Shahidur Rashid is a senior research fellow in the Development Strategy and Governance Division (DSGD) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). A native of Bangladesh, he received his Master of Social Science in Economics from the Chittagong University, Bangladesh in 1987 and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1999.

Dr. Rashid has worked on agriculture and food policy issues in Asia and Africa for more than a decade. From September 2005 to July 2010, he was based in IFPRI’s regional office in Addis Ababa to conduct research on countries in East and Southern Africa region. His passion and commitment to see tangible change take place in South Asia and East Africa is evident by many of his past and present endeavors.

• In November 2012, his latest co-edited book, Food and Agriculture in Ethiopia: Progress and Policy Challenges was launched in Addis, Ethiopia. Published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, this book presents highlights of IFPRI’s decades of research on food and agricultural policies in Ethiopia.
• In 2012, Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission published a research report on Ethiopia’s cereal availability based on the findings of a collaborative research project that Dr. Rashid led during 2007-2009.
• In 2011, he served as a member of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). The first report of the HLPE, Price Volatility and Food Security, was released based on the panel’s research.
• From 2009-2010, Dr. Rashid served as the lead IFPRI contact person for a set of diagnostic studies for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. These studies provided that basis for the establishment of the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) in Ethiopia.
• From 2008-2011, he co-led the African Agriculture Management Program (AAMP), jointly managed by IFPRI and the Michigan State University. The project publications are available at COMESA, Michigan State University, and IFPRI websites.
• In 2009, Johns Hopkins University Press published his co-edited book, From Parastatals to Private Trade: Lessons from Asian Agriculture on behalf of IFPRI. The book contains the key findings of a multi-country research project in Asia, which Dr. Rashid led during 2003-2006.
• Dr. Rashid’s other research works include at IFPRI include, institutional analysis of micro-finance, agricultural wage dynamics, food aid leakage, food grain markets integration, and distortions to agricultural incentives, and agricultural price policies in Asia.

Dr. Rashid’s ongoing activities include, (a) managing the Research for Ethiopia’s Agriculture Policy (REAP), a Gates funded project to provide analytical support to the Ethiopia’s Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), (b) managing a study on the value chains of high value Bangladesh, and (c) strategic grain reserves in selected African countries, including the newest nation, the Republic of South Sudan.