Subscribe

Back

Who we are

With research staff from more than 70 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

Danielle Resnick

Danielle Resnick is a Senior Research Fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit and a Non-Resident Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. Her research focuses on the political economy of agricultural policy and food systems, governance, and democratization, drawing on extensive fieldwork and policy engagement across Africa and South Asia.

Back

What we do

Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

Research topics

Projects and impact

Food Security Portal

Modeling tools

What’s new

Where we work

Back

Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 480 employees working in over 70 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

IFPRI Regional Programs

IFPRI Country Programs

Research by country and region

Subscribe

experts

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Md Sadat Anowar

Research Analyst

Follow

Md Sadat

at:

ORCiD
anowar_sadat_0

Bio

Md. Sadat Anowar is a Research Analyst in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, based in Bangladesh, where he analyzes survey data and prepares research reports and policy briefs for large-scale household surveys. He joined IFPRI in 2019 under the Bangladesh Policy Research and Strategy Support Program (PRSSP). His research interests include agriculture, social protection policies, and sustainable development.

Before joining IFPRI, he was a research associate at think tanks, including the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling and the Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance. He also worked with the Aga Khan Foundation and the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Bangladesh.

Sadat received his bachelor and master of social sciences degrees in economics from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Languages spoken: Bangla, English

LinkedIn

CV

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Effects of brick kiln industry on agricultural productivity: A natural experiment in Bangladesh

2025Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; Anowar, Md Sadat
Details

Effects of brick kiln industry on agricultural productivity: A natural experiment in Bangladesh

Agriculture remains central to Bangladesh’s economy and food security, yet it is increasingly threatened by the rapid expansion of informal brick manufacturing that extracts fertile topsoil from cropland and generates heavy local pollution. This paper provides national-scale causal evidence on how brick kiln expansion affects vegetation health and agricultural productivity by combining long-run satellite observations with geolocated kiln data. We construct a spatiotemporal panel of unions and municipalities using annual the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer normalized difference vegetation index (MODIS NDVI) from 2002–2024 and a high-resolution inventory of 9,187 brick kilns detected through satellite imagery and machine learning. Using a continuous and staggered difference-in-differences design, we find no evidence of differential pre-trends, but we do find a clear and persistent deterioration in vegetation health following kiln establishment. The magnitude is economically meaningful: a marginal increase in kiln presence is associated with roughly a 1 percent annual decline in local vegetation productivity, with effects that persist and accumulate over time. These results are consistent with long-run soil degradation and chronic environmental exposure around kiln sites, and they imply substantial hidden costs of informal industrial growth in densely cultivated landscapes. The findings highlight the urgency of stronger enforcement of siting rules, of incentives for cleaner production technologies, and of land-use planning that protects high-productivity agricultural zones.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; Anowar, Md Sadat

Citation

Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; and Anowar, Md Sadat. 2025. Effects of brick kiln industry on agricultural productivity: A natural experiment in Bangladesh. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2402. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/180697

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Agricultural Productivity; Food Security; Plant Health; Remote Sensing; Drying Kilns

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Brick kilns and agricultural productivity in Bangladesh: Evidence from satellite data and a natural experiment

2025Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; Anowar, Md Sadat
Details

Brick kilns and agricultural productivity in Bangladesh: Evidence from satellite data and a natural experiment

Bangladesh’s brick kiln industry plays a critical role in supplying construction materials for rapid urbanization. However, the sector remains largely informal and weakly regulated, with widespread extraction of fertile topsoil and substantial emissions of particulate matter and black carbon. These practices raise growing concerns about long-term environmental degradation, agricultural productivity, and food security. This policy brief summarizes new national-scale evidence on the impacts of brick kiln expansion on agricultural productivity in Bangladesh. Using satellite-based vegetation data covering more than two decades and a newly constructed geospatial inventory of brick kilns, the study provides causal estimates of how kiln establishment affects vegetation health and crop productivity over time.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; Anowar, Md Sadat

Citation

Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mattsson, Martin; and Anowar, Md Sadat. 2025. Brick kilns and agricultural productivity in Bangladesh: Evidence from satellite data and a natural experiment. FCA Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179197

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Drying Kilns; Bricks; Agricultural Productivity; Satellites; Data; Satellite Imagery

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Opinion Piece

Climate action through reducing food loss and waste: Lessons from Bangladesh, Malawi and Nepal

2024Srivastava, Nandita; Babu, Suresh Chandra; Anowar, Md Sadat
Details

Climate action through reducing food loss and waste: Lessons from Bangladesh, Malawi and Nepal

Reducing food loss and waste (FLW) is crucial to improving food security, reducing malnutrition, providing livelihoods for food system workers, and is key to combating climate change. Overall, food systems contribute an estimated 33 percent to anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; food waste alone is responsible for eight to 10 percent. Yet, most countries that have submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for reducing carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement have not included any commitments for reducing FLW. Many national FLW policies are not aligned with climate change goals and the NDCs. To make this bridge, countries must build supportive regulatory frameworks to reduce agrifood system emissions and include FLW as a mitigation measure. From April to June 2024, the USAID-funded Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative (CACCI), through its Asia program led by the International Food Policy and Research Institute, held national level consultations in Bangladesh, Malawi, and Nepal on FLW management.

Year published

2024

Authors

Srivastava, Nandita; Babu, Suresh Chandra; Anowar, Md Sadat

Citation

Srivastava, Nandita; Babu, Suresh Chandra; and Anowar, Md Sadat. 2024. Climate action through reducing food loss and waste: Lessons from Bangladesh, Malawi and Nepal. Agrilinks Blog Post available September 9, 2024. https://agrilinks.org/post/climate-action-through-reducing-food-loss-and-waste-lessons-bangladesh-malawi-and-nepal

Country/Region

Bangladesh; Malawi; Nepal

Keywords

Asia; Africa; Climate Change; Food Losses; Food Wastes; Policies; Value Chains

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Opinion Piece

Blogs

Reducing food loss and waste for climate outcomes: Insights from national consultations in Bangladesh, Malawi and Nepal
Issue Post
 | 
August 21, 2024

Reducing food loss and waste for climate outcomes: Insights from national consultations in Bangladesh, Malawi and Nepal

By Suresh Babu, Yogendra Karki, Innocent Pangapanga, Md Sadat Anowar, and Nandita Srivastava

Integrating key goals of food system transformation.

Events

World Food Prize 2024 Borlaug International Dialogue: Side Event on
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

October 22, 2024, 8:30 – 10:00 am

World Food Prize 2024 Borlaug International Dialogue: Side Event on “Reducing the Impact of GHGs Through Managing Food Loss and Waste (FLW): Insights from Bangladesh, Guatemala, Malawi, and Nepal”

October 22, 2024 8:30 – 10:00 am (CDT) 9:30 – 11:00 am (EDT) Register IFPRI is participating in the 2024 Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue. This year’s theme, “Seeds of Opportunity: Bridging Generations and Cultivating Diplomacy”, will emphasizes the vital role of integrating past wisdom, current innovations and the pressing needs of tomorrow, by leveraging […]