Subscribe

Back

Who we are

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.

Erick Boy

researcher spotlight

Erick Boy

Erick Boy is the Chief Nutritionist in the HarvestPlus section of the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. As head of nutrition for the HarvestPlus Program since 2008, he has led research that has generated scientific evidence on biofortified staple crops as efficacious and effective interventions to help address iron, vitamin A, and zinc deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

Back

What we do

Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

Research topics

Projects and impact

Modeling tools

Project microsites

What’s new

Where we work

Back

Where we work

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

IFPRI Regional Programs

IFPRI Country Programs

Research by country and region

Subscribe

experts

Development Strategies and Governance

Kristi Mahrt

Senior Research Analyst

Follow

Kristi

at:

ORCiD
Kristi Mahrt

Bio

Kristi Mahrt is a Senior Research Analyst in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Her research centers on the analysis of household survey data with a focus on household welfare, healthy diets, and gender, particularly as related to Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. Before joining IFPRI, she worked as a consultant for the World Bank and UNU-WIDER, where she researched topics related to poverty and welfare in Myanmar and Africa south of the Sahara. Kristi received a master’s degree in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Wisconsin.

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Livelihoods and welfare: Findings from the eighth round of the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey (October – December 2024)

2025Tauseef, Salauddin; Mahrt, Kristi; van Asselt, Joanna; Win, Hnin Ei
Details

Livelihoods and welfare: Findings from the eighth round of the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey (October – December 2024)

The eighth round of the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey (MHWS), a nationally and regionally representative phone survey, was conducted between October and December 2024, with a recall period covering July to December. It builds on seven rounds implemented since December 2021. This report presents key findings on the livelihood and welfare dynamics during the second half of 2024. Key Findings: Between 2023 and 2024, household welfare measured by median real household income per adult equivalent declined slightly by 0.8 percent, but real income in 2024 is 15.8 percent lower than two years ago. The poverty headcount rate rose to 70.5 percent in the second half of 2024, slightly lower than 71.7 percent in 2023 but significantly higher than 65.2 percent in 2022. Wage-earning households remain the most vulnerable, with the lowest median real daily income and the highest poverty levels, particularly in conflict-affected states such as Rakhine, Chin, and Kayah. Urban poverty increased by 6.9 percentage points over the past year and 15.2 percentage points over the past two years, while rural poverty fell by 4.3 percentage points in the past year and rose by 1.5 percentage points over two years. Falling wages and access issues were key challenges for wage and salaried workers while high input costs and low supply affected enterprises and crop producers. Market access and transportation issues were challenges for crop sales. Recommended Actions: Facilitate safe and productive migration opportunities and strengthen remittance systems to enhance household resilience and keep families out of poverty, as remittance income reduces the likelihood of poverty by 20 percentage points. Establish and expand social protection systems and safety nets to support vulnerable households, addressing the welfare impacts of escalating conflict, macroeconomic challenges, and the lack of critical state-provided services.

Year published

2025

Authors

Tauseef, Salauddin; Mahrt, Kristi; van Asselt, Joanna; Win, Hnin Ei

Citation

Tauseef, Salauddin; Mahrt, Kristi; van Asselt, Joanna; and Win, Hnin Ei. 2025. Livelihoods and welfare: Findings from the eighth round of the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey (October – December 2024). Myanmar SSP Research Note 123. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Households; Livelihoods; Telephone Surveys; Welfare; Income

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Wages of the poor and food price inflation: Insights from the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey in Q4 2024

2025Minten, Bart; Aung, Zin Wai; Zu, A Myint; Mahrt, Kristi
Details

Wages of the poor and food price inflation: Insights from the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey in Q4 2024

This research note examines changes in food prices and their effects on the cost of both common and healthy diets, as well as on the purchasing power of casual wages. Data on food prices and casual wage levels were collected through interviews with food vendors in rural and urban areas across Myanmar, conducted between December 2021 and December 2024 as part of the ongoing Myanmar Household Welfare Survey (MHWS).

Year published

2025

Authors

Minten, Bart; Aung, Zin Wai; Zu, A Myint; Mahrt, Kristi

Citation

Minten, Bart; Aung, Zin Wai; Zu, A Myint; and Mahrt, Kristi. 2025. Wages of the poor and food price inflation: Insights from the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey in Q4 2024. Myanmar SSP Research Note 122. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175601

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Food Prices; Inflation; Remuneration; Surveys

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Declining purchasing power of minimum wages in Papua New Guinea: Analysis of economic access to healthy diets

2025Mahrt, Kristi; Schmidt, Emily; Hayoge, Glen
Details

Declining purchasing power of minimum wages in Papua New Guinea: Analysis of economic access to healthy diets

Key Messages To address rising living costs which reduce the purchasing power of the minimum wage, the Government of PNG recently launched a review of the country’s minimum wage. The minimum wage has been PGK 3.50 per hour or PGK 28 per 8-hour day since July 2016. At the beginning of 2025, the minimum wage could purchase about three-quarters as much food and other goods and services compared to July 2016. The cost of a healthy diet per adult per day in urban areas increased by 35 percent from PGK 7.70 in 2021 to PGK 10.37 in 2025. The cost of the healthy diet was the most expensive in Port Moresby—PGK 11.15 per adult per day in 2025 and increased the most in Kokopo (54 percent) from PGK 5.81 to PGK 8.92 between 2021 and 2025. One and a half full-time urban minimum wage earners earn just enough to feed a healthy diet to a family of five in 2025, with no money remaining for essential non-food expenses such as clothing, shelter, transportation, health, and education. The government recently published a public notice of Goods and Services Tax (GST) zero-rating of essential goods effective 1st June 2025 to 30th June 2026. We re-evaluate the purchasing power of a minimum wage by decreasing the price of tinned tuna and rice by 10% (reflective of the GST zero-rating) on Q1 2025 recorded prices. Assuming prices remain constant (with no shifts in demand due to decreased tax), the cost of the average urban healthy diet in the first quarter of 2025 is 4.7 percent lower without the GST (PGK 9.87) compared to the cost of a healthy diet with the GST (PGK 10.35) — slightly improving the purchasing power of minimum wage earners.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mahrt, Kristi; Schmidt, Emily; Hayoge, Glen

Citation

Mahrt, Kristi; Schmidt, Emily; and Hayoge, Glen. 2025. Declining purchasing power of minimum wages in Papua New Guinea: Analysis of economic access to healthy diets. Papua New Guinea Project Note 20. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175410

Country/Region

Papua New Guinea

Keywords

Oceania; Economics; Purchasing; Healthy Diets; Consumer Behaviour

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Events

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

August 2 to 7, 2024

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists

The triennial International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE-2024), centred on the theme “Transformation Towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems” is scheduled from August 2-7, 2024, in New Delhi, India. The conference offers a distinctive platform, providing a golden opportunity for the agricultural academic institutions and researchers to convene in person, exchange knowledge, and actively contribute to the […]