S7 Ep21: Boosting farmers' profits

About this episode

The episode discusses how to boost farmers' profits beyond just increasing yields and revenues.

Decades of agricultural development policy have chased yield. Bigger harvests, better seeds, more fertiliser. But how can we make farming more profitable? Craig McIntosh of UC San Diego is academic lead on a J-PAL Policy Insight covering twenty-three randomised evaluations of credit and grants for farmers in low- and middle-income countries. He tell Tim Phillips that although yields and revenues often rise, profit rarely responds in the same way. When farmers are already running their farms close to the margin, costs rise at the same rate as income, and the household bank balance does not move much. What can we bundle with credit to change that situation? The research behind this episode: Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). 2026. "Can relaxing credit constraints boost farmers' profits?” J-PAL Policy Insights . Last modified February 2026. Academic leads: Craig McIntosh and Tavneet Suri; insight authors: Leonie Rauls and Rebecca Toole. To cite this episode: Phillips, Tim, and Craig McIntosh. 2026. “Boosting farmers' profits?" VoxDev Talks (podcast). Assign this as extra listening. The citation above is formatted and ready for a reading list or VLE. About the guest Craig…

People in this episode

Host: Tim Phillips

Guest: Craig McIntosh

Topics covered

• agricultural development
• farming profitability
• credit constraints
• randomised evaluations
• low-income countries

Keywords

• farmers' profits
• agricultural policy
• credit and grants
• development economics
• J-PAL

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UC San Diego, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)

Books & works: Can relaxing credit constraints boost farmers' profits?

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