The CGIAR Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA) has recently released “Shining a Brighter Light: Comprehensive Evidence on Adoption and Diffusion of CGIAR-Related Innovations in Ethiopia”, a report that synthesizes a 5-year collaboration with the Central Statistics Agency and the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS), World Bank team.
Monitoring progress in agriculture requires evidence on innovations and their adoptions. To better guide policies and programs in the sector it is important to have data on, for example, how many farmers are using improved technologies such as improved seeds and improved land management practices. It is also important to know if a technological adoption in a given area has been successful or not and why. This journey into a better understanding of what works, where, and to whom in agriculture certainly starts with better data on agriculture.