Day 1: Monday, November 7

Introductory Remarks

9:00

Pressing Issues in Agricultural Policy

Albert Zeufack, Chief Economist, AFRCE

9:15

The DIME model of evidence based policy

Keynote Speakers

9:30

Why don’t low productivity farmers adopt high return investments? What policies are successful at increasing rates of adoption? 

10:00

Paul Winters, Director of Strategy and Impact Evaluation IFAD.

10:45

Discussion

Moderator: Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Director Development Economics Research Group

Breakout Session 1: Best strategies for changing agricultural practices
When promoting climate smart agriculture or new crops, who are the most effective agents to teach new methods? What are the most effective methods of teaching new technologies and crops?

11:15

Operations Intro:

·        What new technologies is the World Bank is actively promoting? Are there specific challenges in convincing people to adopt?

·        What advice is the World Bank currently giving to clients on extension models, and what kind of evidence is needed to improve this advice?

Wilhelmus Janssen, Lead Agricultural Economist

11:30

Who are the best providers of Information? Evidence on network based knowledge diffusion in Malawi.

11:45

Which extension models work best? Evidence on contact farmers in Mozambique.

12:00

Which extension models work best?  Evidence on crop demonstration in Bangladesh.

12:15

12:30

9:00

Operations Intro: 

·        What are some of the investment priorities for World Bank between agriculture and broader context areas such as transport and natural resource management others

Aparajita Goyal, Senior Economist, Poverty Global Practice

9:15

Implementation and impacts of input subsidies for annual crops, evidence from Haïti

9:30

Impact evaluation for agricultural value chain interventions: An example Senegal

9:45

What if farmers can’t get to markets? Evidence on feeder roads.

Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, Univ. of Toronto

10:00

Discussion

10:15

Break

10:30

Melissa Williams, Senior Rural Development Specialist

10:45

Does land tenure regulation empower women? Evidence from Rwanda

Markus Goldstein, Gender Innovation Lab

11:00

Do Female village-level extension agents perform as well as male extension agents? Evidence from Malawi

11:15

Discussion

11:30

Break

Breakout Session 4: Inclusion and Targeting of Marginalized Groups

How does the selection of project recipients influence outcomes? How can we improve agricultural service delivery to high priority groups such as women and youth, and make projects more inclusive?

11:45

Operations Intro:

·        How does the World Bank currently advise clients on beneficiary selection, and what evidence do we need to improve this advice?

·        What types of beneficiaries would clients like to see better represented in project beneficiaries?

Melissa Williams, Senior Rural Development Specialist

12:00

How can we help create feedback systems to incentivize participation in extension? Evidence from Rwanda.

12:15

How do land rights affect investment?  Evidence on land formalization in Benin

Michael O'Sullivan, Gender Innovation Lab

12:30

Are there trade-offs from prioritizing small holders?  Evidence on smallholder targeting strategies for irrigation in Mozambique

Lunch                                                                                                                                         Lunch outside MC-C1-100

Concluding Debate

1:00

Panel Debate:

Where do we go next?  Priorities for the next wave of agricultural impact evaluations at the World Bank.

James Stevenson, ISPC; Andrew Foster,  Brown University; Florence Kondylis, DIME; Paul Christian, DIME [Moderator]

2:00

Conclude