A scaling accelerator for evidence-based climate innovations in agriculture

Abstract

J-PAL’s Innovation in Government Initiative (IGI) serves as a global scaling accelerator for evidence-based agricultural and climate innovations. By providing catalytic funding and technical assistance, IGI enables governments and partners to adapt, pilot, and integrate proven, cost-effective solutions for agriculture, food security, and climate adaptation into public systems.

Through a portfolio of rigorously evaluated interventions, ranging from payments for ecosystem services and flood-tolerant rice to weather forecasting and rainwater harvesting, IGI transforms high-quality evidence into large-scale policy action. Its model bridges the gap between research and implementation, strengthening local food systems and climate adaptation capacities across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Partners

Scaling partners

Innovation in Government Initiative

Innovation partners

J-PAL, Agricultural Technology Adoption Initiative (ATAI), King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI)

Demand partners

Programme-specific and identified via competitive RFPs.

Financing

10-25 million (2025-2030)

Challenge

Supporting small-scale farmers’ productivity and livelihoods in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) is an essential component of building inclusive and robust food systems. Innovative technologies are a critical step to boosting farmers’ productivity and profits, but few silver bullets have emerged that improve outcomes for all farmers in every context. Therefore, a primary policy concern is how to support small-scale farmers across different regions to increase their productivity, improve their resilience in a changing climate, and accelerate how technologies reach, benefit, and empower marginalised groups.

With increasingly limited foreign aid resources, many governments around the world are eager to use evidence to improve the effectiveness of their social programmes and policies, especially when it comes to critical challenges like climate-smart food systems strengthening. Meanwhile, universities and research organisations are producing and synthesising evidence from rigorous impact evaluations that can be used to design and improve these programmes and policies. However, demand from governments and good research are not enough to change lives. Using evidence to inform change at scale also requires a deep understanding of context and systems, coupled with political will, a policy window, and implementation capacity. Indeed, scaling proven interventions remains constrained by funding, technical capacity, and contextual adaptation challenges.

Solution

Over the past two decades, J-PAL has built a globally recognised portfolio of policy-relevant research identifying effective and cost-effective interventions in agriculture across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, including payments for ecosystem services, seasonal weather forecasting, flood-tolerant seeds, rainwater harvesting, and climate resilient Graduation programs.

The Innovation in Government Initiative (IGI) is J-PAL’s dedicated platform to turn rigorous evidence into large-scale, government-owned programmes that improve food security, climate adaptation, and livelihoods. IGI provides catalytic early-stage funding and targeted technical assistance that help governments and implementing partners adapt, pilot, and integrate rigorously tested, cost-effective programmes into public systems and policies. By combining rigorous evidence, government demand, and long-term partnerships, IGI enables the scaling of climate-smart, evidence-backed agricultural innovations tailored to local conditions. Each programme is co-designed with researchers and government partners, ensuring fidelity to proven impact while adapting to specific contexts and gender inclusion is embedded throughout. Through this model, IGI accelerates the translation of research into policy action, supporting resilient livelihoods and sustainable food systems across regions.

Impact

Portfolio results (2019–2025):

• 2019–2025: IGI distributed US$6.3M across 53 funded programmes (16 recently funded).
• 2019–2024 subset: 36 programmes funded; of which 11 (≈30%) are already successfully scaling with governments/NGOs, reaching ~1.3 million people to date.
• Average IGI grant US$135k; successful programmes subsequently raised ~US$5.1M in co-funding (philanthropy and/or government).
• Founders Pledge recommended IGI in 2018 (evidence-based policy report).
• In 2024 they re-assessed and renewed their recommendation, leading to US$6.4M secured; in 2023, Founders Pledge estimated IGI is at least three times as cost-effective as direct cash transfers.

Illustrative Agriculture and Climate Impacts:

• Seasonal Weather Forecasting (India): Localised early monsoon forecasts shifted crop choices, input spending, and off-farm investments; now scaling with AI and government partners to reach 8.7 million farmers in Odisha through digital extension platforms.
• Payments for Ecosystem Services (Uganda, India, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil): Proven to reduce residue burning, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively; adapted for Indigenous communities in Guatemala with IGI support, and embedded within Brazil’s Bolsa Verde PES programme, now reaching 50,000 low-income households.
• Rainwater Harvesting – Demi-lunes (Niger): Farmer training increased adoption among men and women, improving yields, profits, and land restoration; scaling with the Nigerien Ministry of Environment across degraded Sahelian lands.
• Graduation / Targeting the Ultra Poor: Rolled out in 50 countries, reaching ~14M people. With IGI early support, programmes are adapting TUP for climate resilience in Telangana, India, and testing impacts on climate vulnerability in Bangladesh.
• Flood-tolerant rice seed (Swarna Sub-1): Aiming to reach 2 million farmers with this improved variety developed in part by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Government of West Bengal, India is scaling farmers adoption through evidence-based programs like informing input suppliers and incorporating farmer field days.

Scaling plan

IGI plans to mobilise funding over the next five years to expand its portfolio and support ready-to-scale programs in food security, agriculture, and climate adaptation.

• 2026: Source the first phase of eligible projects and launch the IGI food and agriculture programme publicly; 

• 2027-2028: New round of sourcing while another open RFP runs; review regular reporting from existing grants and provide technical support as needed.
• 2029: Review regular reporting from existing grants and provide technical support as needed.
• 2030:  Close out grants, synthesise learnings, and disseminate results to donors and the broader public, where appropriate.

Enablers

Embedded Evidence-to-Policy (E2P) partnerships in 15+ countries; Vetted pipeline of tested, cost-effective climate-smart agriculture interventions; Proven catalytic funding model, with successful programs leveraging more than 35 times their initial IGI investment.

Contact

Andre Zollinger, Senior Policy Manager, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) azollinger@povertyactionlab.org, igi@povertyactionlab.org