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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.

researcher spotlight

Elodie Becquey

Elodie Becquey is a Senior Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit, based in IFPRI’s West and Central Africa office in Senegal. She has over 15 years of research experience in diet, nutrition, and food security in Africa, including countries such as Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, and Tanzania.

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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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Projects

Gender-Responsive Policies for Inclusive Agri-Food Systems in Africa

Gender-Responsive Policies for Inclusive Agri-Food Systems in Africa

Boys, girls, men, and women have various roles in global socioeconomic development. However, the norms, behaviors and responsibilities associated with being a boy, girl, man,……

Strengthening Food Systems to Promote Increased Value Chain Employment Opportunities for Youth

Strengthening Food Systems to Promote Increased Value Chain Employment Opportunities for Youth

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Publications

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Brief

Digital tool integration, biodiversity, and the potato value chain in Kenya: Results from a baseline survey

2025Boukaka, Sedi Anne; Geoffrey, Baragu; Azzarri, Carlo
Details

Digital tool integration, biodiversity, and the potato value chain in Kenya: Results from a baseline survey

Potato farmers in Kenya grapple with various challenges along the value chain, including limited access to quality planting materials such as seeds and fertilizers, insufficient storage and postharvest handling facilities, fluctuating market prices, and unreliable market information systems. For women and youth, these challenges are further exacerbated by persistent social gaps in the agriculture sector. Digital tools can play a vital role in addressing these challenges by providing access to valuable agricultural information, weather forecasts, and best practices that help farmers make informed decisions and improve crop management. However, challenges persist in digital tool adoption within agricultural value chains in sub-Saharan Africa. This study assesses the impact of digital tool adoption and support on socioeconomic and agriculture-related outcomes in Kenya’s potato value chain. It piggybacks on an ongoing digital tool integration program, Business Development and Coaching (BDEC), conducted by the Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA), which targets agripreneurs in Farmer Service Centers (FSCs). By comparing a treatment group that receives this training with a control group continuing business as usual, the study evaluates the effects of agripreneurs’ adoption and expanded use of digital tools on farmers’ agriculture based livelihoods, income generation, and job creation metrics, with a focus on youth employment and gender disparities.

Year published

2025

Authors

Boukaka, Sedi Anne; Geoffrey, Baragu; Azzarri, Carlo

Citation

Boukaka, Sedi Anne; Geoffrey, Baragu; and Azzarri, Carlo. 2025. Digital tool integration, biodiversity, and the potato value chain in Kenya: Results from a baseline survey. SFS4Youth Research Note 3. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178814

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Biodiversity; Digital Technology; Potatoes; Agricultural Value Chains; Farmers

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Digital Innovation

Record type

Brief

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Brief

Synopsis: Quantifying food losses in the beans value chain in Rwanda – Results from a baseline survey

2025Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Delgado, Luciana; Niyonsingiza, Josue
Details

Synopsis: Quantifying food losses in the beans value chain in Rwanda – Results from a baseline survey

Reducing food loss has become important, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, due to its direct impact on food security. Food loss also reduces producer incomes, increases food prices, and wastes natural resources, resulting in unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. Most estimates of food loss have been heavily criticized for lacking sound methodological basis. This study uses a novel methodology to measure food loss and identify where it occurs along the beans value chain in Rwanda.

Year published

2025

Authors

Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Delgado, Luciana; Niyonsingiza, Josue

Citation

Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Delgado, Luciana; and Niyonsingiza, Josue. 2025. Synopsis: Quantifying food losses in the beans value chain in Rwanda – Results from a baseline survey. SFS4Youth Research Note 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178796

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Food Losses; Beans; Agricultural Value Chains; Value Chains; Youth

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Working Paper

The landscape of youth engagement in labor markets in Africa: Are youth driving structural transformation?

2025Abay, Kibrom A.; Wondale, Meseret; Korir, Josphat K.; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Araya, Mesele; Breisinger, Clemens
Details

The landscape of youth engagement in labor markets in Africa: Are youth driving structural transformation?

This paper assesses the landscape and evolution of youth engagement in labor markets in Africa, focusing on three important countries—Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria—which together account for 40 percent of Africa’s youth population. We also examine whether Africa’s youth are driving structural transformation. To do so, we combine nationally representative data and surveys spanning more than two decades (from the 1990s to the 2020s). We situate the analysis within the region’s pressing youth unemployment challenge, where annual labor-force entrants surpass job creation. Our findings show that, despite substantial heterogeneities across countries, largely due to sectoral composition of economies, youth remain engaged in agriculture almost as much as adults. While labor continues to gradually shift out of agriculture, it has moved overwhelmingly into services rather than industry, reinforcing the unique pattern of structural transformation in Africa. More importantly, exit rates from agriculture are similar for youth and adults, except in Ethiopia, where youth are leaving agriculture at slightly higher rates than adults. In Ethiopia and Kenya, the entry rate into services is higher among young women, while entry into industry is higher among young men, suggesting distributional and equity implications of Africa’s ongoing structural transformation. These findings offer important insights and challenge simplistic views that youth are leaving agriculture in “droves” as well as the sometimes-embroidered perceptions of their role in that transformation. We discuss the implications of these findings for sustaining inclusive employment opportunities and argue that agriculture should remain central to job creation efforts in Africa.

Year published

2025

Authors

Abay, Kibrom A.; Wondale, Meseret; Korir, Josphat K.; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Araya, Mesele; Breisinger, Clemens

Citation

Abay, Kibrom A.; Wondale, Meseret; Korir, Josphat K.; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Araya, Mesele; and Breisinger, Clemens. 2025. The landscape of youth engagement in labor markets in Africa: Are youth driving structural transformation? IFPRI Discussion Paper 2382. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178454

Keywords

Africa; Youth; Labour Market; Structural Adjustment; Youth Employment; Agrifood Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper