We investigate how user-managed small-scale irrigation can influence inclusive rural transformation. Cultivating inclusive rural transformation is key to sustainable growth and poverty reduction in developing countries, but existing research rarely analyses the holistic impacts of rural development projects on this process. We use a combination of quantitative and qualitative data to rigorously measure impacts and uncover the causal pathways of a canal irrigation project for rice farmers in the Philippines, finding that positive impacts were heavily determined by market access and the strength of the local economy. We also find limited impacts for poorer farmers located further downstream on the irrigation canals. Based on these findings, we draw several lessons about the complementary conditions and support that are required in order for irrigation to be an effective tool in promoting inclusive rural transformation in developing countries.

Irrigation is a lynchpin of rural development strategies and a key input to improving productivity and farm incomes, the key source of livelihood for the majority of the world's poor. Limited land and growing water scarcity mean that establishing systems to maximise the benefits from every drop is pivotal. In this paper, we analyse the impact of a canal irrigation project for smallholders in the Philippines, focusing on rice, one of the world's most water intensive crops. We contribute to two strands of literature by combining impact evaluation and efficiency analysis methods. Using a dataset for 714 treatment and 440 control farm parcels, we apply Propensity Score Matching and a selectivity-corrected Stochastic Production Frontier to handle biases from both observable and unobservable variables. We then analyse technical efficiency (TE) and frontier output using a shared Stochastic Meta-Frontier. We find that the project had a statistically significant impact on frontier output but not on TE, suggesting that improved irrigation technology increased beneficiaries' production potential, but it did not improve TE likely due to insufficient training and input access. Thus, beneficiaries were unable to take full advantage of their improved production potential, highlighting the need for suitable complementary support in future projects. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the main beneficiaries were downstream parcels, smaller parcels, those located in the poorer project district, and farmers with lower education, all implying a pro-poor impact. Finally, we find that female-headed households benefitted less from the project, suggesting the need for additional support in future interventions. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Coastal Climate Resilient Infrastructure Project (CCRIP) is a $150 million rural infrastructure project which was implemented in 12 districts of Bangladesh since 2013, and is due to be completed by the end of 2019. The project is funded by IFAD, the ADB, KfW of Germany, and the Government of Bangladesh. The project aims to improve the connectivity of farms and households in the face of climatic shocks, focusing on one of the most shock-prone areas of one of the most shock-prone countries in the world. The main component of the project is the construction of improved markets and market connecting roads, that are designed to remain useable during the monsoon season. This is expected to improve sales of on-farm produce, along with access to inputs as well as opportunities for off-farm income generation, leading to increased productivity and income. The project also aims to improve women's empowerment by employing Labour Contracting Societies (LCS), consisting mainly of destitute women, to carry out some of the construction work. This impact assessment focuses on the activities funded by IFAD, which includes the strengthening of markets and roads at the community and village levels. Using data from an in-depth household questionnaire covering 3,000 treatment and control households, combined with extensive qualitative interviews, we analyse the project's impact on a range of impact indicators relating to income; crop, fish and livestock production and sales; assets, food security and education; financial inclusion; and women's empowerment. We assess impact on the whole sample, as well as for a range of sub-groups, including by geographic location, location within the market catchment area, and by livelihood activity, integrating findings from the qualitative data to help to explain the mechanisms that shaped the project's impact. Regarding on-farm activities, we find that, despite a lack of impact on productivity, income from selling crops and fish increased significantly (by 104 and 50 per cent, respectively). However, we do not find a similar increase in income from the sale of livestock and livestock products. The lack of impact on productivity was seemingly caused by persisting issues with accessing high-quality inputs during the monsoon season, as well as households having limited capital to purchase these inputs. Despite this, the project increased the amount of produce that was sold, the amount that was sold at a market rather than from home or the farm gate, and increased the likelihood of growing cash crops, leading to the large increase in on-farm income. As well as improving on-farm income, the project also increased income from wage labour, which together produced a positive impact on total income of 11 per cent, along with a four per cent reduction in poverty. This increased prosperity was also reflected in reduced food insecurity and increased ownership of households assets.

IFAD works continuously to improve its effectiveness in order to deliver the strongest results for the millions of poor rural men and women in developing countries we aim to reach. We judge ourselves by whether our development results are inclusive and provide benefits that are sustainable and cost-effective.

This paper investigates the multiple effects of increased land tenure security on rural people through a systematic review of the available evidence. The research involves collecting and synthesising the robust quantitative and qualitative research around this topic and is guided by a theory of change that reflects expected effects from the main land tenure security-related activities. Based on the analysis of 59 robust studies, the paper finds strong evidence for positive effects of land tenure security on productive and environmentally-beneficial agricultural investments as well as on female empowerment, but a lack of support for links with productivity, access to credit, and income. Key contextual factors that shape the validity of expected causal chains are also identified and relate to the potential for discrimination and elite capture, which can affect intervention implementation and enforcement; historical experiences with land ownership, which can shape perceptions of current land tenure security, regardless of the actual level; and the characteristics of local lending institutions, which can influence intended effects on credit access. The paper also finds that more research is needed to capture long-term effects of land formalisation interventions and to shed further light on potential environmental benefits.

Smallholder rice farming is central to poverty reduction, food security, and rural development in the Philippines. Currently, rice affordability is threatened by the country's protectionist approach to rice imports and low production efficiency. One key issue is that around 41 percent of the country's irrigable land is not irrigated. Moreover, many irrigation systems are suggested to be poorly managed with unequal water distribution. The Irrigated Rice Production Enhancement Project (IRPEP) was implemented in three regions (VI, VII and X) of the Philippines between 2010-2015. It was designed to improve rice productivity and smallholder livelihoods by strengthening canal irrigation infrastructure of Communal Irrigation Systems (CIS), improving the capacity of the Irrigators' Associations (IAs) that manage the CIS, and offering complementary marketing support, Farmer Field Schools, and emergency seed buffer stocks. As the government provides FFS and buffer stocks to farmers across the country, we focus the assessment on the irrigation and marketing activities only. We define the impact indicators based on IRPEP's theory of change, which maps the inputs and activities of the project to outcomes and impacts through various channels. The analysis is based on quantitative data from 2,104 households and 113 IAs covering beneficiary and non-beneficiary groups, along with qualitative data from project and IA staff. We estimate IRPEP's impact by comparing beneficiary and non-beneficiary households and IAs using statistical matching techniques to ensure a clean and unbaised comparison. We then use the qualitative data to try to identify the underlying factors that shaped the results. We particularly focus our analysis on regional heterogeneities in impacts because of the considerable differences between the three project regions. The main difference between regions stems from their varying levels of exposure to extreme weather events (e.g. super typhoons), as Region VIII, and to a lesser extent Region VI, experienced significant extreme weather damage during the project's implementation.

This paper investigates the trends and the influencing factors of IFAD’s project disbursement performance over the past 20 years. Based on data from 577 projects in 111 countries, the study finds that disbursement of funds are often delayed and time-consuming. Using econometric analysis, the study assesses the internal and external factors affecting the amount and timeliness of disbursements, and provides important lessons on how international financial institutions such as IFAD can better monitor and manage this important aspect of their development effectiveness.