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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.

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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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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Development Strategies and Governance

Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse

Senior Research Fellow/Program Leader- Ethiopia

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Bio

Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Ethiopia. He is a development economist whose recent research covered agricultural transformation; impact evaluation (including impact evaluation of large multi-year public programs); social protection; individual psycho-social characteristics, behaviour, and well-being outcomes; risk and insurance, consumption patterns and demand elasticities; cooperatives; and inter‐sectoral linkages and growth. The bulk of Alemayehu’s research focuses on Ethiopia, with ongoing contributions to studies on Sudan and earlier work on sub-Sharan Africa. He is an Elected Fellow of the Econometric Society and the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences. Alemayehu has previously worked as an assistant professor of economics at Addis Ababa University and an economic affairs officer at the UNECA. He holds a BA in Economics from Addis Ababa University, an M.Sc. in Quantitative Development Economics from the University of Warwick, and a D.Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford.

Research Gate

Google Scholar Citations

Publications

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Brief

Ethiopia: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

2025Aragie, Emerta A.; Thurlow, James; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Pauw, Karl; Jones, Eleanor
Details

Ethiopia: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

In this policy brief, we present findings of a systematic evaluation and ranking of investment options for Ethiopia’s agrifood system based on their cost-effectiveness in achieving multiple development outcomes, including agrifood gross domestic product (GDP) growth, agrifood job creation, poverty reduction, declining undernourishment, and lowering diet deprivation. Additionally, the study assesses their environmental footprint, focusing on water consumption, land use, and emissions. Investments in small and medium enterprise (SME) traders and processors are shown to be the most cost effective at driving improvements in social outcomes, like poverty and undernourishment. They are also highly ranked in terms of expanding agrifood GDP and employment. Extension services for livestock, credit for farmers, R&D (agronomy), and safety nets also rank high. However, many cost-effective investments have relatively high environmental footprints, which highlights potential tradeoffs. The study further reveals shifts in the cost-effectiveness ranking of investment options overtime and when extreme production shocks occur.

Year published

2025

Authors

Aragie, Emerta A.; Thurlow, James; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Pauw, Karl; Jones, Eleanor

Citation

Aragie, Emerta; Thurlow, James; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Pauw, Karl; and Jones, Eleanor. 2025. Ethiopia: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development. Agrifood Investment Prioritization Country Series Brief 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174466

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Agricultural Sector; Sustainable Development; Poverty; Nutrition; Environmental Impact; Investment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Brief

Ethiopia: Systematic analysis of world market and domestic production shocks

2025Mukashov, Askar; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Jones, Eleanor; Thurlow, James
Details

Ethiopia: Systematic analysis of world market and domestic production shocks

This study is part of a series of country briefs by IFPRI that leverages economywide models to deliver detailed risk assessments of key economic indicators. This initial analysis evaluates vulnerabilities across economic sectors and key population groups to answer two questions: (1) How vulnerable are Ethiopia’s national economy and population to world market and domestic production shocks? (2) What are the largest risks to Ethiopia’s overall economic performance, private consumption, and reductions in poverty and undernourishment?

Year published

2025

Authors

Mukashov, Askar; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Jones, Eleanor; Thurlow, James

Citation

Mukashov, Askar; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Jones, Eleanor; and Thurlow, James. 2025. Ethiopia: Systematic analysis of world market and domestic production shocks. Economywide Risk Assessment Brief 8. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174156

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Eastern Africa; Domestic Production; Shock; World Markets

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Shocks and stability of risk and time preferences among poor rural households in Ethiopia

2025Meles, Tensay Hadush; Abay, Mehari Hiluf; Berhane, Guush; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum
Details

Shocks and stability of risk and time preferences among poor rural households in Ethiopia

This paper examines the effects of shocks on temporal stability of risk and time preferences of rural households within a developing country context characterized by frequent droughts, chronic food insecurity, and low levels of education. Leveraging a three-wave large and diverse household panel data that elicits preferences every two years for more than 6,500 individuals from over 5,600 sample rural households in Ethiopia, we analyze the effects of droughts (self-reported) and rainfall shortfalls on household risk and time preferences. Our findings show that households become more risk-averse and impatient after experiencing drought and rainfall shocks; the change in risk preferences is more notable among households that experience recurrent droughts and multiple covariate shocks during the same period.

Year published

2025

Authors

Meles, Tensay Hadush; Abay, Mehari Hiluf; Berhane, Guush; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum

Citation

Meles, Tensay Hadush; Abay, Mehari Hiluf; Berhane, Guush; and Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum. 2025. Shocks and stability of risk and time preferences among poor rural households in Ethiopia. Journal of African Economies 34(2): 184–207. https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejae005

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Food Insecurity; Households; Poverty; Rural Areas; Shock

Language

English

Access/Licence

Limited Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejae005 Source record

Project

Climate Resilience

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

Sudan’s ongoing conflict disrupts agrifood processing and aggravates unemployment
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 15, 2023

Sudan’s ongoing conflict disrupts agrifood processing and aggravates unemployment

By Oliver K. Kirui, Khalid Siddig, Hala Abushama, and Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse

Food system impacts of war,

Informing policies with causal impact evaluations: Co-creation and trust matter
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 06, 2023

Informing policies with causal impact evaluations: Co-creation and trust matter

By Kibrom Abay, Akhter Ahmed, Clemens Breisinger, Naureen Karachiwalla, Sikandra Kurdi, and Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse

IFPRI assessments provide key information for policymakers.

Teff love: Ethiopia’s staple crop requires a big push
IFPRI Blog
 | 
August 24, 2018

Teff love: Ethiopia’s staple crop requires a big push

By Bart Minten, Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, and Smita Aggarwal

A new book explores the potential for expanding production of one of Ethiopia's signature crops.

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Events

SPIR II RFSA Learning Event: Impact results workshops
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

December 9 to 10, 2024

SPIR II RFSA Learning Event: Impact results workshops

December 9, 2024 | 9:30am to 12:00pm (Africa/Addis_Ababa) | Video Recording | Presentation December 9, 2024 | 1:00pm to 3:30pm (Africa/Addis_Ababa) | Video Recording | Presentation December 10, 2024 | 9:30am to 12:45pm (Africa/Addis_Ababa) | Video Recording | Presentation Click HERE to view the agenda. The Strengthen PSNP Institutions and Resilience (SPIR II) Resilience Food […]

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

August 2 to 7, 2024

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists

The triennial International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE-2024), centred on the theme “Transformation Towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems” is scheduled from August 2-7, 2024, in New Delhi, India. The conference offers a distinctive platform, providing a golden opportunity for the agricultural academic institutions and researchers to convene in person, exchange knowledge, and actively contribute to the […]

Deepening Social Protection Systems: Enhancing livelihoods and health in Ethiopia
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

April 17, 2024, 10:30 – 12:00 pm

Deepening Social Protection Systems: Enhancing livelihoods and health in Ethiopia

Hybrid Event: April 17, 2024 at 10:30am-12:00pm EDT. This event will present findings from a randomized controlled trial of Strengthening PSNP Institutions and Resilience (SPIR), a graduation model program embedded within the PSNP that is led by World Vision, in collaboration with CARE and ORDA, and with support from the Ethiopian government and USAID.

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News

July 19, 2018 | Press Release

NEW BOOK: Higher Investments in Research, Adoption of New Technologies to Improve Productivity and Export Potential of Teff

Addis Ababa: Ethiopia could increase production of its gluten-free and nutrient-rich cash crop teff, and tap into the expanding domestic and international markets, by ramping up investments in basic research; adopting new and better technologies; improving input distribution systems; and extending markets , according to a new book launched by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Addis Ababa today.   “Teff makes a considerable contribution to Ethiopians’ incomes and food security, and has potential to provide […]

August 22, 2018 | In the News

Teff love: Ethiopia’s staple crop requires a big push (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

Thomson Reuters Foundation published an op-ed by IFPRI researchers Bart Minten and Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse analyzing the current value chain of Ethiopia’s staple grain, teff.  Still a nascent cash crop, Minten and Taffesse list various challenges, and provide recommendations to increase production and marketability of teff drawing from their new book, The Economics of Teff: […]

July 20, 2018 | In the News

More investment in research could improve Ethiopia’s teff crop (African Independent)

The African Independent summarized findnigs of a new book on Ethiopian teff.

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Research

Topics/Countries

Awards

  • Elected Fellow, The Econometric Society, 2022
  • Elected Fellow, The Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (EAS), 2018