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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Lina Alaaeldin Abdelfattah

Lina Alaaeldin Abdelfattah is a Senior Research Associate in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Cairo. Her research interests include applied economic development, trade, and spatial economics, with a focus on topics relevant to social protection, food, nutrition, and agriculture in the Middle East and Africa. 

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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experts

Development Strategies and Governance

Emily Schmidt

Senior Research Fellow

Bio

Emily Schmidt is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Her research focuses on the intersection of development economics and geographic information systems (GIS) with an emphasis on the dynamic process of rural land transformation, rural employment diversification, and agricultural production outcomes on household welfare. Her most recent research explores household livelihood strategies in Papua New Guinea, including linkages between agriculture, poverty, and nutrition outcomes among rural smallholder farmers.

Publications

RePEc

CV

Publications

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Brief

Papua New Guinea rural household survey (2023): Synopsis of selected results

2024Schmidt, Emily; Yadav, Shweta
Details

Papua New Guinea rural household survey (2023): Synopsis of selected results

From May to December 2023, IFPRI implemented the 2023 PNG Rural Household Survey which was designed to understand rural livelihoods and welfare across different areas of PNG (Schmidt et al., 2024). Given the rural nature of the survey sample, almost all surveyed households depend on their own-farm production (predominantly starchy roots and tubers) to meet daily caloric needs. On average, households reported utilizing about 1.6 hectares of land for agriculture cultivation at the time of the survey. The survey collected a detailed account of the quantity of food types consumed by the household in order to estimate the average caloric intake per adult equivalent. Comparing the estimated caloric intake reported by surveyed households, with a recommended calorie intake suggests that only 45 per cent of individuals in surveyed households meet the recommended daily caloric intake for a lightly active individual. The survey also collected anthropometry data for children under five years of age and found that 36 percent of surveyed children were stunted in their growth. The 2023 Rural Household Survey represents an important effort in collecting a wide breadth of information about rural livelihoods. However, greater investments of in-depth data collection and analysis should be undertaken to examine specific components of PNG household livelihood strategies.

Year published

2024

Authors

Schmidt, Emily; Yadav, Shweta

Citation

Schmidt, Emily; and Yadav, Shweta. 2024. Papua New Guinea rural household survey (2023): Synopsis of selected results. Papua New Guinea Project Note 15. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149341

Country/Region

Papua New Guinea

Keywords

Melanesia; Oceania; Rural Population; Livelihoods; Welfare; Agricultural Production; Food; Anthropometry; Stunting

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Brief

Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: July 2024

2024International Food Policy Research Institute; Hayoge, Glen; Jemal, Mekamu Kedir; Schmidt, Emily
Details

Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: July 2024

This bulletin provides an overview of select food prices during the second quarter of 2024, from April to June. During this quarter, two rounds of data were collected per month across all markets, except for Goroka in April and Lae in May, where only one round of data was collected. The prices presented here are the monthly averages. The graphs in this bulletin show price changes within the second quarter and compare second quarter prices with the first quarter of 2024, between January and March. To access the complete food price dataset, please download it from our website.

Year published

2024

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute; Hayoge, Glen; Jemal, Mekamu Kedir; Schmidt, Emily

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute. 2024. Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: July 2024. Papua New Guinea Food Price Bulletin July 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149268

Country/Region

Papua New Guinea

Keywords

Melanesia; Legumes; Markets; Food Prices; Sweet Potatoes; Staple Foods

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Working Paper

Rural income diversification in Rwanda: Opportunities and challenges

2024Schmidt, Emily; Mugabo, Serge; Rosenbach, Gracie
Details

Rural income diversification in Rwanda: Opportunities and challenges

The Government of Rwanda continues to work to accelerate structural transformation to expand and diversify the country’s economy. High rural population density and small agricultural landholdings are driving workers from agricultural households to seek employment outside of farming. Using representative data on agricultural production and employment for rural households in Rwanda from 2022, this research evaluates the opportunities rural households have to diversify their labor portfolios. We find that, rather than nonfarm household enterprises developing to meet greater rural service and goods demand, agriculture wage labor is the dominant source of off-own-farm employment. However, such informal agricultural wage labor is seen as low-productivity work and is among the lowest paid. Among nonfarm employment options, nonfarm businesses generate less income than nonagricultural wage labor, likely reflecting high barriers to entrepreneurship and low demand for off-farm services in rural areas. In contrast to employment profiles from other low-income countries, we find that the probability of a worker from an agricultural household in Rwanda engaging in rural, off-farm wage labor decreases as household welfare increases. Agricultural households that have workers seeking to hire out their labor tend to have the smallest landholdings, while households that hire in labor have the largest landholdings. Additionally, households with a higher share of members who completed primary education are less likely to hire out their labor, especially for agriculture wage work. These results suggest that programs that offer support services to agricultural households, such as financial services and affordable and relevant education, may be important in incentivizing these households to engage in entrepreneurship and form their own businesses or to seek wage employment in more remunerative sectors than agriculture.

Year published

2024

Authors

Schmidt, Emily; Mugabo, Serge; Rosenbach, Gracie

Citation

Schmidt, Emily; Mugabo, Serge; and Rosenbach, Gracie. 2004. Rural income diversification in Rwanda: Opportunities and challenges. Rwanda SSP Working Paper 13. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Agricultural Production; Economic Aspects; Employment; Welfare; Education; Land Ownership

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Working Paper

Blogs

2023 Papua New Guinea Rural Household Survey: Insights on livelihoods and the agrifood system
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 22, 2024

2023 Papua New Guinea Rural Household Survey: Insights on livelihoods and the agrifood system

By Trudie Sikas-Iha and Emily Schmidt

New data on diets.

Improving agricultural value chain coordination and gender inclusiveness in Papua New Guinea
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 20, 2022

Improving agricultural value chain coordination and gender inclusiveness in Papua New Guinea

By Lucia Carrillo, Peixun Fang, Katrina Kosec, and Emily Schmidt

Challenges and opportunities for women to engage in more profitable work.

Model: Impacts of the COVID-19-driven rise in global rice prices on consumers in Papua New Guinea
IFPRI Blog
 | 
May 20, 2021

Model: Impacts of the COVID-19-driven rise in global rice prices on consumers in Papua New Guinea

By Emily Schmidt and Paul Dorosh

Households may have reduced rice consumption as much as 15% or more,

Events

2023 PNG Rural Household Survey: Report Launch
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

March 18, 2024, 12:30 – 3:30 pm

2023 PNG Rural Household Survey: Report Launch

In-person Event: March 7, 2024 – 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM GMT+10. This seminar will provide results of the rural household survey and discuss opportunities for promoting agricultural transformation for economic growth and food security in PNG. 

Linkages of Agriculture, Nutrition and Economic Development
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

June 12, 2019, 9:00 – 12:30 pm

Linkages of Agriculture, Nutrition and Economic Development

Approximately 80 percent of the population in PNG is semi-dependent on subsistence agriculture, however limited economic analysis exists to inform policy priorities aimed at sustainable growth and poverty reduction in rural areas. Renewed efforts to inform overall agricultural production and resilience in Papua New Guinea have taken place over the last several years. This workshop […]

Resilient agriculture to accelerate progress: Compact2025 Forum in Ethiopia
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

December 15, 2017, 8:30 – 5:30 pm

Resilient agriculture to accelerate progress: Compact2025 Forum in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has made impressive progress reducing hunger and undernutrition, but “food security and nutrition are still key development issues,” said Dejene Abesha, RED&FS Secretariat, at the conference on The Future of Ethiopia’s Agriculture: Towards a Resilient System to End Hunger and Undernutrition held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on December 15, 2017. IFPRI and Compact2025 co-hosted […]

News

June 13, 2019 | In the News

Rural Communities Trapped in Poverty: Survey (Post-Courier)

Recent findings from an IFPRI survey on food consumption in Papua New Guinea found poor households were not getting enough food. Researcher Emily Schmidt calls for increased access to education to improve rural families' predicaments.

March 26, 2019 | In the News

New data offers insights into rural poverty and undernutrition in Papua New Guinea (Reuters)

Reuters published an opinion article by Research Fellow, Emily Schmidt, based on IFPRI’s ongoing work in Papua New Guinea. In the article, Schmidt highlighted how lack of data has hampered the country’s efforts to curb hunger and malnutrition.