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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.

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.

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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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Projects

Addressing the impacts of climate change in the Philippine agriculture sector

Addressing the impacts of climate change in the Philippine agriculture sector

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Picture-Based Crop Insurance (PBI)

Picture-Based Crop Insurance (PBI)

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Foresight Modeling with IFPRI’s IMPACT Model

Foresight Modeling with IFPRI’s IMPACT Model

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Publications

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Working Paper

Gender integration in food-system policies: an adapted policy assessment framework

2025Mawia, Harriet; Muchiri, Caroline; Frimpong-Wiafe, Belinda; Enahoro, Dolapo K.
Details

Gender integration in food-system policies: an adapted policy assessment framework

Food systems are complex and include multifaceted processes in food production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption and post-consumption disposal of food products. Ensuring gender equality within food systems is important because they connect various domains, such as health and nutrition, climate change, environment, fisheries, livestock and agriculture. This interconnectedness within food systems leads to significant implications for human health, including nutrition and diets, as well as climate and environment-related indicators. Interactions of gender within these domains complicate the equitable derivation and distribution of benefits from agricultural activities by women and men. Therefore, policies governing food systems in low- and middle-income countries need to integrate gender-responsive approaches into their design, implementation and monitoring, recognizing the multifaceted processes of food systems and how gender interacts with these processes. The existing tools and frameworks that assess gender integration within policies about food systems do not extend beyond the scope of agricultural production into other interacting domains. This working paper addresses this gap by developing an enhanced framework for evaluating gender integration in policy documents within and beyond agriculture. The thematic reach of this framework includes agriculture, livestock, fisheries, climate change, health and nutrition, environment, and natural resource management. By leveraging a gender and food-systems framework that deconstructs food-systems functions, and how they impact women and men differently, the framework offers structured guidance for incorporating gender-related considerations within policy documents relating to food systems. The framework also has implications for participatory policy processes—design, implementation and monitoring—that aim to foster gender-equitable benefits from food-systems interventions.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mawia, Harriet; Muchiri, Caroline; Frimpong-Wiafe, Belinda; Enahoro, Dolapo K.

Citation

Mawia, H., Muchiri, C., Frimpong-Wiafe, B. and Enahoro, D. 2025. Gender integration in food-system policies: an adapted policy assessment framework. CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform Working Paper #025. Nairobi, Kenya: CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform.

Keywords

Gender Analysis; Food Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Journal Article

Using best-worst scaling to inform agroecological interventions in Western Kenya

2025Zander, Kerstin K.; Drucker, Adam G.; Aluso, Lillian; Mengistu, Dejene K.; Fadda, Carlo; Termote, Céline; Davis, Kristin E.
Details

Using best-worst scaling to inform agroecological interventions in Western Kenya

Both the demand for food and the environmental impacts of food production are estimated to significantly increase by 2050. Agroecological interventions have proven effective in facilitating the transition from current food production systems to more sustainable ones. These interventions can not only ensure more equitable food and nutritional security but also address poverty and reduce environmental impacts. As such, agroecological interventions can generate both private and public ecosystem services. Farmers play a key role in how food is produced, as the practices they use are linked with their preferences and expertise, as well as the constraints they face. Understanding farmers’ preferences for the adoption of different agroecological practices and their perceptions of the associated costs and benefits is critical to informing policies that can effectively support farmers in transitioning to more sustainable practices, including those that contribute to the generation of ecosystem services highly valued by broader society. To assess such preferences, we conducted a survey among farmers in Western Kenya which included a best-worst scaling experiment augmented by qualitative questions about the reasons for farmers’ views about the importance of the benefits arising from agroecological practices. Results show that farmers have strong preferences for adopting agroecological practices that generate private goods and are directly related to increasing productivity and food security, including improving health of household members. These may also include practices that have some public good elements as well, such as increasing agrobiodiversity. However, practices that generate broader public good benefits, including improved forest quality/coverage, reduced off-farm environmental impacts, greater community-level resilience to shocks, and improved landscape and wildlife management, were less important to farmers. Such findings can be used to inform policies that support farmer adoption of agroecological interventions best suited to different farming communities, as well as indicating the need for additional types of market-based incentives, such as through Payments for Ecosystem Service mechanisms.

Year published

2025

Authors

Zander, Kerstin K.; Drucker, Adam G.; Aluso, Lillian; Mengistu, Dejene K.; Fadda, Carlo; Termote, Céline; Davis, Kristin E.

Citation

Zander, Kerstin K.; Drucker, Adam G.; Drucker, Adam G.; Aluso, Lillian; Mengistu, Dejene K.; Fadda, Carlo; Termote, Céline; and Davis, Kristin. Using best-worst scaling to inform agroecological interventions in Western Kenya. Environment, Development and Sustainability. Article in press. First published online on June 28, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05173-5

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Agroecology; Sustainability; Farmers; Poverty; Farmers’ Attitudes; Ecosystem Services

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05173-5 Source record

Project

Nature-Positive Solutions

Record type

Journal Article

Article has an altmetric score of 7
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Report

Transforming food systems towards sustainable healthy diets in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam: A cross-country stakeholder analysis

2024Namugumya, Brenda Shenute; Fakhry, Hager; Herens, Marion; Huynh, Tuyen; Duong, Thanh Thi; Pham, Huong; Mengesha, Belay Terefe; Khatun, Wajiha
Details

Transforming food systems towards sustainable healthy diets in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam: A cross-country stakeholder analysis

The CGIAR Research Initiative on Sustainable Healthy Diets through Food Systems Transformation (SHiFT) recognizes the urgency of early stakeholder engagement to facilitate systemic changes towards sustainable healthy diets. This qualitative exploratory study aimed to provide insights about where stakeholders are active in food systems in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Viet Nam and their characteristics. The conceptual framework of food systems for diets and nutrition proposed by the High Level Panel of Experts on food security and nutrition was used to map all stakeholders using a network analysis approach, in particular applying the degree centrality measure. This measure shows the food system domains with the largest number of stakeholder connections. The analysis reveals that centralization is spread across various food system domains. In Bangladesh, the areas with the most stakeholder connections are observed in the policy and governance and food environment domains. In Ethiopia, more connections were observed under the food environment, and production system domains and the outcomes related to diets, nutrition and health. In Viet Nam, it is the production system, storage and trade, packaging and processing, and food environment domains with the most stakeholder connections. Overall, platforms are active in policy and governance in all countries, suggesting that engaging with multi-stakeholder platforms is beneficial for SHiFT to advance the national agendas aimed at realizing sustainable healthy diets. Considering connectivity with food system domains, SHiFT can collaborate with all sectors. Moreover, focusing on stakeholders in the food environment, particularly on overseeing foodscapes for people, is essential. However, implementing food systems transformation requires identifying and engaging with other actors as well. However, there is limited representation of stakeholders in processing, transport, and retail, especially in Ethiopia and Bangladesh. International stakeholders emerge prominently from our analysis, suggesting that the food system narrative may still be primarily driven from an international/global perspective, resonating with the United Nations Food Systems Summit dialogues. To realize the ambitions of transitioning towards sustainable healthy diets for all, efforts must extend beyond projects/programs and engage national-level stakeholders.

Year published

2024

Authors

Namugumya, Brenda Shenute; Fakhry, Hager; Herens, Marion; Huynh, Tuyen; Duong, Thanh Thi; Pham, Huong; Mengesha, Belay Terefe; Khatun, Wajiha

Citation

Namugumya, Brenda Shenute; Fakhry, Hager; Herens, Marion; Huynh, Tuyen; Duong, Thanh Thi; Pham, Huong; Mengesha, Belay Terefe; and Khatun, Wajiha. 2024. Transforming food systems towards sustainable healthy diets in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam: A cross-country stakeholder analysis. SHiFT Report September 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/163759

Country/Region

Bangladesh; Ethiopia; Vietnam

Keywords

Southern Asia; Eastern Africa; South-eastern Asia; Africa; Asia; Stakeholder Engagement; Sustainability; Diet; Food Systems; Nutrition; Network Analysis; Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Report

Blogs

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