Effective Public Investments to Improve Food Security

This policy brief by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) evaluates the effectiveness of public investments in agriculture to improve food security, specifically focusing on farm support and rural development in low- and lower-middle-income countries in Africa and Asia.

• A systematic review of 87 agricultural interventions in low- and lower-middle-income countries in Africa and Asia found that approximately 69% had a positive impact on food security, while 24% had no measurable impact and 7% had a negative impact.
• The success of agricultural interventions is more dependent on the specific implementation context and design than on the type of intervention itself. Failures were often linked to a lack of consideration for gender inequality, wealth inequity, and broader community challenges.
• Input subsidies are most effective when farmers already possess productive assets like land, machinery, and irrigation. However, they can have negative equity effects where the benefits to wealthier households offset the overall yield increases for the poorest.
• Combining different types of interventions can improve outcomes. For example, pairing input subsidies with cash transfers for the poorest households or providing extension services alongside subsidies can enhance the benefits and long-term sustainability of the yields.
• Value chain interventions tend to increase food availability and quality when they focus on a diversity of locally consumed crops, though the poorest households often struggle to participate due to a lack of productive assets.
• Extension services showed no negative impacts in the studied sample and were most successful when they used collaborative approaches with the community and addressed food security and other challenges, such as credit access, directly.
• Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) to end hunger would require an average additional annual public spending of USD 11 billion between 2015 and 2030, with USD 4 billion provided by donors and USD 7 billion from poor countries.

APA

Bizikova, L., Jungcurt, S., McDougal, K., & Smaller, C. (2017). Effective Public Investments to Improve Food Security. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/effective-public-investments-improve-food-security.pdf

Chicago

Bizikova, Livia, Stefan Jungcurt, Kieran McDougal, and Carin Smaller. Effective Public Investments to Improve Food Security. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2017. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/effective-public-investments-improve-food-security.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bizikova |first1=Livia |last2=Jungcurt |first2=Stefan |last3=McDougal |first3=Kieran |last4=Smaller |first4=Carin |title=Effective Public Investments to Improve Food Security |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=December 2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/effective-public-investments-improve-food-security.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bizikova2017effective, author = {Bizikova, Livia and Jungcurt, Stefan and McDougal, Kieran and Smaller, Carin}, title = {{Effective Public Investments to Improve Food Security}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/effective-public-investments-improve-food-security.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }