Improving food security. A systematic review of the impact of interventions in agricultural production, value chains, market regulation, and land security

In order to support future food security policy making, the OECD Development Aid Committee (DAC) EvalNet meeting in 2010 expressed the need for a systematic review of recent evaluations and other research that would provide evidence-based information on successful approaches. The Netherlands, through its evaluation agency IOB, proposed that it should take the lead in preparing this systematic review and the Royal Tropical Institute was invited to carry it out. 38 studies were reviewed, nineteen of which refered to interventions aimed at increasing production as their main pathway. Of these nineteen, ten impacted through research and extension, four through irrigation, and five through input provision as the main strategy. Six selected studies evaluated interventions aimed at developing value chains, one for the domestic market and five for the export market. Seven selected case studies evaluated interventions aimed at reforming market regulation in Africa and Asia - three through policy, two through organising output markets and two through organising input markets as their main strategy. Six selected case studies evaluated interventions improving land tenure security, all through policy reform. Good results in the past are no guarantee for the future. Climate change calls for more emphasis on water efficiency, for instance. Increased land pressure from domestic and international investors requires better protection of local farmers and improved land tenure security. From this systematic review, the report cannot give generalized recommendations and conclude that one particular pathway will be more likely than another to have an impact on food security. First, not all impact pathways to food security were included in this review, and some included pathways were underrepresented by the lack of good evaluations. Secondly, improvements in food security were often the result of synergies between different interventions and pre-conditions: production, markets and land security, for example. Each area, country or region has its own unique set of constraints and opportunities.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, IOB - December 2011