Theme 1: Effective Policies and Strategic Investments

Farming for Development in Bangladesh. Source: flickr (UN Photo/John Isaac)

Policies provide the enabling environment in which development actions occur and investment choices play out. This first theme of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets analyzes which policies and investments might be better formulated to improve food security and accelerate agricultural income growth and, of equal relevance, how. It also evaluates key growth, equity, and sustainability tradeoffs associated with alternative development strategies and scenarios that provide the broader context in which policies and investments are formulated.

Theme 1 consists of 4 subthemes:

• Subtheme 1.1 - Foresight and Strategic Scenarios
  This research focuses on designing scenarios reflecting emerging challenges, modeling the consequences of these scenarios, and using the outputs of the modeling to inform policy research, thereby improving existing agricultural policy and investment decisions.

The three other subthemes center on policy analysis, with a global objective of enabling smallholders, the rural poor, and other vulnerable groups to participate in income-generating and asset-building growth.

• Subtheme 1.2 - Macroeconomic, Trade, and Investment Policies
  Research under this subtheme is designed to correct underinvestment and policy and market distortions in the agricultural sector relative to other sectors.
• Subtheme 1.3 - Production and Technology Policies
  This subtheme strives to facilitate participation of smallholders, female farmers, rural laborers, and vulnerable groups in agricultural productivity growth and sustainable resource use.
• Subtheme 1.4 - Social Protection Policies
  This subtheme focuses on increasing poor people’s access to safety nets, food assistance, and cash transfers to reduce their vulnerability to risks.