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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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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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experts

Innovation Policy and Scaling

Bjorn Van Campenhout

Research Fellow

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Bio

Bjorn Van Campenhout is a Research Fellow in the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. He is also an Associate Research Fellow at the LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance of the KU Leuven, Belgium.  His research focuses on smallholder agriculture, especially in East Africa. He has published on food market integration and smallholder market participation. Recently, he has been investigating the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) to make agricultural extension more inclusive and effective. He earned a PhD from KU Leuven, Belgium.

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Publications

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Journal Article

Buyer-side gender discrimination in bargaining: Evidence from seed sales in Uganda

2025Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Nabwire, Leocardia
Details

Buyer-side gender discrimination in bargaining: Evidence from seed sales in Uganda

Haggling over prices is a common feature of economic transactions in many societies. This study examines whether the gender of the seller influences buyers’ negotiation strategies and outcomes in bilateral price bargaining. Using a bargaining experiment in eastern Uganda, we analyze interactions between smallholder maize farmers and either a male or female seed seller. Our findings reveal that buyers negotiating with female sellers are less likely to accept the initial offer price and respond with lower counter-bids compared to those bargaining with male sellers. Negotiations also last, on average, one round longer when the seller is a woman, and final transaction prices are nearly 9 percent lower. These results are particularly relevant for rural economies, where restrictive gender norms limit women’s financial autonomy. Given that small agribusinesses often provide one of the few viable income-generating opportunities for women, gender biases in market interactions can have substantial implications for economic empowerment and household welfare.

Year published

2025

Authors

Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Nabwire, Leocardia

Citation

Van Campenhout, Bjorn; and Nabwire, Leocardia. 2025. Buyer-side gender discrimination in bargaining: Evidence from seed sales in Uganda. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 119(December 2025): 102404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2025.102404

Country/Region

Uganda

Keywords

Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Gender; Discrimination; Seeds; Bargaining Power

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2025.102404 Source record

Project

Market Intelligence

Record type

Journal Article

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Working Paper

Signaling, screening, or sunk costs? Experimental evidence on how prices affect agricultural technology adoption in East Africa

2025Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Abate, Gashaw T.; Colen, Liesbeth; Kramer, Berber
Details

Signaling, screening, or sunk costs? Experimental evidence on how prices affect agricultural technology adoption in East Africa

Free samples are a widely used strategy to introduce new products or technologies, offering prospective users the opportunity to gain firsthand experience and potentially facilitate diffusion through social networks. However, concerns remain that giving away products for free may reduce their perceived value, increasing the risk that recipients will underutilize, repurpose, or resell the product rather than use it for its intended purpose. We explore three mechanisms through which charging a positive price may increase uptake, intended use and subsequent adoption of a new technology: (1) a signaling effect, where a positive price conveys higher product quality; (2) a screening effect, whereby payment deters users who do not value the product and targets those more likely to use it; and (3) a sunk cost effect, where paying a positive price induces a psychological commitment to use. We test how these pricing mechanisms shape uptake, use, and subsequent adoption of recently released seed varieties of staple food crops, drawing on a field experiment with smallholder farmers in Uganda and Ethiopia. We find that willingness to pay is a reliable predictor of subsequent use of seed trial packs, pointing to the value of modest prices for targeting likely adopters. At the same time, sunk cost effects are context specific and often negative, suggesting that charging farmers can reduce their ability or willingness to experiment. These findings carry important implications for how pricing strategies can be designed to promote technology adoption in low-income settings.

Year published

2025

Authors

Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Abate, Gashaw T.; Colen, Liesbeth; Kramer, Berber

Citation

Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Abate, Gashaw T.; Colen, Liesbeth; and Kramer, Berber. 2025. Signaling, screening, or sunk costs? Experimental evidence on how prices affect agricultural technology adoption in East Africa. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2369. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Country/Region

Uganda; Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Technology Adoption; Prices; Crops; Seeds; Costs; Agricultural Technology

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Market Intelligence

Record type

Working Paper

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Brochure

Upgrading opportunities in Tanzania’s groundnut value chains for improved nutrition, livelihoods, and food safety outcomes at scale

2025Kariuki, Sarah Wairimu; Gichungi, Hannah Mumbi; Mbugua, Mercy; Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Bunjiku, Antony; Chamberlin, Jordan
Details

Upgrading opportunities in Tanzania’s groundnut value chains for improved nutrition, livelihoods, and food safety outcomes at scale

Groundnut value chains are expanding rapidly in Tanzania, driven in part by rising urban demand and the growth of peanut butter processing. However, supply chains remain fragmented and informal, with limited incentives or mechanisms to ensure quality and food safety, restricting the sector’s potential to improve nutrition, livelihoods, and public health. This brief presents findings from qualitative fieldwork and ongoing research aimed at identifying constraints to value chain upgrading and opportunities for innovation. Engagement with value chain actors and stakeholders highlighted five potential market failures: weak quality verification systems, a lack of incentives for upstream quality investment, coordination failures, food safety externalities (e.g., lower-quality nuts with higher contamination risk entering other markets), and incomplete markets for improved seeds. We outline a research agenda to test institutional and technological innovations to address market failures and strengthen quality incentives for improved livelihood, nutrition, and food safety outcomes at scale.

Year published

2025

Authors

Kariuki, Sarah Wairimu; Gichungi, Hannah Mumbi; Mbugua, Mercy; Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Bunjiku, Antony; Chamberlin, Jordan

Citation

Kariuki, S. K., Gichungi, H., Mbugua, M., Van Campenhout, B., Bunjiku, A., & Chamberlin, J. (2025). Upgrading opportunities in Tanzania’s groundnut value chains for improved nutrition, livelihoods, and food safety outcomes at scale [Brochure]. CGIAR. https://hdl.handle.net/10883/36006

Keywords

Tanzania; Groundnuts; Value Chains; Nutrition; Livelihoods; Food Safety; Markets

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brochure

Blogs

Signaling, screening, or sunk costs? Experimental evidence on how prices affect agricultural technology adoption in East Africa
IFPRI Blog
 | 
November 20, 2025

Signaling, screening, or sunk costs? Experimental evidence on how prices affect agricultural technology adoption in East Africa

By Bjorn Van Campenhout, Gashaw Abate, Liesbeth Colen, and Berber Kramer

An avenue to improved productivity.

Enhancing milk quality in Uganda: Challenges and innovations in the dairy value chain
IFPRI Blog
 | 
September 09, 2024

Enhancing milk quality in Uganda: Challenges and innovations in the dairy value chain

By Richard Ariong, Bjorn Van Campenhout, Sarah W. Kariuki, and Jordan Chamberlin

Improving market incentives.

Behavioral explanations for the sell-low-buy-high puzzle in smallholder market participation: Lessons from a field experiment in Malawi
IFPRI Blog
 | 
July 22, 2024

Behavioral explanations for the sell-low-buy-high puzzle in smallholder market participation: Lessons from a field experiment in Malawi

By Joachim De Weerdt, Brian Dillon, Emmanuel Hami, Bjorn Van Campenhout, and Leocardia Nabwire

Our study tested two behavioral interventions—budgeting and sales planning—to understand and mitigate this paradox.

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Events

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists
IFPRI at External Event

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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 […]

31st International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE)
IFPRI at External Event

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August 17 to 31, 2021

31st International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE)

Virtual Event: AUG 17, 2021 – 08:00 AM to AUG 31, 2021 08:00 PM EDT. IFPRI is participating in the 31st Conference of Agriculture Economists organized by the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE). 

American Economic Association Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) 2021 Annual Meeting
IFPRI at External Event

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January 3 to 5, 2021

American Economic Association Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) 2021 Annual Meeting

IFPRI is participating in the American Economic Association (AEA) Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) 2021 Annual Meeting on January 3-5, 2021.  ASSA provides opportunities to share, collaborate, and learn about the latest research emerging in the field. Name Title Date Time Bjorn Van Campenhout INVITED POSTER SESSION Community Advocacy Forums and Public Service Delivery – Impact, and the Role of […]

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