pilot study to document the dissemination of lentil varieties at the upazila level. The objective was to register temporal and spatial variation in the dissemination data, that could be used to design a rigorous impact assessment study.
The pilot study was successful in documenting spatial and temporal variation, and after completing the pilot phase SPIA facilitated the matchmaking between the ICARDA team and a team from Tufts University, University of Kiel and Paris School of Economics to develop a full proposal. After internal and external review the proposal has now been approved and the work on the full impact assessment study has started. The study will estimate impacts on economic well-being, health, and nutrition, as well as environmental outcomes such as soil quality and groundwater depletion. Results are expected in December 2023.
Read more about ongoing studies receiving SPIA support here.
