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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.

Ahmed Akhter

researcher spotlight

Akhter Ahmed

Akhter Ahmed is a Senior Research Fellow in the IFPRI’s Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit and Country Representative for IFPRI Bangladesh. He has worked on strategies for agricultural and rural development, social protection, and women’s empowerment to reduce poverty, food insecurity, and undernutrition in developing countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Malawi, the Philippines, and Turkey.

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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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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

Steven Were Omamo

Director, Development Strategies and Governance (DSG); Director for Africa

Steven Were Omamo

Bio

Steven Were Omamo is Director of the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He also serves as Director for Africa. Were worked most recently for New Growth International, where he served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President. Previously, he held several leadership positions with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), including as Country Director in Ethiopia, and as Deputy Director and Food Systems Coordinator of the WFP Policy and Programme Division. He has also served as Director of Global Engagement and Research with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Director of Policy and Advocacy with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and has held positions with the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), and Egerton University, Kenya. Earlier in his career, Were worked at IFPRI as a Research and then Senior Research Fellow. He is an Adjunct Professor of Agricultural Economics at Virginia Tech University and holds PhD and MA degrees from Stanford University, an MS from the University of Connecticut, and a BS from California State University, Fresno.

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Publications

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Book Chapter

Regional developments: Africa [in 2025 GFPR]

2025Ulimwengu, John M.; Omamo, Steven Were; Badiane, Ousmane; Benin, Samuel
Details

Regional developments: Africa [in 2025 GFPR]

Africa’s food systems have undergone significant transformations over the past four decades, with notable improvements in agricultural productivity and food security, but persistent challenges remain. This chapter examines how Africa’s agrifood policy landscape has evolved over time in response to complex challenges, including food insecurity, climate change, and socioeconomic disparities. It explores how IFPRI and other international organizations have offered research-based solutions to Africa’s development challenges, as well as underscoring the necessity of systemic, inclusive, and evidence-based approaches to address the agrifood system challenges projected for 2050. Book link: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174108

Year published

2025

Authors

Ulimwengu, John M.; Omamo, Steven Were; Badiane, Ousmane; Benin, Samuel

Citation

Ulimwengu, John M.; Omamo, Steven Were; Badiane, Ousmane; and Benin, Samuel. 2025. Regional developments: Africa. In Global food policy report 2025: Food policy: Lessons and priorities for a changing world, eds. Johan Swinnen and Christopher Barrett. Part Six: Regional Developments and Priorities, Chapter 19, Pp. 471-486. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174355

Keywords

Africa; Resilience; Agrifood Systems; Inclusion; Caadp; Collaboration; Food Security; Agricultural Productivity; Poverty

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Brief

Informing CAADP 2026–2035: What a decade of IFPRI Research in Africa tells us

2025Ulimwengu, John M.; Hema, Aboubacar; Marivoet, Wim; Omamo, Steven Were
Details

Informing CAADP 2026–2035: What a decade of IFPRI Research in Africa tells us

This policy brief distills insights from a decade of IFPRI’s research and engagement across 54 African countries, offering a strategic synthesis to inform the Kampala 2026–2035 implementation phase of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). Drawing from almost 5,700 publications between 2015 and 2025, and using a combination of natural language processing (NLP), deep learning algorithms and rule-based approaches, the review maps key findings against CAADP’s six strategic objectives: (1) intensifying sustainable food production, agro-industrialization, and trade; (2) boosting investment and financing for agrifood systems transformation; (3) ensuring food and nutrition security; (4) advancing inclusivity and equitable livelihoods; (5) building resilient agrifood systems; and (6) strengthening agrifood systems governance. By aligning evidence with strategic priorities, this synthesis aims to sharpen the research and policy agenda needed to accelerate agricultural transformation, ensure food security, and deepen resilience across the continent. The review reveals areas of significant progress—such as advances innovative finance, nutrition policy, social protection design, gender equity, and market functioning—while also exposing enduring gaps in data, investment diagnostics, and imple mentation capacity. The brief is thus both a stocktaking and a springboard, harnessing what is known to guide the next phase of CAADP.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ulimwengu, John M.; Hema, Aboubacar; Marivoet, Wim; Omamo, Steven Were

Citation

Ulimwengu, John M.; Hema, Aboubacar; Marivoet, Wim; and Omamo, Steven Were. 2025. Informing CAADP 2026–2035: What a decade of IFPRI Research in Africa tells us. IFPRI Policy Brief May 2025. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174708

Keywords

Africa; Research; Caadp; Food Systems; Development; Social Protection; Food Security; Livelihoods

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Navigating Nigeria’s food system challenges in the face of inflation and reform

2025Omamo, Steven Were; Andam, Kwaw S.; Balana, Bedru; Amare, Mulubrhan; Popoola, Olufemi; Nwagboso, Chibuzo
Details

Navigating Nigeria’s food system challenges in the face of inflation and reform

Main Messages: 1. Low-income households in both urban and rural areas are hardest hit by rising food prices. Post-reform (fuel subsidies removal and exchange rate liberalization) price shocks and persistent inflation have disproportionately affected poor urban and rural households, forcing them to reduce food consumption and dietary diversity. Malnutrition and food insecurity are on the rise, particularly among children and women-headed households, with sharpest impacts in conflict-affected areas. 2. Small-scale farmers are not benefiting proportionately from price increases. Despite surging food prices, small-scale farmers face escalating input costs, poor market access, and structural in-efficiencies that leave them with marginal gains far below the rate of inflation. 3. Trading networks maintain healthy margins, amplifying systemic inefficiencies. Traders and intermediaries dominate the food supply chain, passing on increased costs to consumers while pre-serving or even increasing their profit margins, highlighting inequities in the distribution of benefits along the value chain. 4. Recent economic reforms and external shocks exacerbate structural weaknesses. Economic reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidies and exchange rate adjustments, have amplified existing challenges in the food system, including high transport costs, inadequate infrastructure, and fragmented markets. 5. Policy interventions should protect vulnerable groups and strengthen local food systems. Addressing these disparities requires targeted safety nets for consumers, support for small-scale farmers, and systemic investments to reduce inefficiencies in the value chain while promoting cli-mate-resilient food systems.

Year published

2025

Authors

Omamo, Steven Were; Andam, Kwaw S.; Balana, Bedru; Amare, Mulubrhan; Popoola, Olufemi; Nwagboso, Chibuzo

Citation

Omamo, Steven Were; Andam, Kwaw S.; Balana, Bedru; Amare, Mulubrhan; Popoola, Olufemi; and Nwagboso, Chibuzo. 2025. Navigating Nigeria’s food system challenges in the face of inflation and reform. Policy Brief April 2025. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174326

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Africa; Western Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Economics; Food Systems; Households; Inflation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Climate Resilience

Record type

Brief

Events

2025 Global Food Policy Report | Food Policy: Lessons and Priorities for a Changing World
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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May 28, 2025, 9:00 – 12:30 pm

2025 Global Food Policy Report | Food Policy: Lessons and Priorities for a Changing World

Over the last 50 years, the world’s food systems have evolved tremendously amid major economic, environmental, and social changes. Throughout this period, policy research has played a critical role in providing evidence and analysis to inform decision-making that supports agricultural growth, better livelihoods, and improved food security, nutrition, and well-being for all. Please join us […]

Two Years of Crisis: Impact and Pathways to Recovery and Resilience
Series/Special Event

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April 14 to 15, 2025

Two Years of Crisis: Impact and Pathways to Recovery and Resilience

The Sudan conflict, now entering its third year, continues to devastate the country’s socioeconomic fabric. As of January 2025, more than 8.8 million people were internally displaced, and over 3.3 million had sought refuge in neighboring countries. Conservative reports estimate over 32,000 fatalities occurred between the start of the war on April 15, 2023, and […]

IFPRI @ CGIAR Science Week
IFPRI at External Event

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April 7 to 12, 2025

IFPRI @ CGIAR Science Week

When humanity has faced its greatest challenges, science and innovation have provided solutions. Today, major and connected global challenges threaten the sustainability of food, land, and water systems, with the most vulnerable people and communities at greatest risk. Recognizing the urgency of these challenges, CGIAR and the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) are […]

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News

April 04, 2025 | Press Release

Steven Were Omamo appointed IFPRI’s Director for Africa

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is pleased to announce that Steven Were Omamo has been appointed IFPRI’s Director for Africa. Dr. Omamo will also continue to serve as IFPRI’s Director of the Development Strategies and Governance Unit (DSG). Based in IFPRI’s Nairobi, Kenya office, Omamo joined IFPRI in October 2024. “We are delighted […]

October 07, 2024 | Press Release

Steven Were Omamo joins IFPRI as the new Director of the Development Strategies and Governance Unit

IFPRI is pleased to announce that Steven Were Omamo joins IFPRI as the new Director of the DSG Unit.

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