Food Security & Agriculture

Agricultural Behavior Change (AgBC)

Abt’s Agricultural Behavior Change (AgBC) approach removes barriers, identifies incentives, and influences dynamics to ensure people adopt new products, practices, technologies, and policies. Our comprehensive, systematic approach is designed for maximum social and economic returns.

Agricultural Policy

The agricultural sector serves as a major source of employment in developing countries. Therefore, maximizing its potential is essential to creating broad-based economic development. Abt helps countries in emerging markets develop policies to create a positive enabling environment for all agricultural sector stakeholders.

Agriculture Marketing

Abt provides clusters of enterprises and value chains with knowledge, skills, and access to meet the demands of global markets and investors. We help stakeholders make their operations more efficient, and thus more profitable. As a result, they are more able to rely on the market to sell their goods at a fair price.

Agriculture Productivity

Abt introduces technologies, practices, and innovations to increase and diversify agricultural crops, staple foods, and niche goods. We also provide technical assistance to people who work with micro-, small-, and medium-sized farms. By improving their capacity to meet high-quality standards, we help them compete in local, national, and international markets.

Climate Change & Natural Resource Management

Abt’s international, interdisciplinary team of experts has decades of on-the-ground experience helping people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America reduce the impact of climate change on food security and agriculture. Our cutting-edge solutions promote resilient farming systems that increase the production and availability of highly nutritious foods; strengthen market-led value chain development; build better health and nutrition; and facilitate behavior change.

Food Safety

Food safety is critical to human health and welfare, everywhere and at all times. Unsafe food directly leads not only to disease or death, but to loss of productivity and sometimes to reduced commerce. In recognition of those negative impacts, as well as of the economic benefits of assured compliance, Abt builds the public and private sectors’ capacity and enabling environment, and mitigates high profile risks such as aflatoxin contamination.

Competitiveness

Abt’s competitiveness team focuses on enterprises along specific value chains. We provide hands-on training and technical assistance in business planning and operations, marketing, trade agreements, exporting, supply chain management, and business-friendly policy-making. We help producers, agricultural business and trade associations, consulting firms, and service providers forge linkages that open access to markets. Our experts concentrate on trade and investment; access to finance; private sector strengthening and partnerships; and workforce development.

Inclusive Growth

Abt accelerates inclusive growth to reduce global hunger and poverty. We measure progress through increases in agricultural production, in agricultural value-added per person, and in the incomes of men and women in rural areas—including families and communities who are vulnerable and very poor.

Nutrition

Abt works with governments, individuals, and communities to improve food availability, access, use, and stability. Our agricultural development projects help people enhance their food supply’s nutrition as an important means of improving health. We also promote sustainable agricultural production technologies to improve food availability.

U.S. Food Security

Value Chain Development

Abt enables stakeholders all along the value chain—such as producers, assemblers, processors, transporters, financers, wholesalers, retailers, and exporters—to satisfy market demands and accelerate economic growth. Our experts provide analysis, improve business relationships, and enhance producers’ abilities to increase productivity. Ultimately, we create an enabling business environment to add the most value to an agricultural product.