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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

Elodie Becquey

Elodie Becquey is a Senior Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit, based in IFPRI’s West and Central Africa office in Senegal. She has over 15 years of research experience in diet, nutrition, and food security in Africa, including countries such as Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, and Tanzania.

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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

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Neha Kumar

Senior Research Fellow

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Bio

Neha Kumar is a Senior Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit at IFPRI. Neha is an economist by training and has an accumulated expertise that spans the diverse sectors of agriculture, social protection, gender, and nutrition-focused programs. Since joining IFPRI, she has been involved in several complex and multidimensional impact evaluations, including social protection programs like the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia, agriculture-nutrition interventions such as the HarvestPlus-funded biofortified Orange Sweet Potato program in Uganda and Mozambique and the Improved Vegetables and Fish Technology Intervention in Bangladesh. She has expertise and substantial experience with using state-of-the-art econometric techniques for impact evaluation. Neha holds a PhD in Economics from Boston University.

Languages spoken: English, Hindi

Publications

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Publications

Resource thumbnail

Book Chapter

Gender roles in South Asian food systems

2025Kumar, Neha; Manohar, Swetha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Banerjee, Archis; Koirala, Uma
Details

Gender roles in South Asian food systems

Year published

2025

Authors

Kumar, Neha; Manohar, Swetha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Banerjee, Archis; Koirala, Uma

Citation

Kumar, Neha; Manohar, Swetha; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Banerjee, Archis; and Koirala, Uma. 2025. Gender roles in South Asian food systems. In The Agrifood System in South Asia: Pathways to Sustainable Healthy Diets, eds. Samuel Scott, Avinash Kishore, and Derek Headey. Chapter 8, pp. 69-79. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178086

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Gender; Food Systems; Gender Norms; Women; Time Use; Policies; Female Labour

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia

Record type

Book Chapter

Resource thumbnail

Book Chapter

Evolving rural food environments in South Asia: The role of processed foods, traditional markets, and marketing influences

2025Bi, Afrin Zainab; Choudhury, Smaira; Kabir, A. N. M. Faijul; Challa, Kranthi Kumar; Yeggina, Pavan Kumar; Srivastava, Amit; Veettil, Prakashan Chellattan
Details

Evolving rural food environments in South Asia: The role of processed foods, traditional markets, and marketing influences

Year published

2025

Authors

Bi, Afrin Zainab; Choudhury, Smaira; Kabir, A. N. M. Faijul; Challa, Kranthi Kumar; Yeggina, Pavan Kumar; Srivastava, Amit; Veettil, Prakashan Chellattan

Citation

Bi, Afrin Zainab; Choudhury, Smaira; Kabir, A. N. M. Faijul; Challa, Kranthi Kumar; Yeggina, Pavan Kumar; et al. 2025. Evolving rural food environments in South Asia: The role of processed foods, traditional markets, and marketing influences. In The Agrifood System in South Asia: Pathways to Sustainable Healthy Diets, eds. Samuel Scott, Avinash Kishore, and Derek Headey. Chapter 5, pp. 39-49. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178083

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Rural Areas; Food Environment; Markets; Marketing; Processed Foods; Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia

Record type

Book Chapter

Resource thumbnail

Book Chapter

More land, more diverse diets? Exploring production and consumption trade-offs in the eastern Indo-Gangetic plains

2025
Aravindakshan, Sreejith; Laing, Alison; Kamal, Mustafa; Karki, Saral; Nandi, Ravi; Koirala, Pankaj; Kumar, Neha; Poudel, Pushpa; Sarker, Palash; Ferdous, Zannatul
…more Sayem, Md Abu; Gathala, Mahesh; Krupnik, Timothy J.
Details

More land, more diverse diets? Exploring production and consumption trade-offs in the eastern Indo-Gangetic plains

Year published

2025

Authors

Aravindakshan, Sreejith; Laing, Alison; Kamal, Mustafa; Karki, Saral; Nandi, Ravi; Koirala, Pankaj; Kumar, Neha; Poudel, Pushpa; Sarker, Palash; Ferdous, Zannatul; Sayem, Md Abu; Gathala, Mahesh; Krupnik, Timothy J.

Citation

Aravindakshan, Sreejith; Laing, Alison; Kamal, Mustafa; Karki, Saral; Nandi, Ravi; et al. 2025. More land, more diverse diets? Exploring production and consumption trade-offs in the eastern Indo-Gangetic plains. In The Agrifood System in South Asia: Pathways to Sustainable Healthy Diets, eds. Samuel Scott, Avinash Kishore, and Derek Headey. Chapter 6, pp. 50-61. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178084

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Land; Diet; Dietary Diversity; Production; Consumption; Plains; Crop Production

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia

Record type

Book Chapter

Blogs

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia 2024 Conference: Connecting the dots across systems
IFPRI Blog
 | 
February 04, 2025

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia 2024 Conference: Connecting the dots across systems

By Julie Ghostlaw, Esha Sarswat, Shreya Chakraborty, Neha Kumar, Swetha Manohar, and Samuel Scott

Exploring the interconnectedness of food systems.

Why gender-sensitive social protection is critical to the COVID-19 response in low- and middle-income countries
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 28, 2020

Why gender-sensitive social protection is critical to the COVID-19 response in low- and middle-income countries

By Melissa Hidrobo, Neha Kumar, Tia Palermo, Amber Peterman, and Shalini Roy

Governments ramping up pandemic assistance programs must take care to see they don't widen inequalities. 

Why gender matters in COVID-19 responses – now and in the future
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 22, 2020

Why gender matters in COVID-19 responses – now and in the future

By Agnes Quisumbing, Neha Kumar, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Claudia Ringler

In low- and middle-income countries, women are key to practical efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus—but face many obstacles men do not.

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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 […]

IFPRI @ CGIAR Science Week
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

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 […]

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Connecting the Dots Across Systems
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

December 3 to 5, 2024

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Connecting the Dots Across Systems

South Asia grapples with escalating levels of malnutrition in various forms, including undernutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies, alongside increasing incidence of diet-related non-communicable diseases. Malnutrition results from a complex interplay of factors incorporating household and individual decision-making, agriculture and food systems, healthcare services, education, and socio-ecological systems that determine access to services and […]

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