Growing prosperity: Executive summary - Bain Brief - Bain & Company
Microdrip irrigation systems. Drought-resistant hybrid seeds.
Asset-backed microloans. These innovations can transform the lives of
those farming on less than two hectares of land and earning less than $4
a day. Yet until relatively recently, they were unknown in most
smallholder farmer communities.
What does it take to get the developing world’s smallholder
farmers to try one of these products? Importantly, what would it take to
get them to buy these products again and again? For many of the 2.5
billion people living at the “base of the pyramid” and relying on
agriculture for their livelihood,1 adopting these innovations could improve their lives and the lives of future generations.
To answer these questions, Bain & Company and Acumen, with
the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, undertook a
joint four-month research effort2
focused on South Asia (India and Pakistan) and sub-Saharan Africa
(Ghana, Kenya and Uganda) to understand what it would take to catalyze
the large-scale adoption of innovations that could lead to more secure
and prosperous lives for smallholder farmers.