Presentation at the 5th Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture. Title: Using prize competitions to scale climate-smart food system innovation: A design workshop (IXORA) Speaker: Justin Kosoris

1. October 9, 2019
Using Prize Competitions to Scale
Climate-Smart Food System Innovations:
A Design Workshop
Dr. Tristan Armstrong, DFAT Australia
Dr. Nikita Eriksen-Hamel, Global Affairs Canada
Justin Kosoris, AgResults Secretariat
Tran Thu Ha, AgResults Vietnam Team Lead

2. - 2 -
Workshop Agenda
• Introduction to Prize Competitions and AgResults
• Vietnam Case Study
• Prize Competition Design Steps
• Interactive Workshop to Develop Prize Concepts

3. Introduction to Prize Competitions and AgResults

4. - 4 -
Prize Competitions – Not Your Usual Project
Prizes can educate,
inspire, and mobilize
on neglected issues.
Payments upon
achievement of
specific outputs.
Solution-agnostic to
allow private sector
to respond in ways
best suited to their
business practices.
Allow for
experimentation,
multiple solutions,
and varied paths to
success.
Prize competitions offer benefits over traditional “push” (grant) funding:
Heighten Awareness Pay Only for Results Spur Private Sector
Market Action
Stimulate Innovation
and New Ideas
Prize competitions feature the following characteristics:
- There is a clear market failure for which a solution exists or could exist.
- There are private sector actors that could be incentivized to respond.
- Prizes can be linked to achievement of pre-defined results, which are technically feasible.
- Results can be verified using a clear, objective, cost-effective process.

5. - 5 -
Thematic Areas
• We run prize competitions that challenge private actors to address market failures to improve
lives of smallholder farmers.
• AgResults Theory of Change: Targeted prize incentives will draw down risk and encourage the
private sector to develop new technologies and/ or improve delivery of existing technologies to
smallholder farmers at scale (potentially hundreds of millions reached for vaccine prizes).
• We are an experiential initiative, learning from what works and what doesn’t through the
engagement of a third-party evaluator.
Results to Date
• $11 million USD in prizes awarded
• 360,000 smallholder farmers
adopting improved technologies
• $10-20 million USD in estimated
private sector investment to date
Food Security
Household Health and Nutrition
Livestock Productivity
An Overview of AgResults

6. - 6 -
AgResults in Action around the World

7. - 7 -
What has worked… and what hasn’t?
1.4 million storage devices sold
• Incentive to improve delivery of
proven on-farm technology to
smallholders.
• Three competitors gained
significant market traction.
No prizes awarded
• Incentive to reward sales of
improved legume seed.
• Competitors were interested
but unable to overcome
market distortions and quality
issues.
452 MT of improved seed sold
• Incentive to reward sales of
PVA maize seed and meal.
• Uptake affected by policies
that distorted the market.
• Addition of a seed sales prize
did not sufficiently improve
market for PVA maize.
215,000 MT of low-aflatoxin maize
aggregated
• Incentive to increase adoption
of aflatoxin-inhibiting product.
• Wide range of successful
competitors across industries
(maize aggregators, feed
producers, social enterprises)
Kenya: On-Farm Storage Uganda: Improved Legume Seed
Zambia: Pro-Vitamin A (PVA) MaizeNigeria: AflasafeTM Adoption

8. Example: Using a Prize Contest to Reduce GHG Emissions
in Smallholder Rice Production in Vietnam

9. - 9 -
• 5% of global due to rice farming from
South/ Southeast Asia
• Paddy rice farming produces CH4 and N2O,
highly potent emissions
• In Vietnam, agriculture drives 25-30% of
total emissions, and half of that is from rice
Problem: Paddy rice farming drives emissions
Anthropogenic GHG Emissions
Fertilizer
Application
Planting
Density
Water
Management
Crop
Residue
Management
Rice
Variety
We know which practices can reduce emissions and increase yields, but the
challenge is to have farmers adopt a full package of improved growing practices.
?

10. - 10 -
AgResults Solution: Prizes to incent low-carbon, high-yield rice
Phase II: Scale (four growing seasons)Phase I: Test (two seasons)
1st
2nd
3rd
$400,000
$750,000
$200,000
1st
2nd
3rd
$30,000
$50,000
$20,000
Milestone Prizes: Based on GHG
reductions and yield increases
Private sector tests rice-growing
technologies against a baseline
Private sector scales successful solutions to
smallholder farmers
Interim and Grand Prizes: Based on GHG reductions, yield
increases, and number of farmers reached

11. - 11 -
Phase II: Scaling in Spring and Summer Growing Seasons 2019
Competitor Commune Villages SHFs
Total
Area (m2)
Aver. Farm
size (m2)
Total Area
(Ha)
I4 26 55 1,626 2,722,736 1,674 272
I5 11 34 3,972 4,354,660 1,096 435
I18 11 14 1,238 461,810 373 46
I23 12 18 1,134 1,153,084 1,017 115
TOTAL 7,970 8,692,290 869
17 26 25 55
711
1,626
114
272
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
I4
7 11 9 34
845
3,972
93
435
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Commune Villages SHFs Areas (ha)
I5
12 11 15 14
1,546
1,238
46 46
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Commune Villages SHFs Areas (ha)
I18
15 12 27 18
2,207
1,134
229
115
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Season1
Season2
Commune Villages SHFs Areas (ha)
I23
26
84
104
155
19.5
48.75
133
285.5
Crop 1 Crop 2 Crop 3 Crop 4
Push Mechanism: SHFs + Areas
(VLCRP 2012-2014)
An Giang Province 2012-2014 SHFs adoption
An Giang Province 2012-2014 Areas (ha)

12. The Basics of Designing an Agricultural Markets-Focused
Prize Competition

13. - 13 -
The AgResults Prize Competition Design Process
Concept Sourcing
(one month)
Prize Design
(three months)
Validate & Launch
(six months)
• Examine market failure and
impact potential of
developing and/or scaling
new technology.
• Create initial Theory of
Change that defines:
• What success looks like;
• How prize will spur market
action;
• What the “verification
metrics” will be.
Elaborate on design, including:
• Finalize Theory of Change
• Identify potential
competitors
• Choose prize-eligible
geography
• Understand economics and
risks
• Select prize structure
• Develop ruleset
• Adapt based on expert
feedback
• Finalize and validate rules
• Engage stakeholders
• Launch competition
• ADAPT as needed

14. - 14 -
Concept Sourcing: When Are Prize Competitions Appropriate?
The AgResults Concept Sourcing Framework can help define the challenge and determine if it is
solvable through a prize competition that incentivizes development/ delivery of a technology.
Prize Concept
3. How would we reward
results?
• Milestones are clear
and measurable to
trigger prize payments.
• Impact on target
population is
measurable.4. Is there “ecosystem” support?
• No undermining policies that limit
scale.
• Limited donor-funded “push”
initiatives that distort the market.
2. What is the potential impact?
• Potential for scalable results.
• Aligns with development goals.
1. What is the nature of
the market failure?
• The market is
potentially profitable
for the private sector.
• Solution is achievable
but not in wide use.
• Potential competitors.

15. - 15 -
The Type of Prize Offered Can Influence Results
GRAND PRIZES
• Awarded to the first or top competitor(s).
• Used for clearly defined objectives and when
competitors can finance investments.
PROPORTIONAL PRIZES
• Pooled prizes awarded based on each
competitor’s portion of overall results.
• Encourages rapid scale up.
PER-UNIT PRIZES
• Paid based on actual units produced, sold, etc.
• Allows for annualized prizes that encourage
scale.
MILESTONE PRIZES
• Paid for reaching pre-determined milestone.
• Increases motivation and helps finance
activities.
Example: The Brucellosis Vaccine prize has
one grand prize for the first competitor that
meets vaccine requirements.
Example: The Vietnam prize pays
proportional prizes after each season to all
eligible competitors that reduce emissions.
Example: The Nigeria Aflasafe™ prize pays a
per-unit prize per ton of maize that tested
positively for Aflasafe™.
Example: The Kenya On-Farm Storage prize
offered milestone prizes to competitors that
reached sales thresholds.

16. - 16 -
Key Considerations in Prize Design
Focus on economically viable and
sustainable solutions
• Government and donor interventions can significantly
distort the target market for a prize.
• Careful due diligence can identify these distortions and
overlaps early and take steps to compensate.
Understand the potential for external
market distortion
• Not easy to measure provision of services to or
adoption by smallholder farmers.
• Generally the more prescriptive the design, the easier it
is to verify results.
Consider methods of verification as an
integral part of prize design
• Design should avoid taking on too many failures at once.
• The prize should be enough to de-risk investment but
not enough to completely finance the innovation.
Incentivize appropriate solutions
based on the capacity of smallholders
• Many “solutions” are either not appropriate or too
expensive, especially for women farmers.
• Design must consider appropriateness of solutions and
how smallholders will access/ finance improvements.

17. - 17 -
Prize Competition Design Is Best Done Iteratively and Consultatively
• A strong final prize competition
design document requires a
wide range of inputs to be able
to answer the questions posed
in the checklist.
• AgResults employs a lengthy
design process with several
rounds of expert feedback.
• However, this process could be
streamlined and shortened
depending on context.
• Our goal is to help others use
our experience to develop their
own prize competitions.

18. Interactive Workshop to Develop a Climate-Smart Agriculture
Prize Competition Concept

19. - 19 -
Workshop Activity: Validate a Prize Design Concept
Using the concept sourcing framework provided, and considering what you’ve heard in this
presentation, your job is to select and analyze the potential of a prize competition idea.
Choose a concept from among those below (or create your own):
1. A prize based on reducing emissions in staple crops or animal husbandry for smallholder
farmers (reducing food losses, improving aquaculture productivity, etc)
2. A prize based on sales to smallholders of inputs that improve water efficiency in agriculture
(specific technology, set of GAPs, input package, etc)
3. A prize for increasing uptake of specific climate-smart practices to improve adaptation to
extreme weather in a particular value chain
Please complete the provided concept sourcing framework by answering the included questions
within the 40 minute session limit. Time permitting we will ask for some of you to present and
provide high-level comments.