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 $1.7 billion in agriculture and irrigation interventions as of March 2023. These interventions fall into the following categories: agriculture infrastructure; producer organizational development; policy and regulatory reform and systems strengthening; market development; climate resilience resource management, and research; and agriculture finance and investment.

Agriculture Infrastructure

These programs address constraints in the agricultural economy through infrastructure investments such as irrigation, rural roads, and warehouses.

Producer Organizational Development

These programs address constraints in agriculture-related organizations such as water user associations and farmer cooperatives.

Policy and Regulatory Reform and Systems Strengthening

These programs address reforms and supporting institutions in the policy and regulatory environment of the agricultural economy.

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.

Climate Resilience, Resource Management, and Research

These programs address constraints to mitigation and adaptation for climate change throughout the agricultural economy.

Agriculture Finance and Investment

These programs address constraints to access to finance and investment in the agricultural economy.

Armenia Compact

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.

Burkina Faso Compact

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.

Cabo Verde Compact

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.

El Salvador Compact

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.

Georgia Compact

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.

Ghana Compact

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.

Honduras Compact

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.

Indonesia Compact

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.

Lesotho Health and Horticulture Compact

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.

Madagascar Compact

The Agricultural Business Investment Project aimed to identify investment opportunities and train farmers and other entrepreneurs in new agricultural techniques and good business practices.

Malawi Compact

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.

Mali Compact

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.

Moldova Compact

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.

Morocco Compact

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.

Mozambique Compact

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.

Namibia Compact

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.

Nicaragua Compact

The Rural Business Development Project helped farmers develop business plans to adopt improved techniques for increasing farm productivity, product quality, and access to markets.

Niger Compact

The Irrigation and Market Access Project sought to invest in irrigation infrastructure including the rehabilitation of a large-scale irrigation system and the development of small-scale irrigation systems.

Senegal Compact

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.

Solomon Islands Threshold Program

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.

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 March 2023.

426,495

farmers trained

127,112

farmers who have applied improved practices as a result of training

1,016

enterprises that have applied improved techniques

203,963

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 February 2023. 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.

Go to our List of Evaluations to see the status of MCC’s agriculture and irrigation sector evaluations

Highlighted Evaluations

Fishing boats on the shore in Morocco

November 28, 2022 | Morocco Compact

Modernizing the Small-scale Fisheries Value Chain in Morocco

Fishers report improved conditions, but the project did not increase revenues

  • Evaluation Type:
  • Evaluation Status: Final

MCC’s $650.1 million Morocco Compact (2008-2013) funded the $111.2 million Small-Scale Fisheries Project to improve fish quality, the value chain, market access, and sustainability by constructing or rehabilitating 10 fish landing sites, 10 port facilities, 3 marine protected areas (MPAs), and 5 wholesale fish markets. The project also provided training and technical assistance to fishers and staff at the facilities. The activities were based on the theory that improving fish quality, through better handling and cold chain management, and increasing access to markets would allow fishers to obtain higher revenues.

Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

Shrubbery lines a river with numerous rocks in it under a blue sky

October 1, 2022 | Malawi Compact

Supporting Sustainable Land Management in Malawi

Changes in land management practices and gender roles were widely sustained

  • Evaluation Type:
  • Evaluation Status: Final

MCC’s $345 million Malawi Compact (2013-2018) funded the $20 million Environmental and Natural Resources Management (ENRM) Project, which aimed to reduce disruptions and increase efficiency of hydropower generation by decreasing aquatic weeds and sedimentation in the Shire River Basin. The ENRM and Social and Gender Enhancement Fund (SGEF) activities established a grant facility that provided 11 grants to promote sustainable land management and gender equality, since women are often land-use decision makers.

Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

September 1, 2021 | Senegal Compact

Improving Irrigation and Land Rights in Senegal

Land under cultivation and horticulture have grown but not to expected levels

  • Evaluation Type:
  • Evaluation Status: Final

MCC’s $540 million Senegal Compact (2010-2015) funded the $170 million Irrigation and Water Resources Management (IWRM) Project to improve the productivity of the agricultural sector in certain agricultural-dependent areas of northern Senegal. The project rehabilitated or built 266 km of irrigation and drainage infrastructure, constructed a 450-hectare perimeter, mapped irrigated land, and trained officials to better administer land. The project was based on the theory that improved irrigation and land rights increase agricultural investment, productivity and ultimately household income.

Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

A herd of cattle grazing

July 30, 2020 | Namibia Compact

Improving Rangeland and Livestock Management in Namibia

Better management did not improve livestock, rangeland, or economic outcomes

  • Evaluation Type:
  • Evaluation Status: Final

MCC’s $304.5 million Namibia Compact ((2009–2014) supported rural development in Namibia’s Northern Communal Areas through the $12 million Community-Based Rangeland and Livestock Management Sub-Activity. The sub-activity was built on the theory that supporting land and livestock management strategies in communal areas would reduce rangeland degradation, improve livestock productivity, and ultimately raise farmer incomes.

Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

Go to our Evaluation Brief page to see all completed agriculture and irrigation sector 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.

  • El Salvador Compact

    When important for unbundling program results, require the reporting of detailed cost information.

    When important for unbundling program results, require the reporting of detailed cost information. Over $10 million was available for donations to beneficiaries under the Production and Business Services Activity. However, MCC did not require MCA and its implementer to report in detail the amount of donations that were provided to individual farmers or enterprises. Detailed records were kept by the implementer; however only high-level aggregated numbers were reported back to MCC. This has resulted in the inability of the evaluation to analyze who benefited the most from donations and whether or not receiving large amount of donations was correlated with improved outcomes. To the extent that MCC wants to analyze this type of information in future projects, detailed reporting on costs from implementers should be required by their contracts and potentially required from accountable entities as well.

  • Nicaragua Compact

    It is difficult for farmers with little or no tree planting experience to achieve commercial success rates for planting trees.

    It is difficult for farmers with little or no tree planting experience to achieve commercial success rates for planting trees. Low input agroforestry plantation systems can be particularly useful with smaller parcel holders with fewer resources and minimal tree planting experience, especially with those who allies less than 50% survival rates.

  • Senegal Compact

    Innovative data collection methods (remote sensing and geospatial analysis) to capture agriculture-related outcomes should supplement household surveys to provide more credible and precise estimates of changes in land use and agricultural production.

    Innovative data collection methods (remote sensing and geospatial analysis) to capture agriculture-related outcomes should supplement household surveys to provide more credible and precise estimates of changes in land use and agricultural production. The interim evaluation relied on primary data from farmers, which could have been biased. It would be valuable to incorporate newer technologies to help validate primary source data and to track agriculture-related outcomes in real-time. MCC is addressing this lesson by convening a panel of experts to assess MCC’s recent evaluation results and propose new methods, potentially such as using remote imagery, to enhance MCC’s ability to reliably estimate the economic effects of irrigation and other agricultural investments on income growth and poverty alleviation. One possible approach could be to measure a three-year average production before intervention and compare with a similar average after. MCC is increasingly requesting evaluation teams include geospatial experts as key personnel so that geospatial analysis and remote sensing are considered early on in the evaluation and can make use of best practice in measuring land use changes.

  • Namibia Compact

    Effective qualitative data collection enhances an evaluation’s learning opportunities; it can even inform the structure of the evaluation itself.

    Effective qualitative data collection enhances an evaluation’s learning opportunities; it can even inform the structure of the evaluation itself. The evaluation team did not understand key dynamics that were both relevant for program implementation, as well as evaluation design and implementation. For example, early data collection focused on the household rather than “kraal managers” as the appropriate unit of analysis. Similarly, the evaluation team did not understand the full range of behaviors to investigate during quantitative data collection, the risks of community conflict, or the outside farmer poaching problem until they collected and analyzed qualitative data. Perhaps the implementer was aware of these dynamics and their project documentation simply did not reflect it, or perhaps these are issues the implementer also could have learned about in the process of their adaptive implementation approach as discussed above. Either way, understanding these dynamics increased the value of the subsequent quantitative data collection dramatically. It also helped build trust with the implementer, who welcomed updates about what the evaluator was learning and providing their feedback on this learning, and showed that the evaluator cared to really understand the intervention and not just pass judgment on it.

  • Cabo Verde Compact

    Good quality control protocols are needed to ensure that site selection and construction of reservoirs, post-harvest centers and rural extension centers follow industry best-practices.

    Good quality control protocols are needed to ensure that site selection and construction of reservoirs, post-harvest centers and rural extension centers follow industry best-practices.

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.