​Getting useful knowledge into the hands of those who take decisions – whether that is a farmer, a policymaker, or a procurement officer – is a vital key to open up the possibilities of smarter choices that can accelerate sustainability and diminish the staggering poverty and inequality we live with globally.

But, as former US president Dwight Eisenhower noted: “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” Today we must depend on credible data to understand the impacts of what we do. How else can we make smarter choices?

In developing countries, where I focus most of my energies, getting the right knowledge is a critical basis of sustainability. I should note that I distinguish between mere data and its distillation into knowledge; the latter is what really matters.

Making knowledge possible is not only my professional work at COSA, it is also a part of my deep personal commitment to the idea that hunger and abject poverty are not inevitable. 

This site is an abridged version of one I maintained for years dedicated to sharing vital facts about our agri-food systems and hunger. It is now simply repository of my professional publications covering these topics:

• Applied Impact Assessment
• Rural Development and Value Chains 
• Geographical Indications

I hope you find the information useful,

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