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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

Lilia Bliznashka

Lily Bliznashka is a Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit. Her research focuses on assessing the effectiveness of multi-input nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions and the mechanisms through which they work to improve maternal and child health and nutrition globally. She has worked in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda.

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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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Latin America and Caribbean

countries and regions

Publications

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Working Paper

Targeting of beneficiaries in chemical fertilizer subsidy programs: State of knowledge and evidence gaps

2026Trachtman, Carly; Hill, Ruth Vargas
Details

Targeting of beneficiaries in chemical fertilizer subsidy programs: State of knowledge and evidence gaps

Low- and middle-income countries are under increasing fiscal pressure to rationalize spending on fertilizer subsidy programs. Policy reforms shifting expenditure away from subsidies can have beneficial impacts given the well-documented distortionary market effects and negative environmental externalities of fertilizer subsidies. However, such reforms also result in losses and often lower fertilizer use for current beneficiaries. Understanding who is impacted by reform thus requires an assessment of who is currently benefiting, yet there is little systematic work understanding who these programs currently benefit both on paper and in practice. In this paper, we identify low- and middle- income countries with active fertilizer subsidy programs, and characterize the targeting regime of each program based on both explicit and implicit criteria determining eligibility. Then in a selection of case studies, we explore which individuals are receiving subsidy benefits in practice. We find that while many fertilizer subsidy programs are designed as universal, in many countries there are implicit targeting criteria embedded in the way subsidy programs are implemented and/or informal targeting induced by supply shortfalls. Further, we find evidence that regardless of targeting regime, the targeting of subsidy programs is generally pro-poor, driven by the fact that the poor are often concentrated in the agricultural sector.

Year published

2026

Authors

Trachtman, Carly; Hill, Ruth Vargas

Citation

Trachtman, Carly; and Hill, Ruth. 2026. Targeting of beneficiaries in chemical fertilizer subsidy programs: State of knowledge and evidence gaps. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2419. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/183317

Keywords

Latin America and the Caribbean; Southern Asia; Eastern Asia; Sub-saharan Africa; Middle East; Northern Africa; Fertilizers; Subsidies; Support Measures; Targeting; Inorganic Fertilizers

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Dataset

Replication Data for Persistence of Individual and Social Preferences in Rural Settings

2026International Food Policy Research Institute; Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral
Details

Replication Data for Persistence of Individual and Social Preferences in Rural Settings

This dataset contains the replication data files for the paper Persistence of Individual and Social Preferences in Rural Settings. The study examines the stability of individual and social preferences in rural settings, using the COVID-19 pandemic as a major global shock. The data comprise a panel of 1,262 agricultural households located across 86 communities in the departments of Huehuetenango, Quich, and San Marcos in Guatemala. Households were interviewed in person at baseline in November-December 2019 and subsequently followed through three annual phone surveys conducted in May-June 2020, 2021, and 2022 to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on individual and social preferences. The dataset includes information on self-reported preference indicators, as well as household socioeconomic characteristics, dwelling characteristics, asset ownership, and agricultural activities, along with contextual variables measured at the household, community, and municipality levels.

Year published

2026

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute; Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL). 2026. Replication Data for “Persistence of Individual and Social Preferences in Rural Settings”. Washington, DC: IFPRI [dataset]. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/H99OW4. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1.

Country/Region

Guatemala

Keywords

Central America; Latin America and the Caribbean; Americas; Covid-19; Extreme Weather Events; Risk; Rural Areas; Stability

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/h99ow4 Source record

Record type

Dataset

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Book Chapter

Moving the technology frontiers in African agrifood systems: Lessons from Latin America

2026Piñeiro, Valeria; Rueda, Jorge Armando; Gianatiempo, Juan Pablo; McNamara, Brian
Details

Moving the technology frontiers in African agrifood systems: Lessons from Latin America

Africa’s agrifood systems face a complex set of structural challenges. Low productivity, high vulnerability to climate shocks, fragmented markets, and weak integration into global value chains continue to constrain development. Yet these challenges coexist with significant opportunities. The region’s demographic profile—with more than 50 percent of the population under the age of 25 years—and a projected population growth rate of 2.3 percent in 2025 offer the potential for a demographic dividend that could help drive transformation in agri-food systems.

Year published

2026

Authors

Piñeiro, Valeria; Rueda, Jorge Armando; Gianatiempo, Juan Pablo; McNamara, Brian

Citation

Piñeiro, Valeria; Rueda, Jorge Armando; Gianatiempo, Juan Pablo; and McNamara, Brian. 2026. Moving the technology frontiers in African agrifood systems: Lessons from Latin America. In Moving the Technology Frontiers in African Agrifood Systems, eds. Christian Henning, Menale Kassie, and Racine Ly. Chapter 17, Pp. 275-293. Kigali, Rwanda: AKADEMIYA2063. https://doi.org/10.54067/9798991636940

Keywords

Africa; Latin America; Technology; Agrifood Systems; Production; Trade; Food Security; Investment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.54067/9798991636940 Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

Blogs

Two steps forward, one step back? Champions and roadblocks for Mexico’s General Law on Adequate and Sustainable Food
Issue Post
 | 
June 18, 2026

Two steps forward, one step back? Champions and roadblocks for Mexico’s General Law on Adequate and Sustainable Food

By Danielle Resnick and Fiorella Espinosa de Candido

Ins and outs of systemic reform.

Making food system costs visible: A policy imperative for Colombia and Peru
Research Post
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June 04, 2026

Making food system costs visible: A policy imperative for Colombia and Peru

By Kristin Davis, Rui Benfica, Carlo Azzarri, Sedi Boukaka, Carlo Fadda, and Baragu Geoffrey

Evaluating hidden environmental and social impacts.

The Iran war: Farmers in Brazil and Argentina face rising fertilizer and energy prices
Issue Post
 | 
May 04, 2026

The Iran war: Farmers in Brazil and Argentina face rising fertilizer and energy prices

By Joseph Glauber, Valeria Piñeiro, and Juan Pablo Gianatiempo

The Strait of Hormuz closure reverberates through the food system.

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Events

Agricultural trade at a crossroads with Latin American, Caribbean, and African Perspectives for Post-MC14
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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June 30, 2026, 9:00 – 11:00 am

Agricultural trade at a crossroads with Latin American, Caribbean, and African Perspectives for Post-MC14

This event will be livestreamed in English on this page. Live interpretation in Spanish and French will be available via Zoom. Additional details will be provided closer to the event. Please type your questions into the chat box with name, affiliation, and country. The event video, presenter slides, and podcast will be available in the […]

Transformative and scalable experiences for a new generation of public policies for agrifood systems
Series/Special Event

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October 8 to 9, 2025

Transformative and scalable experiences for a new generation of public policies for agrifood systems

Promote a space for reflection and regional exchange aimed at identifying transformative and scalable experiences of agri-food public policies, with emphasis on those that generate public goods, articulate multiple actors and levels of government, incorporate innovative mechanisms and recognize the necessary enabling conditions for their implementation and sustainability. This dialogue prioritizes: October 8, 2025 Special […]

Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture for Healthy Diets in Latin America and Caribbean
IFPRI at External Event

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September 17, 2025, 10:00 – 11:30 am

Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture for Healthy Diets in Latin America and Caribbean

Join us in this seminar organized by the Inter-American Development Bank that will address the relevance of nutrition-sensitive agriculture in transforming agrifood systems and contributing to the reduction of nutritional deficiencies in the population of Latin America and the Caribbean. The event will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Spanish. Keynote Speaker:

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News

July 28, 2023 | Press Release

Within the framework of the WTO, IFPRI, and IICA launch Latin American Network of Agrifood Trade Negotiators

San Jose. The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) launched a network of agricultural negotiators in Latin America, which will seek to strengthen the positioning of those countries in multilateral forums that address matters related to the agrifood sector, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). It […]

February 10, 2023 | In the News

Top food exporter Argentina confronts rising hunger and poverty (The New Humanitarian) 

The New Humanitarian interviewed Valeria Piñeiro, IFPRI’s acting head for Latin America, for the article about the worsening situation with hunger and poverty in Argentina. Piñeiro is asking the international community not to neglect Argentina and Latin America. In the decade up to 2015, the region was hailed for outperforming others in reducing hunger and poverty, but […]

January 31, 2023 | In the News

Fertilizer additive market statistics and research analysis released in latest industry report 2028 (News Wires) 

News Wires published a story on the fertilizer markets. The article states the market is expected to grow from US$ 3,512.65 million in 2022 to US$ 4,050.19 million by 2028; it is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 2.4 percent from 2022 to 2028.  The demand for fertilizers in many […]

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Projects

The Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI)

The Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI)

CACCI In partnership with local and regional organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, the Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI)……

Characterizing and Monitoring External Migration Patterns in Rural Guatemala

Characterizing and Monitoring External Migration Patterns in Rural Guatemala

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Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI)

Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI)

…

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