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

Sudha Narayanan

Research Fellow

profile

Bio

Sudha Narayanan is a Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in the South Asia Office in New Delhi. Sudha’s research interests span agriculture, food and nutrition policy, and human development. She is particularly interested in survey-based research using microeconometric approaches to understand broader questions of agrarian change and state delivery systems for nutrition security. Her research focuses on contract farming, agrifood value chains, technology adoption in agriculture, public policies for food security and employment, and agriculture-nutrition linkages.

Sudha was previously an Associate Professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai. Prior to her PhD studies, she worked with the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, the Right to Food Campaign in India, and Cornell University, among others. She earned a PhD from Cornell University in Agricultural Economics. She also holds a dual master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, India.

Development Strategies and Governance

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Book Chapter

Food value chains: Transformations in low- and middle-income countries

2025Reardon, Thomas; Minten, Bart; Narayanan, Sudha; Swinnen, Johan
Details

Food value chains: Transformations in low- and middle-income countries

Food value chains (FVCs) play a critical role in food systems by linking from agricultural input providers to farmers and producers to consumers. Over the past 50 years, the economic, demographic, and policy context of FVCs in low- and middle-income countries has changed enormously. This chapter discusses major phases and revolutions that shaped the growth, structure, and importance of FVCs to economies, employment, and diets, as well as policy research issues and contributions, and looks ahead to key trends that will continue to shape FVCs. Book link: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174108

Year published

2025

Authors

Reardon, Thomas; Minten, Bart; Narayanan, Sudha; Swinnen, Johan

Citation

Reardon, Thomas; Minten, Bart; Narayanan, Sudha; and Swinnen, Johan. 2025. Food value chains: Transformations in low- and middle-income countries. In Global food policy report 2025: Food policy: Lessons and priorities for a changing world, eds. Johan Swinnen and Christopher Barrett. Part Two: Sustainability and Natural Resources, Chapter 7, Pp. 157-192. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174235

Keywords

Value Chains; Markets; Agrifood Systems; Small and Medium Enterprises; Agricultural Transformation; Agricultural Value Chains

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Clustering shrimp farms in Bangladesh: A novel effort with mixed outcomes

2025Kabir, Razin; Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Sakil, Abdul Zabbar; Khan, Asraul Hoque; Hernandez, Ricardo
Details

Clustering shrimp farms in Bangladesh: A novel effort with mixed outcomes

Organizing smallholder farmers in clusters has been widely promoted as a way to boost agricultural productivity, streamline delivery of extension services, and improve access to markets. In Bangladesh, where shrimp is an important export crop produced largely by smallholders, government and industry view clustering as key to preventing Bangladesh being left behind in an increasingly competitive global market. Bangladesh’s shrimp exports are highly dependent on the hotel, restaurant, and catering (HoReCa) sector in Europe—a small and relatively low value market segment. Gaining access to the much larger and potentially more lucrative retail market segment in Europe and North America requires high quality, traceable, and – increasingly – certified, shrimp, posing a challenging for Bangladesh.

Year published

2025

Authors

Kabir, Razin; Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Sakil, Abdul Zabbar; Khan, Asraul Hoque; Hernandez, Ricardo

Citation

Kabir, Razin; Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Sakil, Abdul Zabbar; Khan, Asraul Hoque; and Hernandez, Ricardo. 2025. Clustering shrimp farms in Bangladesh: A novel effort with mixed outcomes. South Asia Policy Perspectives 4. New Delhi, India: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174761

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Smallholders; Agricultural Productivity; Markets; Extension Systems; Shrimp Culture; Exports

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Strengthening women’s livelihoods through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA): Policy strategies for resilience and inclusion: The Bhubaneshwar Charter

2025Narayanan, Sudha; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kosec, Katrina; Paul, Meekha Hannah; Kumar, Deepak; Agnihotri, Satish B.; Murthy, Indu K.; Sarathy, Partha; Panda, Aditi
Details

Strengthening women’s livelihoods through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA): Policy strategies for resilience and inclusion: The Bhubaneshwar Charter

Globally, there is increasing recognition of the significant potential for social protection programs to sup-port sustainable livelihoods and build household resilience to climatic and economic shocks (Jordan et al., 2021; Norton et al., 2020). For women—who disproportionately bear the burden of these shocks—such programs serve as a critical safety net and a pathway to economic empowerment (Kosec et al., 2023; Mason & Agan, 2015). Yet, the extent to which social protection delivers on this promise depends on robust financing, inclusive program design, and effective implementation. Evidence suggests that public interventions often fall short in addressing gender inequalities, and that complementary efforts must be made to redress entrenched disadvantages that women might face in shaping, accessing, and benefiting from these programs.

Year published

2025

Authors

Narayanan, Sudha; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kosec, Katrina; Paul, Meekha Hannah; Kumar, Deepak; Agnihotri, Satish B.; Murthy, Indu K.; Sarathy, Partha; Panda, Aditi

Citation

Narayanan, Sudha; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Kosec, Katrina; Paul, Meekha Hannah; Kumar, Deepak; Agnihotri, Sat-ish B.; et al. 2025. Strengthening women’s livelihoods through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA): Policy strategies for resilience and inclusion: The Bhubaneshwar Charter. South Asia Policy Perspectives 3. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174707

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Livelihoods; Resilience; Social Protection; Women

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Brief

Blogs

Inspirational filmmaking to raise women’s voice and agency in the construction of assets for climate resilience in India
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 26, 2023

Inspirational filmmaking to raise women’s voice and agency in the construction of assets for climate resilience in India

By Jordan Kyle, Katrina Kosec, Sudha Narayanan, and Kalyani Raghunathan

Compelling personal stories as a learning and motivational tool.

How India’s agrifood supply chains fared during the COVID-19 lockdown, from farm to fork
IFPRI Blog
 | 
July 20, 2020

How India’s agrifood supply chains fared during the COVID-19 lockdown, from farm to fork

By Sudha Narayanan

Food systems have proven more resilient than many expected, but vulnerable populations still need help.

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 […]

2024 GFPR India Launch
Series/Special Event

 | 

July 4, 2024, 10:00 – 5:20 pm

2024 GFPR India Launch

Unhealthy diets are a major driver of all forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity. At the same time, our food systems contribute about a third of greenhouse gas emissions and degrade natural resources. The 2024 Global Food Policy Report examines policies, innovations, and governance solutions to strengthen diet quality and […]

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Transforming Diets
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

November 9 to 10, 2022

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Transforming Diets

Hybrid Event: November 9, 2022 – 4:30 PM to November 10, 2022 – 6:30 PM GMT. The purpose of this conference is to synthesize relevant evidence and stimulate dialogue to inform and guide policy and program initiatives in South Asia for improving equitable access to and consumption of healthy diets.

View all Events

News

April 17, 2023 | In the News

MGNREGA attendance app a govt ploy to discourage workers, contain expenses? (The Federal) 

The Federal (India) writes in a piece that “workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are now required to mark attendance twice a day with onsite, geo-tagged photos through the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app.  Sudha Narayanan a researcher at IFPRI, has evaluated MGNREGA through studies and surveys since it […]

December 22, 2020 | In the News

MSP–The factoids vs. the facts (The Hindu)

The Hindu published an op-ed by Reteeka Khera, Senior Research Fellow Sudha Narayanan, and  Prankur Gupta on the purpose of the MSP and the debate on agricultural issues that must take into account the changed geography of procurement and the seller’s profile. 

December 15, 2020 | In the News

MSP–The factoids vs. the facts (The Hindu)

The Hindu published an op-ed by Reteeka Khera, Senior Research Fellow Sudha Rayanan, and  Prankur Gupta on the purpose of the MSP and the debate on agricultural issues that must take into account the changed geography of procurement and the seller’s profile.

View all News