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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

David Spielman

David Spielman is the director of IFPRI’s Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit and has been with the institute since 2004. His research agenda covers a range of topics including agriculture and rural development policy; agricultural science, technology, and innovation; plant genetic resources and seed systems; agricultural extension and advisory services; and community-driven rural development.

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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 480 employees working in over 70 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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partnerships

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), one of fifteen CGIAR Research Centers, undertakes scientific research for development. ICRISAT believes that everyone is entitled to nutritious food and a better quality of life. Their approach is through partnerships and with an Inclusive Market Oriented Development. ICRISAT takes a catalyst role to help rural communities develop their own solution and engage the actors needed to bring the vision to reality.

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Publications

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Brief

Women’s empowerment in Ghana’s agriculture sector: Insights from the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index

2025Abdu, Aishat; Malapit, Hazel J.; Go, Ara
Details

Women’s empowerment in Ghana’s agriculture sector: Insights from the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index

Key messages • Gender disparities in agriculture persist in Ghana, particularly in land ownership, credit access, and decision-making power, limiting women’s productivity and contribution to food security. • The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) has been instrumental in revealing these gender gaps in northern Ghana, but similar data are lacking for other regions, hindering national-level policy responsiveness. • Targeted interventions, such as securing land rights for women, improving access to financial services, and promoting participation in farmer-based organizations, are critical to advancing women’s empowerment and achieving gender-equitable agricultural development.

Year published

2025

Authors

Abdu, Aishat; Malapit, Hazel J.; Go, Ara

Citation

Abdu, Aishat; Malapit, Hazel J.; and Go, Ara. 2025. Women’s empowerment in Ghana’s agriculture sector: Insights from the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. WEAI Applications and Insights Brief 5. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176637

Country/Region

Ghana

Keywords

Africa; Western Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Agriculture; Gender; Land Ownership; Women’s Empowerment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Working Paper

Detecting cumulative effects of inputs within the flexible production function framework through LASSO shrinkage estimation: Implications for potassium fertilizer use in India

2025Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Kishore, Avinash
Details

Detecting cumulative effects of inputs within the flexible production function framework through LASSO shrinkage estimation: Implications for potassium fertilizer use in India

Despite recognition of the potentially significant cumulative effects of input use on annual crop output—such as the effect of applying inorganic fertilizer in one year on crop output in the subsequent year—real-world evidence from smallholder farmers’ fields in lower-income countries remains scarce. We narrow this knowledge gap using unique district-level and farm-household-level annual panel datasets in India. We start with flexible translog production functions, which are well-suited for identifying cumulative effects in farmers’ actual production environments. We then apply shrinkage methods (LASSO and GMM-LASSO) to approximate the production function with reduced parameter dimensions, addressing various challenges such as multicollinearity among multiple inputs, including the same inputs from the current and previous years, and potential endogeneity in inputs. Our results indicate that, throughout the shrinkage process, potassium remains a key predictor of outputs, while other inputs (land, labor, capital, irrigation, and other fertilizer nutrients) drop out. More important, the cumulative quantity of potassium from both the previous and current years is a consistently more critical determinant of production than the quantity of potassium from the current year alone, demonstrating the potassium’s significant cumulative effects. These patterns hold at both the district and farm levels across diverse agroecologies and cropping systems. Furthermore, the dynamic panel data analyses suggest that farmers’ use of potassium in the current year is significantly negatively affected by its use in the previous year, potentially stabilizing outputs across years. Our results support earlier agronomic findings suggesting that the cumulative effects of potassium may be relevant across wider geographic regions than previously thought.

Year published

2025

Authors

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Kishore, Avinash

Citation

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; and Kishore, Avinash. 2025. Detecting cumulative effects of inputs within the flexible production function framework through LASSO shrinkage estimation: Implications for potassium fertilizer use in India. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2332. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174101

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Fertilizers; Inputs; Machine Learning; Potassium

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Dataset

Drivers of Pigeon Peas Consumption Among School Aged Children in Central Tanzania

2024International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
Details

Drivers of Pigeon Peas Consumption Among School Aged Children in Central Tanzania

Data was collected from 138 caregivers of reproductive age (20-49 years) residing in four villages—Laikala, Mlali, Moleti, and Chitego—in Kongwa District, Dodoma Region, Tanzania. The caregivers were from households with school-aged children (5–12 years) and were randomly selected using the random walk sampling method. In each selected household, one caregiver was chosen based on their prior knowledge and consumption of pigeon pea, as well as their willingness to participate in the study. The data collection involved a questionnaire designed to combine the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Health Belief Model (HBM). This questionnaire assessed both internal and external factors influencing caregivers’ choices regarding pigeon pea consumption for their children. Respondents indicated their level of agreement or disagreement with various statements on a Likert scale, as read by interviewers. This cross-sectional data is intended to provide insights into the factors affecting pigeon pea consumption and is valuable for developing programs and interventions aimed at increasing its intake in the Kongwa District.

Year published

2024

Authors

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

Citation

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). 2022. Drivers of Pigeon Peas Consumption Among School Aged Children in Central Tanzania. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) [dataset]. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/VFF2EE. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1.

Keywords

Tanzania; Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Pigeon Peas; Children; School Children; Food Consumption

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/vff2ee Source record

Record type

Dataset