Sector Results and Learning:
Agriculture and Irrigation
This Agriculture and Irrigation Sector Results and Learning page is a repository of evidence generated by all MCC-funded agriculture and irrigation interventions. To promote learning and inform future program design, this page captures monitoring data from key common indicators, showcases recent and relevant evaluations, includes all agency lessons from completed agriculture and irrigation evaluations to-date, and links to learning that has been aggregated across completed evaluations in the sector.
What Do We Invest In?
MCC has funded $1.8 billion in agriculture and irrigation interventions as of September 2024. These interventions fall into the following categories: agriculture infrastructure; producer organizational development; policy and regulatory reform and systems strengthening; market development; and agriculture finance and investment.
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
These programs address constraints to access to finance and investment in the agricultural economy. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
These programs address constraints in the agricultural economy through infrastructure investments such as irrigation, rural roads, and warehouses. -
Market Development
These programs address constraints in agriculture and food market systems such as market linkages and value chain development while crowding in the private sector. -
Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
These programs address reforms and supporting institutions in the policy and regulatory environment of the agricultural economy. -
Producer Organizational Development
These programs address constraints in agriculture-related organizations such as water user associations and farmer cooperatives.
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Producer Organizational Development
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
The Irrigated Agriculture Project aimed to improve the quantity and reliability of irrigation water by improving irrigation infrastructure, providing training in agricultural practices, and improving the capacity of water user associations. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Producer Organizational Development
In order to increase farmers’ incomes, the Agricultural Development project financed a 2,246 hectare irrigated perimeter, supported improved water resource management, and provided farmers with training, irrigable land and land titles. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
The Watershed Management and Agriculture Support Project aimed to increase agricultural productivity in three watershed areas by supporting the conversion of farmland from traditional dry land production to higher-value horticultural production. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Market Development
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
The Production and Business Services Activity aimed to help poor farmers, organizations and enterprises successfully transition to higher-profit agricultural activities by providing technical assistance and business development services. -
Market Development
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
The Agribusiness Development Activity was designed to accelerate the shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture by awarding grants to groups of farmers and enterprises to apply innovative business solutions and technology. -
Agriculture Finance and Investment
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Producer Organizational Development
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Market Development
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
The Post-Harvest Activity aimed to increase Ghanaian export of fruits and vegetables to export markets through the improvement of public sector capacity to meet international standards and investments in improving the post-harvest handling process. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Market Development
The Rural Development Project provided over 7,000 farmers with training and technical assistance, focused on producing and marketing high-value crops to increase household incomes. -
Market Development
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Producer Organizational Development
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Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
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Market Development
The Green Prosperity Project provided grants aimed at addressing the long-term decline in cocoa production and supporting the development of a sustainable cocoa industry. The grants provided agricultural inputs as well as training and coaching. -
Producer Organizational Development
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
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Market Development
The Market Driven Irrigated Horticulture Project aims to support government reforms, invest in climate-smart irrigation infrastructure, and attract collaboration between commercial and small-holder farmers to increase rural incomes. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Producer Organizational Development
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Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
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Market Development
The Agricultural Business Investment Project aimed to identify investment opportunities and train farmers and other entrepreneurs in new agricultural techniques and good business practices. -
Producer Organizational Development
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
The Environmental and Natural Resources Management Project sought to mitigate the problems of aquatic weed infestation and excessive sedimentation in the Shire River Basin to reduce disruptions to hydropower generation. -
Agriculture Finance and Investment
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
The Alatona Irrigation Project aimed to modernize irrigated production systems and implement innovative agricultural and watershed management practices, thereby mitigating uncertainty from subsistence rain-fed agriculture and increasing farmers’ incomes. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Producer Organizational Development
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Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
The Transition to High-Value Agriculture Project was designed to catalyze investments in high-value agricultural products, moving away from low-value grains. The program established water user associations and rehabilitated irrigation infrastructure. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Producer Organizational Development
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Market Development
The Fruit Tree Productivity Project supported water user associations and provided technical assistance to value chain actors to improve the efficiency of water use and other crop practices to enhance the yield and profitability of olive and date production. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Market Development
In order to mitigate crop disease, the Farmer Incomes Support Project rehabilitated high disease areas, trained farmers in disease control, planted seedlings and provided business development grants to local businesses. -
Market Development
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Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
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Market Development
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
The Mozambique Connectivity and Coastal Resilience Compact seeks to increase ecosystem productivity, agricultural investment and the productivity and incomes of value chain actors, thereby strengthening local economies that rely upon agriculture and fisheries. -
Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Producer Organizational Development
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Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
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Market Development
The Agriculture Project sought to improve the productivity and profitability of the livestock sector and to increase the volume, quality, and value addition of the indigenous natural products sector. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Market Development
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
The Rural Business Development Project helped farmers develop business plans to adopt improved techniques for increasing farm productivity, product quality, and access to markets. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Producer Organizational Development
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Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
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Market Development
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Agriculture Finance and Investment
The Niger Compact sought to invest in irrigation infrastructure (rehabilitating a large-scale irrigation system and developing small-scale systems), as well as climate-resilient agricultural production, natural resource management, and fertilizer market reform. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Agriculture Infrastructure
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Producer Organizational Development
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Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
The Irrigation and Water Resources Management Project aimed to improve the productivity of the agricultural sector through the rehabilitation of 266 kilometers of irrigation infrastructure and construction of a 450-hectare irrigated agricultural field. -
Agriculture Infrastructure
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Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
The Forest Value Enhancement Project aims to reduce negative environmental impacts, increase forest revenues and promote more equitable payments to communities, and attain a regulatory and enforcement framework to balance logging and non-logging forest use. -
Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening
What Have We Completed So Far?
MCC and its country partners develop and tailor Monitoring and Evaluation Plans for each program and country context. Within these country-specific plans, MCC uses common indicators to standardize measurement and reporting within certain sectors. See below for a subset of common indicators that summarize implementation achievements across all MCC agriculture and irrigation investments as of September 2024.
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450,164
farmers trained
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127,112
farmers who have applied improved practices as a result of training
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1,016
enterprises that have applied improved techniques
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206,450
hectares under improved irrigation
What Have We Achieved?
MCC commissions independent evaluations, conducted by third-party evaluators, for every project it funds. These evaluations hold MCC and country partners accountable for the achievement of intended results and also produce evidence and learning to inform future programming. They investigate the quality of project implementation, the achievement of the project objective and other targeted outcomes, and the cost-effectiveness of the project. The graphs below summarize the composition and status of MCC’s independent evaluations in the agriculture and irrigation sector as of November 2024. Read on to see highlights of published interim and final evaluations. Follow the evaluation links to see the status of all planned, ongoing, and completed evaluations in the sector and to access the reports, summaries, survey materials, and data sets.
Highlighted Evaluations
What Have We Learned from Our Results?
To link the evidence from the independent evaluations with MCC practice, project staff produce an MCC Learning document at the close of each interim and final evaluation to capture practical lessons for programming and evaluation. Use the filters below to find lessons relevant to your evidence needs.
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- Moldova Compact
- Transition to High Value Agriculture
A committed local post compact point of contact facilitates post program evaluation work.
A committed local post compact point of contact facilitates post program evaluation work. A post compact entity, SDA-Moldova, was created to continue supporting the irrigation sector after the project ended. SDA-Moldova also opened doors for the evaluation by… read more
A committed local post compact point of contact facilitates post program evaluation work. A post compact entity, SDA-Moldova, was created to continue supporting the irrigation sector after the project ended. SDA-Moldova also opened doors for the evaluation by contacting government ministries and local authorities, requesting that they provide data and information to the evaluators.
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- Moldova Compact
- Transition to High Value Agriculture
A realistic timeline for project activities should be developed before investment, considering necessary sequencing of dependent activities.
A realistic timeline for project activities should be developed before investment, considering necessary sequencing of dependent activities. The Transition to High-Value Agriculture Project was designed to support farmers with irrigation improvements, training,… read more
A realistic timeline for project activities should be developed before investment, considering necessary sequencing of dependent activities. The Transition to High-Value Agriculture Project was designed to support farmers with irrigation improvements, training, and loans to improve the cold chain. However, there wasn’t sufficient time after the irrigation was completed to train and coordinate farmers in the irrigation area to use irrigation and switch to higher-value crops, nor was there sufficient produce being produced to warrant investments in the cold chain in the irrigation areas during compact implementation. The evaluation documents that as a result, training and loans were primarily provided outside of the irrigation areas, having a very limited impact on the intended beneficiaries in the rehabilitated systems.
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- Moldova Compact
- Transition to High Value Agriculture
A thorough evaluation should document what was implemented.
A thorough evaluation should document what was implemented. The evaluation answered a question about whether or not the results in the project logic were realized; however, there was very little information provided about implementation. Since this evaluation… read more
A thorough evaluation should document what was implemented. The evaluation answered a question about whether or not the results in the project logic were realized; however, there was very little information provided about implementation. Since this evaluation was designed, MCC has introduced a standard evaluation question: “To what extent was the project implemented according to plan (in terms of quantity and quality of outputs)?” This evaluation question will help to ensure that the reader of an evaluation understands what exactly was implemented and if it was according to plan.
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- Moldova Compact
- Transition to High Value Agriculture
Baseline data collection should not occur until the irrigation system has been designed so that the land and landowners who will be affected is clear.
Baseline data collection should not occur until the irrigation system has been designed so that the land and landowners who will be affected is clear. An initial baseline survey was completed in 2013 based on the feasibility study; however, the irrigation… read more
Baseline data collection should not occur until the irrigation system has been designed so that the land and landowners who will be affected is clear. An initial baseline survey was completed in 2013 based on the feasibility study; however, the irrigation system detailed designs had not been completed. Once the detailed designs were completed, the baseline survey had to be done again in 2014 to cover the correct areas and to reflect the actual project design. It is challenging to time the baseline correctly because you don’t want to collect baseline too late nor miss an important agricultural season; however, efforts should be made to prepare baseline materials and be ready to go once detailed designs have been completed.
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- Moldova Compact
- Transition to High Value Agriculture
Cost-benefit models should have realistic assumptions about farmer behavior change and transition rates from low-value crops to high-value crops.
Cost-benefit models should have realistic assumptions about farmer behavior change and transition rates from low-value crops to high-value crops. The transition rates in the cost-benefit analysis for the project were optimistic. The evaluation reported that… read more
Cost-benefit models should have realistic assumptions about farmer behavior change and transition rates from low-value crops to high-value crops. The transition rates in the cost-benefit analysis for the project were optimistic. The evaluation reported that faster transition rates were associated with farmers’: (1) pre-rehabilitation crop choice and experience (specifically, the extent of high-value agriculture cultivation immediately before rehabilitation); (2) success in forging market linkages; and (3) the presence of a committed base of water users who are committed to irrigating high-value crops every year. These factors should be taken into account when projecting transition rates.
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- Moldova Compact
- Transition to High Value Agriculture
Don’t underestimate the usefulness of administrative data.
Don’t underestimate the usefulness of administrative data. The backbone of the evaluation was the data provided by the Water User Associations (WUAs), also known as the WUA administrative data. The WUAs provided information on the number of water users, volume… read more
Don’t underestimate the usefulness of administrative data. The backbone of the evaluation was the data provided by the Water User Associations (WUAs), also known as the WUA administrative data. The WUAs provided information on the number of water users, volume of water pumped, area irrigated, etc. This information was collected annually and provided MCC a snapshot of what was going on in the irrigation areas. Not only was it used to assess project results, but it was used to determine the scope of the final water user survey, decide on timing for the water user survey, and create a sampling frame for the water user survey. It was also inexpensive to collect.
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- Moldova Compact
- Transition to High Value Agriculture
Evaluations should ask how benefits were distributed, where appropriate.
Evaluations should ask how benefits were distributed, where appropriate. MCC’s standard evaluation questions do not currently include a question about how benefits were distributed among beneficiaries. However, without that evaluation question, there may be a… read more
Evaluations should ask how benefits were distributed, where appropriate. MCC’s standard evaluation questions do not currently include a question about how benefits were distributed among beneficiaries. However, without that evaluation question, there may be a lack of understanding of the real impacts of the project. In Moldova, that question was included and as a result, we learned that larger farms accounted for most of the area irrigated in the improved systems and smaller farms did not benefit as much as expected. This is useful information to take into account in the design of future projects.
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- Moldova Compact
- Transition to High Value Agriculture
Having five plus years of data on irrigation patterns after project completion was useful to assess producer behavior across both rainy and drought years and reviewing that data annually allowed MCC to apply lessons to other agriculture projects before the final evaluation was completed.
Having five plus years of data on irrigation patterns after project completion was useful to assess producer behavior across both rainy and drought years and reviewing that data annually allowed MCC to apply lessons to other agriculture projects before the… read more
Having five plus years of data on irrigation patterns after project completion was useful to assess producer behavior across both rainy and drought years and reviewing that data annually allowed MCC to apply lessons to other agriculture projects before the final evaluation was completed. The Moldova evaluation collected data on the irrigation system for six full agricultural seasons after system rehabilitation, which allowed for analysis to take place over rainy years and drought years, showing a clear picture of irrigation use. Internal annual reports of the status of irrigation in Moldova were used to glean lessons that then were applied in the design of the other agriculture projects at MCC.
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- Moldova Compact
- Transition to High Value Agriculture
MCC’s projects should attract the private sector, like commercial-scale farmers, who have already solved the problems of transitioning to high-value agriculture.
MCC’s projects should attract the private sector, like commercial-scale farmers, who have already solved the problems of transitioning to high-value agriculture. Access to markets, finance, inputs, extension, and post-harvest services are necessary to support… read more
MCC’s projects should attract the private sector, like commercial-scale farmers, who have already solved the problems of transitioning to high-value agriculture. Access to markets, finance, inputs, extension, and post-harvest services are necessary to support the transition to high-value agriculture. Even though MCC designed pieces of the Moldova project to address these areas, the evaluation found that they were not sufficient. According to the evaluation, limited access to attractive markets was consistently cited by farmers and other stakeholders as one of the main barriers to high-value agriculture adoption in the rehabilitated systems. Rather than relying primarily or only on donor interventions to connect farmers to markets, commercial-scale farmers could be attracted to invest and collaborate in the intervention areas. Project design should consider ways of involving the private sector, such as facilitating technical transfer from commercial-scale farmers to small-scale farmers.
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- Moldova Compact
- Transition to High Value AgricultureRoad Rehabilitation
The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan should include post program targets for the indicators assessed in the evaluation post program.
The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan should include post program targets for the indicators assessed in the evaluation post program. The evaluation had to compare data collected in 2020 to the end of compact targets from 2015, the only official… read more
The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Plan should include post program targets for the indicators assessed in the evaluation post program. The evaluation had to compare data collected in 2020 to the end of compact targets from 2015, the only official targets available in the M&E Plan. MCC should set post program targets to be assessed against evaluation data. This requirement is being considered as part of the 2023 update to the M&E Policy.
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- Armenia Compact
- Water to Market Farmer TrainingWater to Market CreditWater to Market Post-Harvest ProcessingWater to Market Institutional Strengthening
A multifaceted development approach requires proactive and visionary management.
A multifaceted development approach requires proactive and visionary management. The Irrigated Agriculture Project suffered from poor integration of project activities and targeting of beneficiaries. Project activities were broken into several different… read more
A multifaceted development approach requires proactive and visionary management. The Irrigated Agriculture Project suffered from poor integration of project activities and targeting of beneficiaries. Project activities were broken into several different contracts, which increased the challenge of coordination among contractors’ timelines and activities. Mid-course corrections such as improvements in coordination among contractors, implementation strategy and staffing changes reduced the risks inherent in the piecemeal implementation approach, which improved implementation performance. Nonetheless, sequencing challenges compromised the original program logic.
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- Armenia Compact
- Water to Market Farmer TrainingWater to Market CreditWater to Market Post-Harvest ProcessingWater to Market Institutional Strengthening
Always return to the program logic.
Always return to the program logic. It is especially important in integrated projects that the rollout is coordinated with complementary activities. In the case of Irrigated Agriculture Project, this means the coordination of the farmer training rollout with… read more
Always return to the program logic. It is especially important in integrated projects that the rollout is coordinated with complementary activities. In the case of Irrigated Agriculture Project, this means the coordination of the farmer training rollout with the irrigation infrastructure activity and post-harvest marketing and access to credit components. Because the farmer training was not sequenced with the irrigation activity or completely geographically linked, assumptions around farmers’ access to reliable water were not held, potentially reducing the impact of the farmer training program on behavior change. In addition, other assumptions around importance of improved access to markets (post-harvest, processing and marketing component) and access to credit through existing or new structures did not hold during the evaluation period either. Farmer training began without discreet links to buyers—marketing efforts were delayed until the third year of the compact, and the Access to Credit Sub-Sub Activity served only a small number of farmers and did not succeed in promoting additional lending to the agriculture sector.
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How Have We Aggregated Learning Across the Sector?
MCC has developed a Principles into Practice paper using evidence from completed independent evaluations in the agriculture and irrigation sector – Principles into Practice: Impact Evaluations of Agriculture Projects. The Principles into Practice series offers a frank look at what it takes to make the principles MCC considers essential for development operational in the projects in which MCC invests. The learning captured in this paper informs MCC’s ongoing efforts to refine and strengthen its own model and development practice in the agriculture and irrigation sector. MCC hopes this paper will also allow others to benefit from, and build upon, MCC’s lessons.