Our project “Impact Assessment of salt tolerant potato and sweet potato production for strengthening food system resilience in Bangladesh“ addresses the critical challenges faced by southern Bangladesh, a region pivotal for the country’s food security. Climate change has led to increased soil salinization and extreme weather events, significantly impacting crop yields and food security. Our project, commissioned by GIZ and managed by GOPA Worldwide Consultants, assesses the impact of salt-tolerant potato and sweet potato varieties. These varieties were designed by the International Potato Center in collaboration with the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute to thrive in saline conditions, ensuring higher yields and bolstering the region’s resilience against climate adversities​​. We work closely as a team of Bangladeshi and German experts.

The goal of our assignment is to assess the impact and adoption of more salt tolerant potato and sweet potato varieties.  To do so, we perform a combined impact assessment and adoption study. More specifically we investigate the adoption of bio-fortified, orange-fleshed sweet potato as well as improved potato varieties for households using the Community Nutrition Scholar model which combines the introduction of these new varieties in women-owned home gardens with nutrition education and food demonstrations. The goal of the adoption study is to understand the adoption and disadoption behavior of smallholders and possible spill-over effects by documenting and analyzing household-level utilization of the newly introduced varieties. Further, smallholders’ perceptions and decision-making are analyzed along with possible adoption constraints. The impact assessment provides an understanding of the impacts on the quality of household diets, productivity and income induced by the adoption of these new varieties.

Our research employs a retrospective quasi-experimental design to evaluate the impact, as the intervention has already been implemented from 2018-2020. The final groups for treatment and control were chosen based on desk research, analysis of existing and newly gathered survey data, and interviews with key informants from the central project stakeholders. A mixed-methods approach is used, integrating a household survey with focus group discussions and key informant interviews. This approach produces both quantitative and qualitative data, such as information on adoption pathways, barriers, and nutritional impacts on various household members for both the treatment and control group.

Find out more about the project here.