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IFPRI ForumWhat tools are available to assess the effectiveness of agricultural subsidies or market reforms? What are the potential impacts of competing policies related to agricultural trade and economic liberalization? How can such policies be implemented in ways that benefit the poor?
Meeting in Colombo from July 25-29, researchers, policymakers, and university professors from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka grappled with these questions at the workshop, "Quantitative Methods for Policy Analysis: Multi-Market Modeling," the last in a series of training workshops organized by IFPRI's Learning and Capacity Strengthening (L&CS) program for the South Asia Initiative (SAI). IFPRI launched the initiative three years ago as part of its response to the emerging challenges to agriculture and food security in this region, where about 40 percent of the world's poor live.
Past workshops, held in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, have trained academics and policymakers on methods for analyzing market reforms in high-value agriculture, the World Trade Organization and trade liberalization for poverty alleviation, and domestic market reforms in South Asian agriculture.These workshops are part of the work IFPRI's L&CS program carries out to strengthen research capacity in South Asia. Led by IFPRI's International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) Division, the program conducts learning events and distance-education programs throughout the world, designs and produces learning modules, develops networks and linkages for researchers and policy analysts, and carries out research on learning and capacity strengthening.
"Through this program, ISNAR generates new knowledge in collaboration with partners and strengthens the capacity of individuals and institutions in food and agricultural innovation systems, universities, and government agencies so they can help reduce hunger and poverty in a sustainable way," says Wilberforce Kisamba-Mugerwa, director of the ISNAR Division.
With the help of the L&CS program, local researchers and policymakers can build analytical, methodological, and policy communication skills long after a project has ended.
"By strengthening capacity to assess, analyze, and implement food and agriculture-related policies and reforms, we hope to foster outcomes that alleviate poverty and hunger not only in South Asia, but across the globe," says Suresh Babu, leader of the L&CS program and ISNAR senior research fellow.