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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

researcher spotlight

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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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

Foresight and Policy Modeling

Karl Pauw

Senior Research Fellow

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Bio

Karl Pauw is a Senior Research Fellow in IFPRI’s Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit based in Washington, DC, where he co-leads the country modeling team, and works on a wide range of development and agricultural policy issues. He previously led IFPRI’s country programs in Accra, Ghana (2018–2020), and Lilongwe, Malawi (2013–2015), and served as a regional coordinator for the FAO’s MAFAP program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2015–2017). He holds a PhD in Development Economics from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Publications

RePEc Profile

Publications

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Journal Article

Achieving transformational sustainable land Intensification: Integrated general equilibrium and portfolio analysis for Senegal

2025Pradesha, Angga; Siddig, Khalid; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James
Details

Achieving transformational sustainable land Intensification: Integrated general equilibrium and portfolio analysis for Senegal

Feeding a growing global population while conserving natural resources remains a central challenge of Sustainable Intensification (SI). Despite decades of SI efforts, cropland expansion in many developing countries continues to accelerate, contributing to deforestation and biodiversity loss. Even with observed increases in crop yields, studies suggest that farmers continue to expand cropland, underscoring the need to consider market dynamics and the economywide effects of productivity gains. This study offers a new perspective on achieving transformational sustainable land intensification by treating farming activities as investment decisions shaped by risk and return under production and markets uncertainties. Unlike the traditional SI strategies that focus on efficiency gains through improved inputs or agronomic practices, we apply an optimal portfolio analysis to cropland allocation, aiming to enhance farming efficiency by considering market interconnections across sectors. Using Senegal as a case study, we demonstrate that adopting an optimal diversification strategy on new cropland investment could reduce land expansion needs by up to 68 % by 2030. This strategy not only helps mitigate emissions and reduce water footprint but also enhances crop biodiversity. Socioeconomic and environmental benefits are found to be greater when the country promotes high-value crops in its portfolio, such as fruits and vegetables, compared to grain crops. Our findings also contribute to ongoing debates around land-sparing versus land-sharing strategies and offer new insights into the drivers of cropland expansion in light of current global land use patterns.

Year published

2025

Authors

Pradesha, Angga; Siddig, Khalid; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James

Citation

Pradesha, Angga; Siddig, Khalid; Pauw, Karl; and Thurlow, James. 2025. Achieving transformational sustainable land Intensification: Integrated general equilibrium and portfolio analysis for Senegal. Journal of Cleaner Production 519(10 August 2025): 145929. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.145929

Country/Region

Senegal

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Western Africa; Sustainable Intensification; Farmland; Land Allocation; Computable General Equilibrium Models; Modelling; Sustainability

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.145929 Source record

Project

Foresight

Record type

Journal Article

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Book Chapter

Agrifood systems: Transformation, structural change, and development

2025Diao, Xinshen; McMillan, Margaret; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James
Details

Agrifood systems: Transformation, structural change, and development

Agricultural transformation has long been critical to improving access to food, reducing poverty, and stimulating economic growth, but the role of agriculture in structural change and economic development is evolving in the modern context. This chapter explains the shifting paradigms in our understanding and approaches to agricultural transformation, which continue to redefine discourse, research, and action. Book link: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174108

Year published

2025

Authors

Diao, Xinshen; McMillan, Margaret; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James

Citation

Diao, Xinshen; McMillan, Margaret; Pauw, Karl; and Thurlow, James. 2025. Agrifood systems: Transformation, structural change, and development. In Global food policy report 2025: Food policy: Lessons and priorities for a changing world, eds. Johan Swinnen and Christopher Barrett. Part One: Pathways to Progress, Chapter 3, Pp. 53-72. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174178

Keywords

Agrifood Systems; Economic Development; Rural Development; Poverty Reduction; Food Access; Economic Growth; Agricultural Transformation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Working Paper

Measuring agrifood systems: New indicators and global estimates

2025Thurlow, James; Holtemeyer, Brian; Jiang, Shiyun; Pauw, Karl; Randriamamonjy, Josee
Details

Measuring agrifood systems: New indicators and global estimates

Transformation of the agrifood system is a cornerstone of many governments’ national development plans. This reflects the importance of agrifood systems for the livelihoods and wellbeing of poor populations as well as the continued strong association of agricultural transformation with longer-term economic development and structural change. Agrifood transformation is also key to healthier diets and more sustainable production systems. However, adopting an agrifood system perspective is not trivial—it requires looking “beyond agriculture” when prioritizing policies and tracking outcomes by also considering upstream and downstream agrifood-related activities, such as agro-processing and food distribution. Measuring transformation therefore requires economywide data and innovative metrics. This study introduces two such metrics: AgGDP+, which captures the total value-added across the on- and off-farm sectors of the agrifood system, and AgEMP+, which reflects the employment generated across its various components. It further explains how consistent estimates of AgGDP+ and AgEMP+ were produced for 211 and 186 countries, respectively, over the period between 2000 and 2021, and demonstrates how this Agri-Food System Dashboard—a publicly available resource—can be used to monitor transformation, prioritize investments, and better understand the evolving role of agrifood systems in national economies or at regional or global scales.

Year published

2025

Authors

Thurlow, James; Holtemeyer, Brian; Jiang, Shiyun; Pauw, Karl; Randriamamonjy, Josee

Citation

Thurlow, James; Holtemeyer, Brian; Jiang, Shiyun; Pauw, Karl; and Randriamamonjy, Josee. 2025. Measuring agrifood systems: New indicators and global estimates. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2339. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174848

Keywords

Agrifood Systems; Economic Development; Investment; Livelihoods; Healthy Diets; Sustainability

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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 […]

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

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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.

Sudan at a Crossroads: Food Systems, Hunger, and Humanitarian Aid During Civil Conflict
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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May 2, 2024, 10:00 – 11:30 am

Sudan at a Crossroads: Food Systems, Hunger, and Humanitarian Aid During Civil Conflict

Hybrid Event: May 2, 2024 at 10:00am-11:30am EDT. This IFPRI policy seminar will reflect on urgent data, analytical, and policy needs to mitigate food insecurity and revitalize food systems in Sudan. This event will bring together researchers from IFPRI’s Sudan country program, conflict analysts, humanitarian donors, and country experts in a hybrid format.

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News

June 23, 2025 | Press Release

New study proposes smarter cropland allocation to support sustainable agricultural intensification in Senegal

The study explores how farmers’ land-use decisions can be guided by the relative risks and returns of different crops—similar to how financial investments are managed.