Yield Gaps and Food Security

This briefing examines Yield Gaps and Food Security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

From:
Department for International Development
Published
1 February 2016
Country:
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Document Type:
Briefing
Theme:
Agriculture, Food and Nutrition
Authors:
Ross, M, Voors, M

Abstract

Researchers from the Netherlands and Democratic Republic of the Congo partnered with local non-governmental organisations to implement and evaluate a set of interventions aimed to increase take up and productivity of legume crops under the N2AFRICA project.

Main findings from this research:

  • Technical efficiency of yields is low, providing scope for intensification interventions.

  • Technical efficiency of legume crops improved by a larger margin then the technical efficiency of cassava production throughout the N2Africa project duration.

  • Variation in regions, implementing partner strategies, and farmer traits accounts for differences in crop efficiencies.

  • Significant impact of 6-7% from project interventions on soybean production, but no robust impact of the information and subsidized input package interventions on farmer crop efficiencies for either bean or cassava production.

This work is part of the ‘Which farmers should we target? How do extension approaches influence social learning and spread of agricultural innovations?” project

Citation

Martha Ross Maarten Voors (2016) Yield Gaps and Food Security. N2Africa project at Wageningen University

Yield Gaps and Food Security

Published 1 February 2016
Contents