 Dear Friends and Partners,
For five decades, IFPRI has worked closely with partners to deliver cutting-edge research to inform global food policy, to improve nutrition, and to build more resilient and more equitable food systems.
As we look ahead, IFPRI renews its commitment to advancing evidence-based food policy for a brighter, fairer, and more resilient world. We launched IFPRI’s new institutional strategy in December. This strategy builds on our established strengths and our proven four research approaches to address new challenges and new opportunities, and to accelerate our commitment to a decentralized, demand-driven, and collaborative research.
From all of us at IFPRI, I want to give a big thank you to all our partners and supporters in 2025 and over the past 50 years. As the world faces new challenges and opportunities, I truly believe that IFPRI, with our partners and the policy research community, will continue making an invaluable contribution in the years ahead.
Happy New Year, and here’s to more research, to more impact, and to more collaboration in 2026 and beyond!
Johan Swinnen
IFPRI Director General
|
|
|
|
To wrap up our 50th Anniversary year, on December 15, 2025, we welcomed partners, colleagues, alumni, and friends for the event Shaping Food Policy in a Changing World: Research Priorities for Greater Impact, supported by the Gates Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation. It was a lively discussion on how evidence-based research can inform stronger, more effective food policy in an increasingly complex global context.
Reflections from IFPRI Board members, keynote speakers, researchers, and alumni highlighted the institute’s long-standing influence on policy, research, and practice worldwide. Together, we reflected on insights from a recent impact assessment of IFPRI’s work and discussed new ways to deepen impact with partners. A key highlight was the launch of IFPRI’s 2026–2030 Strategy, which sets a forward-looking agenda to build on five decades of research aimed at reducing poverty, ending hunger, and transforming food systems globally. ( Click on the image below to learn more.) |
|
|
In case you missed the live event, the full recording, presentations, and a podcast are available here.
|
|
|
Green innovations are the best policy option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agrifood systems: Rob Vos and Will Martin reviewed six policy pathways and found that innovative green farming practices—such as alternate wetting and drying for rice and improved animal feeding—are the most promising and attractive option. (Read comment in Nature Food)
A mixed‐method study on gender and intrahousehold differences in food consumption from Khatlon Province, Tajikistan: Sarah Pechtl, Mohru Mardonova, Tanzila Ergasheva, and Isabel Lambrecht assessed the extent and identify the drivers of gender-based and intrahousehold differences in dietary diversity in Tajikistan. The study found that mitigating malnutrition in Tajikistan will necessitate gender equity-focused social behavior change interventions targeting women and men across different generations. (Read article in Maternal & Child Nutrition)
Agricultural innovation frames, policies, and instruments: Evolution, lessons, and future research: Scientific and technical innovation offers solutions to many pressing challenges in the agri-food systems of low- and middle-income countries, particularly in the agriculture sector. However, successful innovation depends critically on an enabling policy environment. Catherine Ragasa, David Spielman, and John Lynam reviewed the evolution of research on the interaction between agricultural innovation and public policy and suggest that solutions-oriented research is needed through co-design processes and rigorous evaluations. (Read article in Food Policy)
It’s raining babies? Flood exposures and fertility in Bangladesh: Valerie Mueller and co-authors examine the relationship between exposure to flooding and fertility in Bangladesh, which has experienced several catastrophic flood events in recent decades. The study found flood-related increases in the likelihood of childbearing among women with less than a primary education and women who already had two or more children, and decreases among childless women and those living in urban areas. (Read article in Population and Development Review)
A food system transformation pathway reconciles 1.5°C global warming with improved health, environment, and social inclusion: Benjamin Leon Bodirsky with IFPRI researchers Abhijeet Mishra, Vartika Singh, and colleagues applied a global food and land system modelling framework to quantify the impact of 23 food system measures on 15 outcome indicators related to public health, the environment, social inclusion, and the economy, up to the year 2050. The study suggests that, through joint efforts, including measures outside the food system, the 1.5°C climate target can be achieved. (Read study in Nature Food)
|
|
|
For more frequent updates on the latest peer-reviewed publications from IFPRI researchers, read and sign up for our weekly newsletter on LinkedIn, Weekly Reads from IFPRI.
|
|
|
💻 Blog Series: AI For Food Systems Research
From principles to practice: Why ethical AI starts with data
By Carolina Martins and Berta Ortiz-Crespo
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
⚡ Blog Series: Conflicts and Other Shocks Impacting Food Systems
Will extreme weather lead to multiple breadbasket failures and threaten global food security?
By Will Martin, Reza Nia, and Rob Vos
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Agriculture Production Climate Change Food Security
🌍 Issue Posts
What really drives food policy decisions? A new blog series on practical political economy
By Danielle Resnick
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Food Systems Governance
🔍 Research Posts
50th Anniversary Impact Assessment Report: Highlights of how IFPRI research has shaped global food policy
By Peter Hazell and Frank Place
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Capacity Strengthening
The hidden costs of gendered inequities: Findings from true cost accounting of cropping systems in Kenya
By Rui Benfica, Baragu Geoffrey, Sedi Boukaka, Kristin Davis, Carlo Azzarri, Carlo Fadda, Martin Oulu, and Céline Termote
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Food Systems Gender
An elevation gap: Why children at high altitudes are more likely to experience stunting
By Taddese Zerfu
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Health Nutrition Poverty
From satellite images to real-world impact: How IFPRI-Dvara collaboration opened new doors for Odisha’s marginalized farmers
By Berber Kramer and Shalini Roy
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Risk and Insurance
From farms to borders: How reducing agricultural distortions can curb cross-border migration
By Manuel Hernandez, Danilo Trupkin, and Braulio Britos
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Migration and Remittances
Solar-powered irrigation: A pathway to low-carbon farming in sub-Saharan Africa
By Hua Xie and Claudia Ringler
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Climate Change Water and Irrigation Policy and Institutions
Violent conflicts reshape input use and productivity in smallholder farming: Findings from Nigeria
By Mulubrhan Amare, Kwaw Andam, Bedru Balana, Steven Were Omamo, and Opeyemi Olanrewaju
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Agriculture Production Fragility and Conflict
When milk quality pays: Evidence from an incentive experiment in Uganda
By Bjorn Van Campenhout, Sarah Kariuki, Richard Ariong, Jordan Chamberlin, Benon Byarugaba, and Dennis Atuha
🏷️IFPRI Topics: Trade Nutrition
The future of food demand: Evidence from a global meta-analysis and trend projections |
|
2025 marked the 50th anniversary of IFPRI. As part of our virtual celebration on IFPRI social media, we shared select IFPRI innovations that supported evolving food systems.
|
|
|
India’s domination of global rice trade stokes looming water crisis Reuters quoted Avinash Kishore in this article on rice, water supplies, and subsidies in India. “India accounts for 40% of the world’s rice exports, so any changes in production will have global implications,” Kishore said.
Ada Derana first at 9.00 Ada Derana (YouTube, Sri Lanka) featured IFPRI work in this news report, stating that a national survey titled Building Resilient Inclusive Growth and Holistic Transformation (BRIGHT) in Sri Lanka conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute and the International Water Management Institute was launched recently in Colombo. They emphasized the need to focus on data pertaining to real wages and the need to adopt pro-poor policies in the nation’s attempt to accelerate growth.
With federal relief on the horizon, Black farmers worry it won’t come soon enough NPR quoted Joe Glauber in this article on economic relief for farmers. “I think that a lot of farmers are still very much looking at the next year with some trepidation, thinking that their margins will continue to be very, very tight,” Glauber said.
Sellers not relying on middlemen anymore for fish sales: Study The Daily Star wrote that Ben Belton presented research on “Wholesalers and the Transformation of the ‘Hidden Middle’ of the Aquaculture Value Chain in Bangladesh“ at the BIDS Annual Conference on Development 2025, and that Moogdho Mahzab presented work on mechanized harvesting, while Mehrab Bakhtiar discussed the long-term impacts of social assistance on consumption and poverty.
|
|
December 10, 2025
Research Webinar Series: School-based Interventions in the 21st Century: Evidence Gaps and Future Directions | Co-organized by IFPRI and the Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF)
|
|
|
|
Have feedback on IFPRI Insights?
Let us know!
|
|
|
|
STAY CONNECTED WITH IFPRI:
|
|
|
|
|
January 21, 2026, 9:30 – 11:00 am (US/Eastern)
