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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.

Erick Boy

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Erick Boy

Erick Boy is the Chief Nutritionist in the HarvestPlus section of the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. As head of nutrition for the HarvestPlus Program since 2008, he has led research that has generated scientific evidence on biofortified staple crops as efficacious and effective interventions to help address iron, vitamin A, and zinc deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

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Foresight and Policy Modeling

Emerta Aragie

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Emerta A. Aragie is a Research Fellow in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit. He is an economist whose research focuses on computable general equilibrium based ex ante analyses of the impacts of investment and agricultural policies in developing countries on income distribution, poverty, and food security. His past research focused on evaluating the consequences of climate change on internal migration, prioritizing public investment policies, and analyzing agricultural trade. His current research focuses on Africa south of the Sahara and has involved studies on Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Before joining IFPRI in 2018, Emerta worked as an economic modeler at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He holds a PhD in economics from Oxford Brookes University, UK.

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Brief

Economic and social outcomes of investment on infrastructure and early warning system in Tajikistan’s agrifood system

2025Khakimov, Parviz; Aragie, Emerta A.; Goibov, Manuchehr; Ashurov, Timur
Details

Economic and social outcomes of investment on infrastructure and early warning system in Tajikistan’s agrifood system

Irrigation and timely access to sufficient volumes of water are vital to increase crops productivity, rural incomes, and food security (FAO 2023; World Bank 2021). In Tajikistan, irrigation sector faces several challenges and constraints such as: aged, poorly maintained infrastructure and poor management system that led low-quality irrigation services; limited investment in drainage infrastructure, inadequate maintenance, poor water management, and harmful irrigation practices that led salinization and waterlogging in some irrigated areas. In addition, the ongoing process of climate change and rising temperatures will increase crop water demands, while water supply reliability will decline, leading to more-severe, more-frequent water stress. The minimum required operation and maintenance on irrigation infrastructure estimated to be about US$35 million per year. Around 85 percent of cultivated land is irrigated and provides more than 90 percent of the total value of crop production. Since independence, the condition and performance of irrigation infrastructure has declined because of severe underfinancing. More than 40 percent of irrigated areas depend on pumping (the highest dependency in Central Asia), and many high-lift, high-volume pumping stations are in poor condition. Pumping is inefficient (~0.28 kWh/m3, which accounts for 20 percent of total national electricity use). The economic productivity of irrigation is among the lowest 5 percent of countries in the world (~0.21 USD/m) because of high water loss, predominance of low-value crops, and low yields. Irrigation is heavily subsidized but still underfunded. Between 2016 and 2019, the share of public agriculture expenditure on irrigation infrastructure was high (44.6 percent or 880.3 million Tajik Somoni). Irrigation is financed through direct transfers for electricity, government subsidies for pumping station staff costs, revenue from irrigation service fees, WUA membership fees (for on-farm operations and maintenance), and donor investments. More than 60 percent of irrigation capital expenditures (including flood protection) is donor financed (Khakimov et al. 2024; World Bank. SWIM Project 2022).

Year published

2025

Authors

Khakimov, Parviz; Aragie, Emerta A.; Goibov, Manuchehr; Ashurov, Timur

Citation

Khakimov, Parviz; Aragie, Emerta; Goibov, Manuchehr; and Ashurov, Timur. 2025. Economic and social outcomes of investment on infrastructure and early warning system in Tajikistan’s agrifood system. Central Asia Policy Brief 35. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175318

Country/Region

Tajikistan

Keywords

Asia; Central Asia; Investment; Infrastructure; Agrifood Systems; Early Warning Systems; Irrigation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Foresight

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Economic and social outcomes of investment on market and food systems in Tajikistan

2025Khakimov, Parviz; Aragie, Emerta A.; Goibov, Manuchehr; Ashurov, Timur
Details

Economic and social outcomes of investment on market and food systems in Tajikistan

Findings of World Bank study (WB, SRAS Project 2021) indicates that lack of sufficient quantity and quality of seeds, seedlings, and planting materials in domestic market is one of the critical issues affecting farmers income and food security. Most donor projects provide direct extension support to farmers on multiplying and adopting seeds and seedlings. The local capacity to generate new varieties and planting materials remains low and over 50 percent of all agricultural inputs are imported. The capacity to test new varieties of crops for their adaptation to soils and climate in the country is also lacking, and in general the regular testing of new varieties, whether domestically developed or imported, is not conducted. Between 2016-2019, the share of public agriculture expenditure on inputs distribution to the farmers (0.04 percent or 0.81 million Tajik Somoni) and development of seeds and seedlings (0.8 percent or 16.64 million Tajik Somoni) were low (Khakimov et al. 2024).

Year published

2025

Authors

Khakimov, Parviz; Aragie, Emerta A.; Goibov, Manuchehr; Ashurov, Timur

Citation

Khakimov, Parviz; Aragie, Emerta; Goibov, Manuchehr; and Ashurov, Timur. 2025. Economic and social outcomes of investment on market and food systems in Tajikistan. Central Asia Policy Brief 33. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175319

Country/Region

Tajikistan

Keywords

Asia; Central Asia; Investment; Markets; Food Systems; Farm Inputs; Seeds; Agriculture

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Foresight

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Economic and social outcomes of investment on extension and advisory services in Tajikistan’s agrifood system

2025Khakimov, Parviz; Aragie, Emerta A.; Goibov, Manuchehr; Ashurov, Timur
Details

Economic and social outcomes of investment on extension and advisory services in Tajikistan’s agrifood system

Findings of recent study shows that in 2021, roughly 5 percent of farms and nearly 14 percent of arable land used professional extension services. Extension service actors in Tajikistan include Ministry of Agriculture, Tajik Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tajik Agrarian University, government extension specialists at the village level, the private sector, and NGOs, with a total staff of about 2,250 people, of whom about 600 are trained to provide professional extension services (Muminov 2021). The government’s fiscal space is limited the extent of support to such investments. Thus, there is a notable underinvestment in extension and advisory services (EAS), 2.4 percent of total public expenditure in agriculture sector between 2016-2019 (World Bank 2021). In this brief, for evaluating the potential impact of investment on extension and advisory services to accelerate agricultural transformation and inclusiveness in Tajikistan AFS, we rely on the IFPRI’s Rural Investment and Policy Analysis (RIAPA) economywide dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model which incorporates household survey-based microsimulation and investment modules, and simulates the functioning of a market economy, comprising markets for products and factors which include land, labor, and capital (IFPRI 2023).

Year published

2025

Authors

Khakimov, Parviz; Aragie, Emerta A.; Goibov, Manuchehr; Ashurov, Timur

Citation

Khakimov, Parviz; Aragie, Emerta; Goibov, Manuchehr; and Ashurov, Timur. 2025. Economic and social outcomes of investment on extension and advisory services in Tajikistan’s agrifood system. Central Asia Policy Brief 31. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175323

Country/Region

Tajikistan

Keywords

Asia; Central Asia; Investment; Extension Systems; Advisory Services; Agrifood Systems; Agriculture

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Foresight

Record type

Brief

Events

How do we prioritize agrifood system policies and investments? Insights from the RIAPA modeling system
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

June 12, 2024, 10:00 – 11:00 am

How do we prioritize agrifood system policies and investments? Insights from the RIAPA modeling system

Virtual Event: June 12, 2024 at 10:00am-11:00am EDT. In this webinar, we will demonstrate how RIAPA has been used to identify priority agricultural value chains that most effectively contribute to development outcomes.

Improving evidence for better policy making in Ethiopia's livestock sector
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

June 24, 2020, 3:00 – 5:30 pm

Improving evidence for better policy making in Ethiopia’s livestock sector

In collaboration with the Livestock Systems Innovation Lab (LSIL), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has been doing collaborative work over the last 3 years with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and Policy Studies Institute (PSI) to study the livestock sector in Ethiopia. Analysis has been done on the consumption and markets […]

6th African Conference of Agricultural Economists
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

September 23 to 26, 2019

6th African Conference of Agricultural Economists

IFPRI is participating in the the 6th African Conference of Agricultural Economists 2019 hosted by the African Association of Agricultural Economists​. The conference will explore the recent developments in agricultural systems across Africa. Key drivers of change include population growth, rapid urbanization, productivity enhancing innovation, climate change, the rise of agri-preneurship, land reform, as well as […]

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