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Who we are

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.

Ahmed Akhter

researcher spotlight

Akhter Ahmed

Akhter Ahmed is a Senior Research Fellow in the IFPRI’s Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit and Country Representative for IFPRI Bangladesh. He has worked on strategies for agricultural and rural development, social protection, and women’s empowerment to reduce poverty, food insecurity, and undernutrition in developing countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Malawi, the Philippines, and Turkey.

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What we do

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 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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Research by country and region

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partnerships

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI), one of the fifteen CGIAR centers, is a non-profit, scientific research organization focusing on the sustainable use of water and land resources in developing countries. IWMI works in partnership with governments, civil society and the private sector to develop scalable agricultural water management solutions that have a real impact on poverty reduction, food security and ecosystem health. IWMI’s Mission is to provide evidence-based solutions to sustainably manage water and land resources for food security, people’s livelihoods and the environment.

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Projects

Energy use in agriculture

Energy use in agriculture

Irrigation, mechanization or fertilizer?—tradeoffs and food security implications What is the challenge? Agricultural intensification through the use of high-yielding crop varieties, fertilizers, irrigation, and other agricultural……

Publications

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Working Paper

Do public works investments in watershed rehabilitation and small-scale irrigation improve nutrition and resilience? Evidence from bureau for humanitarian assistance interventions in support of Ethiopia’s productive safety net program

2024Balana, Bedru; Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Arega, Tiruwork; Ringler, Claudia; Bryan, Elizabeth; Yami, Mastewal; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Wondwosen, Abenezer
Details

Do public works investments in watershed rehabilitation and small-scale irrigation improve nutrition and resilience? Evidence from bureau for humanitarian assistance interventions in support of Ethiopia’s productive safety net program

Between 2017 and 2021, the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) of the United States Agency for International Development supported public works in the areas of watershed rehabilitation and small-scale irrigation under Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP). The investments aimed to improve food security and nutrition and to increase the resilience capacities of households through improved natural resource systems and asset development. However, there is little evidence about how these water-related investments supported household food security, nutritional outcomes, and resilience. This study used a mixed-methods approach to fill some of these knowledge gaps. Econometric results show that households in BHA intervention areas had smaller food gaps, and this association is statistically significant. Similarly, households that adopted small-scale irrigation and water harvesting techniques on their own plots show significantly better nutritional outcomes than those that did not. The results further suggest that in general the households in BHA areas are more resilient than those in non-BHA woredas. However, higher resilience capacities are associated with agricultural water management on own plots rather than with public works in communal lands. Thus, if household security, nutrition and resilience are key goals of program interventions, then programs need to grow intentionality in developing assets, and particularly irrigation.

Year published

2024

Authors

Balana, Bedru; Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Arega, Tiruwork; Ringler, Claudia; Bryan, Elizabeth; Yami, Mastewal; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Wondwosen, Abenezer

Citation

Balana, Bedru; Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Arega, Tiruwork; Ringler, Claudia; Bryan, Elizabeth; et al. 2024. Do public works investments in watershed rehabilitation and small-scale irrigation improve nutrition and resilience? Evidence from bureau for humanitarian assistance interventions in support of Ethiopia’s productive safety net program. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2308. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168643

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Public Works; Public Investment; Watershed Management; Small-scale Irrigation; Nutrition; Resilience; Social Safety Nets; Food Security

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Working Paper

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Report

Does location matter? A spatial analysis of the factors influencing adoption of cereal-legume intercropping among smallholder farming households in Malawi

2024Chigwe, Tabitha C. Nindi
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Does location matter? A spatial analysis of the factors influencing adoption of cereal-legume intercropping among smallholder farming households in Malawi

This study examines the adoption of sustainable agricultural intensification practices— particularly cereal-legume intercropping—by smallholder farming households in Malawi. The focus of the study is on how spatial variation in key factors related to agricultural production and marketing influences farming households’ decision-making processes under risk. Separate analyses are done for six distinct agroecological zones in Malawi to evaluate how resource and market constraints affect farming households’ decisions to employ intercropping practices on their cropland and how the variations in these constraints have differing impacts on adoption of intercropping across different regions. This study provides valuable insights into the complexities of smallholder farming choices in diverse geographic contexts.

Year published

2024

Authors

Chigwe, Tabitha C. Nindi

Citation

Chigwe, Tabitha C. Nindi. 2024. Does location matter? A spatial analysis of the factors influencing adoption of cereal-legume intercropping among smallholder farming households in Malawi. Malawi SSP Report October 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155279

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Households; Intercropping; Smallholders; Spatial Analysis; Sustainable Agriculture

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Report

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Book

Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor 2024

2024Odjo, Sunday; Traoré, Fousseini; Zaki, Chahir
Details

Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor 2024

The 2024 AATM investigates critical issues related to African agricultural trade. As in previous editions of the report, we have developed a database that corrects discrepancies in trade flow values, as reported by importing and exporting countries, as the basis for analyzing Africa’s international, domestic, and regional economic community (REC) trade. Given the pressing need to address climate change and curb greenhouse gas emissions, this year’s AATM takes an in-depth look at the relationship between climate change, water use, and emissions and African agricultural trade.

Year published

2024

Authors

Odjo, Sunday; Traoré, Fousseini; Zaki, Chahir

Citation

Odjo, Sunday, ed.; Traoré, Fousseini, ed.; and Zaki, Chahir, ed. 2024. Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor 2024. Kigali and Washington, DC: AKADEMIYA2063 and International Food Policy Research Institute. https://doi.org/10.54067/9781737916499.

Keywords

Africa; Agricultural Trade; Imports; Exports; Climate Change; Policies; Fertilizers; Tariffs; Manufacturing; Agriculture; Water; Natural Resources Management

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.54067/9781737916499 Source record

Record type

Book

Events

Migration and Gender Dynamics in Irrigation Governance in Nepal
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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November 25, 2020, 8:00 – 9:30 pm

Migration and Gender Dynamics in Irrigation Governance in Nepal

Widespread male migration from rural areas is one of the most important forces shaping agrarian transformation in Nepal. One particularly important area affected is the governance and management of local public goods, especially irrigation systems. Given the crucial role of irrigation in agricultural productivity and food security, attention to gender in irrigation governance is not […]

Water Security in a Changing World
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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July 12, 2018, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Water Security in a Changing World

Introductory Remarks Overview Panelists Closing Remarks Moderator Q&A Video Secure water supplies are critical to future sustainable economies and societies. Unprecedented human impact is directly degrading resource quality on every continent and, through global warming, threatens vast change in hydrological systems, with impacts on water availability and access in nearly all parts of the world. […]

Blogs

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia 2024 Conference: Connecting the dots across systems
IFPRI Blog
 | 
February 04, 2025

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia 2024 Conference: Connecting the dots across systems

By Julie Ghostlaw, Esha Sarswat, Shreya Chakraborty, Neha Kumar, Swetha Manohar, and Samuel Scott

Exploring the interconnectedness of food systems.