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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

Abhijeet Mishra

Abhijeet Mishra is a Research Fellow in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit. Abhijeet’s research interests include future sustainable pathways for the global land-use system and the trade-offs between land-based mitigation, food security, and other sustainable development goals.

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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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Where we work

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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The Nature Conservancy, a non-governmental organization, is dedicated to protecting and conserving nature for people today and for future generations to come. The Nature Conservancy is a leader in conservation and is working to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Nature Conservancy seeks to address and correct unsustainable agricultural practices, while at the same time supporting improvements in soil health, habitat conservation and resource efficiency.

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Publications

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Book Chapter

Regional integration, resilience, and innovation

2026Sall, Leysa Maty; Girma, Mahlet; Havsteen Branner, Victoria
Details

Regional integration, resilience, and innovation

Regional integration has become a strategic objective for Africa in an era marked by global tensions, climate vulnerability, and persistent structural transformation challenges. Despite decades of regional trade agreements, intra-African trade remains limited and concentrated in a narrow range of products, reflecting shallow productive integration and high trade costs. These constraints are particularly present in agriculture, which employs nearly 60% of Africa’s labor force and plays a central role in food security, income generation, and poverty reduction (Mamboundou et al. 2026). The launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) represents a structural shift toward continent-wide deep integration, with the potential to expand intra-African trade, strengthen regional value chains, and enhance economic resilience. At the same time, digital innovation and climate imperatives are reshaping the policy landscape, creating both opportunities and adjustment pressures. This chapter examines the interconnections between regional integration, resilience, and innovation in Africa, assessing the evolution and performance of regional trade integration, evaluating the projected impacts of AfCFTA implementation, and analyzing the roles of digitalization and climate-smart trade pathways in supporting inclusive and sustainable transformation. In the context of the post-MC14, the chapter contributes to ongoing debates on how regional integration can complement multilateral reform, particularly in agriculture, digital trade governance, and climate-related trade measures.

Year published

2026

Authors

Sall, Leysa Maty; Girma, Mahlet; Havsteen Branner, Victoria

Citation

Sall, Leysa Maty; Girma, Mahlet; and Havsteen Branner, Victoria. 2026. Regional integration, resilience, and innovation. In Agricultural Trade at a Crossroads with Latin American, Caribbean, and African Perspectives for Post-MC14, eds. Valeria Piñeiro, Simon Mevell, and Martin Piñeiro. Part Three: Africa: Regional Perspective, Chapter 3.3, Pp. 204-236. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/183497

Keywords

Africa; Climate-smart Agriculture; Multilateral Organizations; Trade Agreements; Regional Policies; Trade; Resilience; Innovation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-SA-3.0-IGO

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Book Chapter

Innovation, sustainability and the new frontier of competitiveness in the agrifood sector

2026Papendieck, Sabine; Villarreal, Federico; Elverdin, Pablo
Details

Innovation, sustainability and the new frontier of competitiveness in the agrifood sector

The global agricultural trade landscape is experiencing a structural transition. The longstanding emphasis on volume and price is increasingly being complemented—and in some cases replaced—by value-based considerations, whereby production processes – “how” products are produced-carry weight comparable to production outputs – “what” product is produced. This evolution reflects the growing integration of sustainability, traceability, and environmental performance criteria into global value chains and market access conditions (World Bank, 2024; OECD, 2023). For Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), a major contributor to global net agrifood exports, this shift represents both a challenge and an opportunity to consolidate its role as a sustainable food supplier (OECD-FAO, 2024).

Year published

2026

Authors

Papendieck, Sabine; Villarreal, Federico; Elverdin, Pablo

Citation

Papendieck, Sabine; Villarreal, Federico; and Elverdin, Pablo. 2026. Innovation, sustainability and the new frontier of competitiveness in the agrifood sector. In Agricultural Trade at a Crossroads with Latin American, Caribbean, and African Perspectives for Post-MC14, eds. Valeria Piñeiro, Simon Mevell, and Martin Piñeiro. Part Two: Latin America and the Caribbean: Regional Perspective, Chapter 2.3, Pp. 124-144. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/183458

Keywords

Latin America and the Caribbean; Innovation; Sustainability; Economic Competition; Agrifood Sector; Public Goods

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-SA-3.0-IGO

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Book Chapter

Evolving trade instruments in a fragmented system

2026Bellmann, Christophe; Ismail, Yasmin; Lehmann, Fabrice
Details

Evolving trade instruments in a fragmented system

The global landscape for agricultural trade is going through deep transformations. In the face of persistent blockage in multilateral negotiations, growing geopolitical tensions, and national security considerations, governments are exploring alternative forms of cooperation. Alongside traditional bilateral and regional trade agreements, new collaborative arrangements are emerging in the form of plurilateral or sectoral approaches, informal coalitions, soft law initiatives, or agreed principles to deepen economic integration or advance specific trade agendas among like-minded partners. While these initiatives provide a space to test new ideas and approaches, which could inform future models of trade cooperation, they also contribute to growing fragmentation in the global agricultural trading system.

Year published

2026

Authors

Bellmann, Christophe; Ismail, Yasmin; Lehmann, Fabrice

Citation

Bellmann, Christophe; Ismail, Yasmin; and Lehmann, Fabrice. 2026. Evolving trade instruments in a fragmented system. In Agricultural Trade at a Crossroads with Latin American, Caribbean, and African Perspectives for Post-MC14, eds. Valeria Piñeiro, Simon Mevell, and Martin Piñeiro. Part One: The Changing Geopolitical Landscape and the WTO, Chapter 1.3, Pp. 33-62. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/183465

Keywords

Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean; Trade; Trade Agreements; Collaboration; Agricultural Trade; Digital Technology

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-SA-3.0-IGO

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

Events

Virtual Event - COVID-19: The role of the agriculture-ecosystem health interface
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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August 18, 2020, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Virtual Event – COVID-19: The role of the agriculture-ecosystem health interface

Presenters discuss possible cross-sectoral policies and actions for enhancing human and ecosystem health, with a focus on the role of One CGIAR. WATCH VIDEO

Bigger Change Faster: Integrated Development, Health, and Environment Actions for a Sustainable Future
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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October 23, 2019, 12:15 – 1:45 pm

Bigger Change Faster: Integrated Development, Health, and Environment Actions for a Sustainable Future

From climate change to malnutrition, poverty to biodiversity loss, air pollution to humanitarian crises—the problems facing our world today are deeply interconnected. Holistic initiatives to address these challenges, notably the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are becoming more common. But efforts siloed within the development, health, or environment communities remain the norm. This seminar discusses the […]

Blogs

Earth Day 2023: Empowering local communities as stewards of Earth’s freshwater resources
Issue Post
 | 
April 21, 2023

Earth Day 2023: Empowering local communities as stewards of Earth’s freshwater resources

By Wei Zhang and Ruth Meinzen-Dick

Advantages of Community-Based Conservation.

World Water Day 2021: How can we manage better what we value most?
Issue Post
 | 
March 22, 2021

World Water Day 2021: How can we manage better what we value most?

By Claudia Ringler and Ruth Meinzen-Dick

What we really mean when we talk about water’s value.