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With research staff from more than 70 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

Abhijeet Mishra

Abhijeet Mishra is a Research Fellow in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit. Abhijeet’s research interests include future sustainable pathways for the global land-use system and the trade-offs between land-based mitigation, food security, and other sustainable development goals.

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

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experts

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Moogdho Mahzab

Research Fellow

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Bio

Moogdho Mahzab is a Research Fellow with the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is a development economist with research interests in environment, health, and political economy. Prior to joining IFPRI, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford Graduate Business School and Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University. He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Viginia. He also received the U.S. Fulbright Scholarship from Bangladesh to pursue a master’s in Policy Economics at Williams College.

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Publications

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Working Paper

Effects of brick kiln industry on agricultural productivity: A natural experiment in Bangladesh

2025Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; Anowar, Md Sadat
Details

Effects of brick kiln industry on agricultural productivity: A natural experiment in Bangladesh

Agriculture remains central to Bangladesh’s economy and food security, yet it is increasingly threatened by the rapid expansion of informal brick manufacturing that extracts fertile topsoil from cropland and generates heavy local pollution. This paper provides national-scale causal evidence on how brick kiln expansion affects vegetation health and agricultural productivity by combining long-run satellite observations with geolocated kiln data. We construct a spatiotemporal panel of unions and municipalities using annual the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer normalized difference vegetation index (MODIS NDVI) from 2002–2024 and a high-resolution inventory of 9,187 brick kilns detected through satellite imagery and machine learning. Using a continuous and staggered difference-in-differences design, we find no evidence of differential pre-trends, but we do find a clear and persistent deterioration in vegetation health following kiln establishment. The magnitude is economically meaningful: a marginal increase in kiln presence is associated with roughly a 1 percent annual decline in local vegetation productivity, with effects that persist and accumulate over time. These results are consistent with long-run soil degradation and chronic environmental exposure around kiln sites, and they imply substantial hidden costs of informal industrial growth in densely cultivated landscapes. The findings highlight the urgency of stronger enforcement of siting rules, of incentives for cleaner production technologies, and of land-use planning that protects high-productivity agricultural zones.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; Anowar, Md Sadat

Citation

Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; and Anowar, Md Sadat. 2025. Effects of brick kiln industry on agricultural productivity: A natural experiment in Bangladesh. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2402. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/180697

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Agricultural Productivity; Food Security; Plant Health; Remote Sensing; Drying Kilns

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Manuscript-unpublished

Module for measuring gender norms in agrifood systems: Adapted for focusing on youth and mechanization in Bangladesh

2025Heckert, Jessica; Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Simi, Sonjida Mesket
Details

Module for measuring gender norms in agrifood systems: Adapted for focusing on youth and mechanization in Bangladesh

This module is designed for use in agricultural communities in Bangladesh. Specifically, we expect that it will be well suited for evaluating changes in gender norms for gender transformative approaches paired with technical interventions with an agricultural mechanization component. This module is also designed to focus on differences in norms for young women (~ age 1534) and more mature women (~age 35-64) working in agriculture. First, we suggest identifying and using culturally appropriate terminology to refer to women in these two age groups. Additionally, we suggest piloting this survey in a sample with adequate numbers of younger and older women and men. For example, >300 respondents in each of the following categories: women 15-34, men 15-34, women 35-64, and men 35-64. These sample sizes will make it possible to compare perceptions of gender norms regarding younger and older women and consider gender by youth intersectionality. In the modules that follow, the same questions are asked regarding young women and older/mature women. One option to consider that can help avoid respondent fatigue from repeating similar questions would be to randomly assign half of the sample questions about young women and the other half of the sample questions about older/mature women.

Year published

2025

Authors

Heckert, Jessica; Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Simi, Sonjida Mesket

Citation

Heckert, Jessica; Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; and Simi, Sonjida Mesket. 2025. Module for measuring gender norms in agrifood systems: Adapted for focusing on youth and mechanization in Bangladesh. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179398

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Gender; Agrifood Systems; Youth; Gender Norms; Mechanization

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Manuscript-unpublished

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Brick kilns and agricultural productivity in Bangladesh: Evidence from satellite data and a natural experiment

2025Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; Anowar, Md Sadat
Details

Brick kilns and agricultural productivity in Bangladesh: Evidence from satellite data and a natural experiment

Bangladesh’s brick kiln industry plays a critical role in supplying construction materials for rapid urbanization. However, the sector remains largely informal and weakly regulated, with widespread extraction of fertile topsoil and substantial emissions of particulate matter and black carbon. These practices raise growing concerns about long-term environmental degradation, agricultural productivity, and food security. This policy brief summarizes new national-scale evidence on the impacts of brick kiln expansion on agricultural productivity in Bangladesh. Using satellite-based vegetation data covering more than two decades and a newly constructed geospatial inventory of brick kilns, the study provides causal estimates of how kiln establishment affects vegetation health and crop productivity over time.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; Anowar, Md Sadat

Citation

Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; and Anowar, Md Sadat. 2025. Brick kilns and agricultural productivity in Bangladesh: Evidence from satellite data and a natural experiment. FCA Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179197

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Drying Kilns; Bricks; Agricultural Productivity; Satellites; Data; Satellite Imagery

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Events

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Towards Impact at Scale
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

December 2 to 4, 2025

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Towards Impact at Scale

South Asia continues to face an enduring burden of malnutrition in all its forms—undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and a steady increase in overweight and obesity and non-communicable diseases. Over 1 billion people in South Asia cannot afford a healthy diet. While many promising solutions have emerged, translating them into sustained, large-scale impact remains a challenge. This […]

News

December 08, 2025 | In the News

Sellers not relying on middlemen anymore for fish sales: Study (The Daily Star)

IFPRI research presented at the BIDS Annual Conference on Development 2025, highlighting new evidence on aquaculture value chains, agricultural mechanization, and social protection.