Using Satellite Imagery and a Farmer Registry to Assess Agricultural Support in Conflict Settings : The Case of the Producer Support Grant Program in Ukraine

While cash transfers have emerged as an attractive option to minimize negative long-term impacts of conflict, the scope for targeting and assessing their impact in such settings is often challenging. This paper shows how a digital farmer registry in Ukraine (the State Agrarian Register) helped to target and evaluate such a program, using the country’s $50 million Producer Support Grant in a way that largely avoided mis-targeting. The analysis applies a difference-in-differences design with panel data from 2019–23 on crop cover at the parcel/farm level for the universe of eligible farmers registered in the State Agrarian Register. The findings suggest that the program significantly increased area cultivated, although the effect size remained modest. Impacts were most pronounced near the frontline and for the smallest farmers. The paper discusses the implications in terms of a more diversified menu of support options and the scope of using the State Agrarian Register to help to implement these options, as well as lessons beyond Ukraine.