Agriculture & Rural Development

Agriculture is the backbone of economies across Southern and East Africa, providing livelihoods for the majority of rural populations and supplying the bulk of food consumed domestically. RMI provides research, evaluation, and consulting services for FAO, IFAD, CGIAR, WFP, bilateral donors, government ministries of agriculture, and agricultural NGOs and INGOs.

Smallholder agriculture in the region faces multiple, overlapping challenges: low productivity, poor soil health, limited access to quality inputs and markets, climate vulnerability, post-harvest losses, gender inequity in land tenure and access to services, and weak agricultural extension systems. Transforming this sector requires evidence-based programming that addresses both the productivity and market dimensions of smallholder livelihoods, while integrating climate adaptation and gender equity into the agricultural development model.

RMI provides a comprehensive suite of consulting services to the full range of development actors operating in this sector:

• Agricultural household surveys (yield assessment, input use, market participation)
• Crop monitoring and food security assessments (FEWS NET methodology)
• Farmer Field School programme evaluations
• Agricultural value chain studies
• Post-harvest loss assessment studies
• Land tenure assessment studies
• WEAI surveys for gender in agriculture programmes
• Agricultural extension effectiveness studies
• Irrigation programme evaluations
• Cooperatives and producer organisation capacity assessments
• Digital agriculture programme evaluations
• Annual agricultural programme reviews (FAO, IFAD, WFP frameworks)