Research Associate - Incentivizing Sustainable Paddy Cultivation, Telangana

Project Title: Incentivizing Sustainable Paddy Cultivation, Telangana

Country: India

Location: Telangana

State Date: November 1, 2025

Length of commitment: 1 year

Education: Bachelor’s in Economics/Engineering

Organization: J-PAL South Asia at IFMR

 

Company Description:

 

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) seeks qualified applicants for position as Consultant for projects on agriculture, education, environment, finance, health, labor, and governance in locations around the world.  The projects study a variety of topics within the previously listed fields. The positions offer an opportunity to gain first-hand field management experience in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research. These positions are located primarily in developing countries around the world and the principal investigators are J-PAL affiliated professors.

 

Project Description:

 

Flooding fields for paddy cultivation is water-intensive, power-intensive, and releases methane that contributes to climate change. Projections suggest that water demand will exceed the supply by 50% by 2030. Free power exacerbates the fiscal cost to the state of over-consumption of water. Agricultural practices like direct seeded rice (DSR) and alternate wetting and drying (AWD) already exist and are being actively promoted by many state governments including Government of Telangana (GoT) to reduce water use in paddy cultivation without affecting the productivity or quality of rice. We suggest increasing the adoption of these practices by paying rice farmers as an incentive for reducing water use. Whether or not a farmer is using alternate methods of growing rice will be validated through a new model. The incentive program implementation model would be: (i) use satellite imagery of field flooding to measure adoption at scale and (ii) deliver timely direct transfers via GoT’s existing payments infrastructure. Farmers would receive additional extension information on AWD and DSR alongside the incentives. This proposed DBT for sustainable practices would encourage conservation of groundwater and power.

 

Research Associate: Roles and Responsibilities:

 

Research Associates work closely with academic researchers and other field staff to perform a variety tasks including, but not limited to:

• Run a pilot exercise

• Design and refine survey instruments

• Manage a full-scale randomized control trial. Oversee the implementation of the evaluation in accordance to the research design in association with our partner organization

• Manage teams during pilot and scale-up phases: Recruit, train, and supervise a team of enumerators

• Supervise data collection and data-entry to ensure good data quality during pilot and scale-up phases

• Maintain relationship with partner organizations at headquarters

• Assist with data cleaning and preliminary data analysis

• Assist in preparation of documents and presentations for donor reporting as well as dissemination activities

• Report to PIs on all of the above mentioned activities

 

 

Desired Qualifications and Experience:

 

• A Bachelor's/Master’s degree in and Experience economics, social sciences, public policy, or related fields

• Previous experience in development research preferred (any experience with SMEs in India is beneficial). Excellent management and organizational skills along with strong quantitative skills

• Fluency and excellent communication skills in English and Telugu

• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and team player

• Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations

• Knowledge of Stata (strongly preferred) or other data analysis software is preferred

• Familiarity with randomized controlled trials preferred

• Ability to deal with unstructured and changing environments

 

Note on Work Authorizations:

 

Candidates must have work authorization to work in India