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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

David Spielman

David Spielman is the director of IFPRI’s Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit and has been with the institute since 2004. His research agenda covers a range of topics including agriculture and rural development policy; agricultural science, technology, and innovation; plant genetic resources and seed systems; agricultural extension and advisory services; and community-driven rural development.

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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 480 employees working in over 70 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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partnerships

The International Growth Centre (IGC) encourages sustainable growth in developing countries by providing demand-led policy advice based on frontier research. IGC directs a global network of researchers and in-country teams in Africa and South Asia to create research and policy advice on vital growth challenges. IGC is based at the London School of Economics (LSE) and in partnership with the University of Oxford. The IGC is majority funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

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Publications

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Working Paper

Crop diversification and nutritional resilience amid conflicts: Evidence from farmers in Myanmar

2026Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Masias, Ian; Minten, Bart; van Asselt, Joanna; Naing, Phyo Thandar; Ei Win, Hnin
Details

Crop diversification and nutritional resilience amid conflicts: Evidence from farmers in Myanmar

Resilient food and nutrition systems that support dietary diversity are central to improving welfare outcomes and fostering the formation of human capital, with lasting implications for socioeconomic development. Historically, while smallholders in developing countries have accessed food both from diversified farms or kitchen gardens, markets have increasingly become the more dominant source of diet diversity as agrifood systems continue their transformation. Yet little is known regarding how intensifying conflicts and social instability affect these linkages between agrifood systems and households’ dietary diversity. Addressing this knowledge gap is particularly relevant for countries like Myanmar, which is characterized not only by escalating conflicts in recent years but also by relatively lower levels of overall crop diversification and dietary diversity at the national level compared to many other countries in East and Southeast Asia. By using unique panel datasets from Myanmar that cover significant spatiotemporal variation in conflict intensity and addressing the potential endogeneity of crop diversification, we provide new evidence on the resilience of household dietary diversity in conflict-affected settings. We find that increased incidence of violent events at township levels (a proxy for conflict intensity) significantly lowers household dietary diversity during the post-monsoon season, particularly the diversity derived from purchased food items. These adverse effects are relatively more pronounced for healthier food items, such as pulses/legumes/nuts and vegetables/leaves. However, the negative impacts of conflicts on dietary diversity in the post-monsoon season are significantly mitigated by greater diversity in food crop production for farm households during the preceding monsoon season. Results are robust across different measurements of crop diversification and violent events. These findings suggest that in conflict-prone developing countries like Myanmar, household-level crop diversification remains an important strategy for farmers to safeguard household dietary diversity.

Year published

2026

Authors

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Masias, Ian; Minten, Bart; van Asselt, Joanna; Naing, Phyo Thandar; Ei Win, Hnin

Citation

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Masias, Ian; Minten, Bart; van Asselt, Joanna; Naing, Phyo Thander; and Win, Hnin Ei. 2026. Crop diversification and nutritional resilience amid conflicts: Evidence from farmers in Myamar. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2406. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181989

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

South-eastern Asia; Conflicts; Diversification; Diet; Crop Production; Resilience

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Book Chapter

What determines a farmer’s adoption of agricultural machinery: Assessing demographic factors and asset ownership of smallholder farmers in Bangladesh

2026Sharma, Akriti; Timsina, Pragya; Barooah, Prapti; Kishore, Avinash; Krupnik, Timothy J.; Brown, Brendan
Details

What determines a farmer’s adoption of agricultural machinery: Assessing demographic factors and asset ownership of smallholder farmers in Bangladesh

Agricultural mechanization provides a pathway to support farmers by reducing labor dependency, increasing efficiency, and improving the timeliness of agricultural operations. This enables smallholder farming communities to apply multiple cropping patterns between seasons, thereby improving their overall livelihoods (Amponsah et al. 2025; Gathala et al. 2022 Paudel et al. 2019; Chaudhary et al. 2023). In South Asian countries, especially Bangladesh, mechanization has historically been lower than in other regional nations. However, over the past 2 decades, there has been a notable increase in mechanization, as demonstrated by the substantial growth in the use of mechanical power for farming activities (Bakhtiar et al. 2025; Brown et al. 2025; Hossen et al. 2020). Understanding this trend and its implications is essential due to the complexities of mechanization adoption in Bangladesh. As the country’s population grows, expanding agricultural mechanization will be crucial to efficiently meet rising food demand.

Year published

2026

Authors

Sharma, Akriti; Timsina, Pragya; Barooah, Prapti; Kishore, Avinash; Krupnik, Timothy J.; Brown, Brendan

Citation

Sharma, Akriti; Timsina, Pragya; Barooah, Prapti; Kishore, Avinash; Krupnik, Timothy J.; and Brown, Brendan. 2026. Mechanizing agriculture in Bangladesh: Trends, challenges, and policy priorities. In Transforming Smallholder Agriculture Through Mechanization in Asia: Volume 1: Pathways and Policies, eds. Ma, Wanglin; Rahut, Dil B.; and Sonobe, Tetsushi. Chapter 1, p. 43-97. https://doi.org/10.56506/QOOJ5699

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Farm Equipment; Technology Adoption; Smallholders; Ownership; Agricultural Assets

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.56506/qooj5699 Source record

Project

Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia

Record type

Book Chapter

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Brief

Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: February 2026

2026International Food Policy Research Institute; Hayoge, Glen; Kedir Jemal, Mekamu
Details

Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: February 2026

This bulletin reports on food price trends from major markets in Papua New Guinea, for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025 based on data collected by Fresh Produce Development Authority (FPDA). Consistent data collection continues to be a challenge during the fourth quarter: no data was collected for the month of October (except for one round in Goroka and Kokopo, respectively). To provide up-to-date analysis, this bulletin incorporates all available data from October 2025 – January 2026 data. For Port Moresby, food price data were collected only for December and one round in January. This report compares Q4 2025 (November & December) prices with the same period in 2024 and 2023. Prices are reported in PGK per kilogram and represent real prices adjusted for inflation using the FAO Consumer Food Price Index (PCI) and price gaps (July 2025 to January 2026) filled using a growth rate calculated from the PNG National Statistical Office – June quarterly PCI data. This bulletin focuses on selected important staples (sweet potato, taro, cassava, cooking banana and rice), vegetables (aibika, English cabbage, capsicum, carrot, and choko-tips) and fruits (lemon, orange, pawpaw and pineapple). For longer time series data and interactive tools, visit the IFPRI website and download food price data here.

Year published

2026

Authors

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

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute. 2026. Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: February 2026. Papua New Guinea Food Price Bulletin February 2026. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181789

Country/Region

Papua New Guinea

Keywords

Oceania; Food Prices; Legumes; Markets; Staple Foods; Rice; Fruits; Food Security; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Events

Some Welfare Consequences of COVID-19 in Ethiopia
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

August 24, 2020, 4:00 – 5:30 pm

Some Welfare Consequences of COVID-19 in Ethiopia

Cross-country experience so far shows that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and responses to combat are multidimensional. It is thus reasonable to expect the occurrence of these effects in Ethiopia. Findings of several studies will be reported during this webinar. The presentations focus on the impact of COVID-19 on the welfare of mothers and […]

Blogs

Can sports and life skills programs improve labor force outcomes for vulnerable youth?
Research Post
 | 
February 11, 2021

Can sports and life skills programs improve labor force outcomes for vulnerable youth?

By Lori Beaman, Sylvan Herskowitz, Niall Keleher, and Jeremy Magruder

Analyzing impacts of a program in Monrovia, Liberia.

What happens when you incentivize primary education in Uganda
Research Post
 | 
March 15, 2019

What happens when you incentivize primary education in Uganda

By Daniel Gilligan, Naureen Karachiwalla, Ibrahim Kasirye, Adrienne Lucas, and Derek Neal

Incentives that hold teachers accountable for achievement can increase educational attainment when paired with adequate instructional resources, research shows.