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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

Timothy Thomas

Timothy Thomas is a Senior Research Fellow in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit. His research focuses on the impact of climate change on agricultural productivity. Tim’s work involves developing innovative methods for simulated climate futures and model coordination between climate, crop, water, energy, and economics.

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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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Where we work

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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The Earth Planet

Kenya

countries and regions

Publications

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Journal Article

A rapid tool for understanding how knowledge users engage with research findings in research-for-development contexts

2026Lam, Steven; Hoffmann, Vivian; Otoigo, Lilian; Hung Nguyen-Viet
Details

A rapid tool for understanding how knowledge users engage with research findings in research-for-development contexts

Promoting the use of research findings in development projects is essential but often overlooked during study design. Existing frameworks for research use tend to focus on clinical settings and offer questionable applicability to development contexts, which are typically nonlinear, dynamic and cross-sectoral. As a result, there remains a gap in tools that can capture how evidence is intended to be applied by diverse knowledge users in real-world development settings. To address this gap, and drawing on over a decade of experience implementing research-to-action strategies, our objective is to develop a simple research uptake and use tool to better understand and support the use of evidence in research-for-development. We piloted the tool immediately after or 1 month following dissemination workshops, engaging 206 participants across nine sessions in five countries – Kenya, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Malawi, and Vietnam – to gather insights on which evidence was most relevant, how participants intended to apply it and why they valued it. Although conceptualized with a focus on agriculture and global health research, this framework is broadly applicable across the wider development sector in low- and middle-income countries.

Year published

2026

Authors

Lam, Steven; Hoffmann, Vivian; Otoigo, Lilian; Hung Nguyen-Viet

Citation

Lam, S., Hoffmann, V., Otoigo, L. and Hung Nguyen-Viet. 2026. A rapid tool for understanding how knowledge users engage with research findings in research-for-development contexts. Health Research Policy and Systems 24(1): 43. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-026-01478-1

Country/Region

Bangladesh; Ethiopia; Kenya; Malawi; Vietnam

Keywords

Africa; Asia; Eastern Africa; Southern Africa; South-eastern Asia; Southern Asia; Development; Research; Research for Development; Frameworks; Survey Design; Research Methods

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-026-01478-1 Source record

Project

One Health

Record type

Journal Article

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Book Chapter

Procrastination and psychosocial drivers of farmers’ planned and actual adoption of biofortified crop varieties

2026Mutiso, J. M.; Lagerkvist, C.; Okello, J. J.; Muoki, Penina Ngusye
Details

Procrastination and psychosocial drivers of farmers’ planned and actual adoption of biofortified crop varieties

This chapter examines the relationship between the present bias, psychological barriers procrastination, technology information nudges, and their combined influence on the intentions and actual uptake of biofortified crops. It uses an information field experiment with 320 sweetpotato farmers in Kenya. Nudges were in the form of information on agronomy and crop biofortification process. The chapter draws on the theory of planned behaviour, model-based recursive partitioning using classification and random forest-based regression trees. Findings show nuanced relationship in intentions and adoption with agronomic and biofortification information nudges depending on the interaction of subjective norms, agency, past behaviour, and unintentional procrastination. It discusses the implications of promoting biofortified crops.

Year published

2026

Authors

Mutiso, J. M.; Lagerkvist, C.; Okello, J. J.; Muoki, Penina Ngusye

Citation

Mutiso, J.M.; Lagerkvist, C.; Okello, J.J.; Muoki, P.N. 2026. Procrastination and psychosocial drivers of farmers’ planned and actual adoption of biofortified crop varieties. In J. Okello, D. Just, H. Campos, C. Lagerkvist (Eds.), Behavioural Interventions and Agricultural Innovation (pp. 93-118). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-31066-8_5

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Asia; Smallholders; Technology Adoption; Decision-making

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-31066-8 Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Working Paper

Exposure to multiple shocks and fragility: Distinct but connected dimensions of vulnerability in polycrisis contexts

2026Kebede, Sindu W.; Ulimwengu, John M.
Details

Exposure to multiple shocks and fragility: Distinct but connected dimensions of vulnerability in polycrisis contexts

Households in low- and middle-income countries increasingly face overlapping and intersecting risks, yet empirical approaches analyze shock exposure or fragility in isolation. We bring these two dimensions together by examining exposures to multiple shocks and fragility as distinct but connected dimensions relevant to polycrisis contexts at the household level. Using panel data from the HORTINLEA survey (2014–2016) conducted in Kenya in rural and peri-urban areas, we combine a nonparametric multi-shock index (MSI), which captures exposure to economic, climatic, and health shocks, with a fragility exposure index (FEI), which measures experiences of human insecurity, economic exclusion, and social cohesion. We find that the MSI and FEI are weakly correlated, consistent with limited empirical overlap between the two indexes in this sample. Contemporaneous, earlier, and three-wave average shock exposures are not significantly associated with aggregate fragility. In contrast, fragility exposure is robustly associated with food security outcomes. A 10-percentage-point higher FEI is associated with 0.11–0.14 fewer food groups in household dietary diversity and 0.18–0.27 fewer months of adequate household food provisioning. Domain-specific results reveal heterogeneous associations, with exposure to multiple shocks positively associated with greater fragility in the social cohesion domain. The findings highlight the value of distinguishing shock exposure from underlying fragility when assessing household vulnerability in contexts affected by multiple overlapping pressures.

Year published

2026

Authors

Kebede, Sindu W.; Ulimwengu, John M.

Citation

Kebede, Sindu W.; and Ulimwengu, John M. 2026. Exposure to multiple shocks and fragility: Distinct but connected dimensions of vulnerability in polycrisis contexts. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2441. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/185487

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Shock; Fragility; Vulnerability; Food Security; Rural Areas; Households

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Blogs

Double shock: El Niño and rising global commodity prices in Kenya
Issue Post
 | 
October 09, 2026

Double shock: El Niño and rising global commodity prices in Kenya

By Emerta Aragie, Shadrack Mwatu, Adan Shibia, and Chris Hillbruner

A model shows risks of rising poverty and undernourishment. Third in a series.

Unlocking climate finance for Kenya's women dairy farmers
Event Post
 | 
August 04, 2026

Unlocking climate finance for Kenya’s women dairy farmers

By Vartika Singh, Daniel Mulat, Kevin Kinusu, and Muzna Alvi

Moving from pilot projects to large-scale investments.

Scaling digital financial services for smallholder farmers in Kenya: A stakeholder consultation on challenges, opportunities, and action pathways
Event Post
 | 
July 23, 2026

Scaling digital financial services for smallholder farmers in Kenya: A stakeholder consultation on challenges, opportunities, and action pathways

By Berber Kramer, Esther Nzuki, Julie Ghostlaw, and Shalika Vyas

Providing reliable access to credit and insurance.

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Events

Double exposure: How El Niño and the Iran crisis could reshape food security
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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October 8, 2026, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Double exposure: How El Niño and the Iran crisis could reshape food security

Both El Niño and the ongoing crisis in Iran threaten to disrupt the global food system and affect food prices through impacts on agricultural production, energy and fertilizer markets, and trade. National governments and international partners face pressure to respond to effects on global markets and prices, as well as the more immediate shocks to […]

Making Food System Costs Visible: A Policy Imperative for Multifunctional Landscapes
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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September 29, 2026, 9:30 – 10:30 am

Making Food System Costs Visible: A Policy Imperative for Multifunctional Landscapes

Around the world, agrifood systems generate jobs, support foreign exchange, and form the backbone of rural economies. Yet beneath this economic engine lies a quieter reality: the environmental and social burdens that never show up on balance sheets. These unpriced externalities — degraded soils, polluted water, greenhouse gas emissions, underpaid workers, and children engaged in […]

8th African Conference of Agricultural Economists (ACAE)
IFPRI at External Event

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September 22 to 25, 2026

8th African Conference of Agricultural Economists (ACAE)

IFPRI is pleased to support the upcoming 8th African Conference of Agricultural Economists (8th ACAE), scheduled for 22–25 September 2026 at the Mövenpick Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. ACAE is a premier continental gathering focused on advancing agricultural economics through innovation, digital transformation, and strengthened trade systems. Anchored on the theme “Smart Agriculture: Innovation, Digital Transformation, […]

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News

June 11, 2026 | Press Release

IFPRI and AFAAS partner across four countries to test AI tools for farmer advisory services

The partners will convene national stakeholders to identify priority use cases and co-design approaches for testing AI-enabled advisory tools.

February 09, 2026 | Press Release

New IFPRI study introduces breakthrough framework to assess economic risks in developing countries

A groundbreaking approach to understanding how developing economies are affected by multiple, simultaneous shocks.

January 08, 2024 | Press Release

A new book provides a roadmap for food systems transformation in Kenya

The past few years have seen Kenya, along with many other countries, confronted with multifaceted and compounding challenges. The disruptions caused by COVID-19, high levels of food price inflation, and environmental crises, such as locust infestations and droughts, have severely tested the resilience of Kenya’s food systems and the affordability of food for its citizens. […]

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Projects

RIAPA.AI

RIAPA.AI

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School Meals and School-based Actions for People and the Planet

School Meals and School-based Actions for People and the Planet

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True Value of Food

True Value of Food

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