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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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Development Strategies and Governance

Oliver Kiptoo Kirui

Research Fellow and Acting Program Leader, Nigeria

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Oliver Kiptoo

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Bio

Oliver Kiptoo Kirui is a Research Fellow and Acting Program Leader for Nigeria in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Abuja, Nigeria, where he supports the development of research-based policy solutions; coalition-building for policy change; co-creating innovative analytical tools in close collaboration with several partners.

Oliver conducts and supports research related to several policy-relevant topics including agricultural and economic transformation, markets and trade, livelihoods and nutrition, development strategy and investment planning, and resilience of agriculture under climate change and extreme weather events. He is experienced in managing and conducting evidence-based research, building coalitions and working with multiple stakeholders, and conceptualizing, conducting, and communicating research outputs to various audiences.

Prior to joining IFPRI, Oliver worked as a Senior Researcher and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany, and as a Research Associate at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). He received his PhD in Development Economics from the University of Bonn.

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Publications

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Can digital cash transfers serve those in active conflict? Evidence from a randomized intervention in Sudan

2025Abay, Kibrom A.; Abdelfattah, Lina Alaaeldin; Abushama, Hala; Kirui, Oliver K.; Nigus, Halefom Yigzaw; Siddig, Khalid
Details

Can digital cash transfers serve those in active conflict? Evidence from a randomized intervention in Sudan

This paper evaluates the impact of digital transfers on the well-being of households grappling with active conflict in Sudan. Considering the case of Sudan, where active conflict and funding gaps continue to hamper the delivery of humanitarian services, we aim to address the following questions: (i) Can digital cash transfers improve food and nutrition security outcomes of beneficiaries in conflict-affected settings?; (ii) Can digital transfers to an other-wise inaccessible population improve subjective well-being, mental health, and stress in the face of recurrent conflicts?; and (iii) Who benefits more from digital transfers, and do the impacts of digital transfers vary depending on the size of transfers or socioeconomic characteristics of households? To address these questions, we design a randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving digital transfers of different sizes to randomly selected urban households in Sudan. Digital transfers reached nearly all targeted beneficiaries, with about a quarter of households receiving them through their friends and relatives and hence incurring some transaction fees. Overall, digital transfers mitigated deterioration in food insecurity (by 7-8 percentage points) and improved subjective well-being and mental health. Interestingly, we find that the digital transfers are more beneficial (impactful) for those grappling with active conflict. Digital transfers also appear to be less effective for poorer households and households of a larger size. These findings highlight the potential of digital transfers to support those grappling with armed conflict.

Year published

2025

Authors

Abay, Kibrom A.; Abdelfattah, Lina Alaaeldin; Abushama, Hala; Kirui, Oliver K.; Nigus, Halefom Yigzaw; Siddig, Khalid

Citation

Abay, Kibrom A.; Abdelfattah, Lina; Abushama, Hala; Kirui, Oliver K.; Nigus, Halefom Yigzaw; and Siddig, Khalid. 2025. Can digital cash transfers serve those in active conflict? Evidence from a randomized intervention in Sudan. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2374. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/177655

Country/Region

Sudan

Keywords

Conflicts; Social Protection; Cash Transfers; Mobile Phones; Electronic Commerce

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Working Paper

Determinants of household water and energy access and their impacts on food security and health outcomes in Sudan

2025Kirui, Oliver K.; Ahmed, Mosab; Raouf, Mariam; Abushama, Hala; Siddig, Khalid
Details

Determinants of household water and energy access and their impacts on food security and health outcomes in Sudan

This study investigates the determinants of access to safe water and reliable energy for households in Sudan using nationally representative data from a recent labor market survey. The results show that urbanization, education, and wealth significantly enhance the access households have to these essential services, while rural areas and less developed regions, particularly in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, face substantial challenges. Access to reliable energy correlates with better food security and health outcomes within households, and improved access to safe water significantly enhances the health of household members. Policy recommendations supported by these research results include targeted rural infrastructure investments, educational improvements, and regional interventions to address disparities in household access to safe water and reliable energy across Sudan.

Year published

2025

Authors

Kirui, Oliver K.; Ahmed, Mosab; Raouf, Mariam; Abushama, Hala; Siddig, Khalid

Citation

Kirui, Oliver K.; Ahmed, Mosab; Raouf, Mariam; Abushama, Hala; and Siddig, Khalid. 2025. Determinants of household water and energy access and their impacts on food security and health outcomes in Sudan. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2338. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174711

Country/Region

Sudan

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Energy Policies; Food Security; Health; Households; Socioeconomics; Water; Water Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Under the gun: Military and paramilitary actors in Sudan’s agri-food system

2025Resnick, Danielle; Abushama, Hala; Ahmed, Mosab O. M.; Kirui, Oliver K.; Siddig, Khalid
Details

Under the gun: Military and paramilitary actors in Sudan’s agri-food system

Armed actors, including militaries and paramilitaries, are heavily entrenched in the agrifood systems of several low- and middle-income countries, often resulting in negative implications for both agricultural transformation and democratic transitions. However, the role of armed actors is overlooked in the scholarship on the governance of agricultural value chains. To address this gap, this paper focuses on the role of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s agrifood system. Through over 50 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, the paper traces how the SAF and RSF initially gained their foothold in the agrifood system and how they interact with each other, and the private sector across diverse value chains. We argue that these actors decide to pursue investments in certain value chains depending on the extent to which the private sector is already involved and the degree of technical complexity required to attain more profitable product upgrading. Based on these considerations, we uncover four strategies used by SAF and RSF in different value chains: exclusive capture and rent extraction, competition through biased licensing and quota allocations, acquiescence to existing private competitors when value-addition is too complex, and innovation when potential is high and the private sector is absent. We show how these strategies manifest across value chains as diverse as livestock, wheat, gum Arabic, and horticulture, with secondary applications to other commodities. Given that economic competition between SAF and RSF was a major factor in the outbreak of the 2023 armed conflict, identifying how these strategies emerged and manifested not only contributes to the literature on business-state relations but also expands insights about the political economy antecedents of large-scale conflict.

Year published

2025

Authors

Resnick, Danielle; Abushama, Hala; Ahmed, Mosab O. M.; Kirui, Oliver K.; Siddig, Khalid

Citation

Resnick, Danielle; Abushama, Hala; Ahmed, Mosab; Kirui, Oliver Kiptoo; and Siddig, Khalid. 2025. Under the gun: Military and paramilitary actors in Sudan’s agri-food system. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2328. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173517

Country/Region

Sudan

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Agricultural Transformation; Food Systems; Military Operations; Political Aspects; Value Chains

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Events

Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD9)
IFPRI at External Event

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July 24 to August 20, 2025

Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD9)

The Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) is co-hosted by the Government of Japan, the United Nations, UNDP, the World Bank, and the African Union Commission and will take place in Yokohama, Japan, from August 20 to 22, 2025. The TICAD9 conference promotes African ownership and international partnership, bringing together heads of […]

Two Years of Crisis: Impact and Pathways to Recovery and Resilience
Series/Special Event

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April 14 to 15, 2025

Two Years of Crisis: Impact and Pathways to Recovery and Resilience

The Sudan conflict, now entering its third year, continues to devastate the country’s socioeconomic fabric. As of January 2025, more than 8.8 million people were internally displaced, and over 3.3 million had sought refuge in neighboring countries. Conservative reports estimate over 32,000 fatalities occurred between the start of the war on April 15, 2023, and […]

Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition: Africa Regional Launch of IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report
Series/Special Event

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November 14, 2024, 2:30 – 4:30 pm

Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition: Africa Regional Launch of IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report

Despite significant progress in addressing hunger and undernutrition in the early 2000s, malnutrition, in all its forms, remains a major challenge in all regions of the world. Unhealthy diets remain the primary drivers of many forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, overweight and obesity, micronutrient deficiencies, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Today, the number of people who […]

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News

April 15, 2024 | In the News

Satellite images show devastation in Sudan 1 year since conflict began (ABC News)

“Satellite imagery shows the reduction in green vegetation cover, the increased aridity points to the neglect or destruction of previously irrigated fields” Oliver Kirui told ABC News.

April 13, 2022 | In the News

Russia-Ukraine conflict is driving up wheat prices: this could fuel instability in Sudan (The Conversation)

The Conversation published an op-ed by senior research fellows Clemens Breisinger, David Laborde, Joseph Glauber, Paul Dorosh, and research fellow Oliver Kiptoo Kurui. In the op-ed, the authors write that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted agricultural production and trade from one of the world’s major food exporting regions. The war threatens to drive rising […]

Research

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