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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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Thomas Reardon

Nonresident Fellow

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Bio

Thomas Reardon is a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University. Tom has been at MSU since 1992; IFPRI Research Fellow 1986-1991; Rockefeller Foundation Post-Doc with IFPRI in Burkina Faso 1984-1986; Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1984, and masters from the Université de Nice and Columbia University.

Tom researches the transformation of food value chains: (1) the e-commerce and food delivery intermediaries; (2) the “supermarket revolution” and the “food service revolution” (3) the “Quiet Revolution” (the diffusion of SMEs in the midstream of value chains); and (4) R&D and farm inputs supply chain transformation. He studies the impacts of these transformations on food industry business strategies, on farms, consumption/nutrition, and employment.

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Publications

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Book Chapter

Food value chains: Transformations in low- and middle-income countries

2025Reardon, Thomas; Minten, Bart; Narayanan, Sudha; Swinnen, Johan
Details

Food value chains: Transformations in low- and middle-income countries

Food value chains (FVCs) play a critical role in food systems by linking from agricultural input providers to farmers and producers to consumers. Over the past 50 years, the economic, demographic, and policy context of FVCs in low- and middle-income countries has changed enormously. This chapter discusses major phases and revolutions that shaped the growth, structure, and importance of FVCs to economies, employment, and diets, as well as policy research issues and contributions, and looks ahead to key trends that will continue to shape FVCs. Book link: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174108

Year published

2025

Authors

Reardon, Thomas; Minten, Bart; Narayanan, Sudha; Swinnen, Johan

Citation

Reardon, Thomas; Minten, Bart; Narayanan, Sudha; and Swinnen, Johan. 2025. Food value chains: Transformations in low- and middle-income countries. In Global food policy report 2025: Food policy: Lessons and priorities for a changing world, eds. Johan Swinnen and Christopher Barrett. Part Two: Sustainability and Natural Resources, Chapter 7, Pp. 157-192. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174235

Keywords

Value Chains; Markets; Agrifood Systems; Small and Medium Enterprises; Agricultural Transformation; Agricultural Value Chains

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Journal Article

Wholesalers and the transformation of Myanmar’s maize value chains

2025Belton, Ben; Cho, Ame; Hall, Michael; Minten, Bart; Reardon, Thomas
Details

Wholesalers and the transformation of Myanmar’s maize value chains

Wholesalers of agricultural crops have historically received limited attention in the literature on agricultural development, which has a strongly productivist focus. When wholesalers are considered, they are often framed as exploitative, taking advantage of information asymmetries, market failures, and unequal power relations to extract heavy surpluses from farmers. However, there is a growing appreciation that wholesalers may play important roles in facilitating agricultural development and rural transformation. This paper evaluates wholesaler conduct and performance using a survey of 218 maize wholesalers in 12 of the major maize-growing and trading townships of South Shan State, Myanmar and the cities of Lashio and Muse in North Shan. Hybrid maize emerged very rapidly in Myanmar over the past two decades to become a major cash crop, supplying domestic animal feed mills and becoming one of Myanmar’s most important exports to China and Thailand. Wholesalers have been central to the development of this supply chain and the sector. Contrary to recent literature from Myanmar that has cast maize wholesalers as exploitative, the survey finds that the rapidly growing wholesaler segment of the maize value chain is highly competitive, rapidly changing with respect to technology, and functions efficiently. Farmers obtaining maize inputs from wholesalers in the form of tied output credit sell their maize at prevailing market rates. The emergence of clusters of maize wholesalers and allied actors such as third-party logistics services occurred spontaneously and symbiotically with the expansion of hybrid maize cultivation, and with each set of actors essential to the emergence of the others.

Year published

2025

Authors

Belton, Ben; Cho, Ame; Hall, Michael; Minten, Bart; Reardon, Thomas

Citation

Belton, Ben; Cho, Ame; Hall, Michael; Minten, Bart; and Reardon, Thomas. 2025. Wholesalers and the transformation of Myanmar’s maize value chains. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 47(1): 125-153. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13489

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Agricultural Development; Maize; Wholesale Markets; Value Chains; Small and Medium Enterprises

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13489 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Links between protein-source diversity, household behavior, and protein consumption inadequacy in the Indian rural semi-arid tropics

2025Kumar, Shalander; Pramanik, Soumitra; Reardon, Thomas; Ellanki, Revathi
Details

Links between protein-source diversity, household behavior, and protein consumption inadequacy in the Indian rural semi-arid tropics

Our study analyzes the determinants, sources, and levels of protein consumption among 785 households across nine districts in six Indian states in the semi-arid tropics. We found that 80% of these households consumed less protein than recommended and relied on cereals for 60–75% of their protein intake. Notably, even when protein-rich foods are accessible to households, they still consume them insufficiently. We found that their protein intake deficiency is driven by a lack of diversity of protein sources (in particular, legumes, millets, and livestock), as well as by a dearth of women’s education and role in household decision-making and low incomes and assets. We advocate for initiatives to raise nutrition awareness, empower women, and adopt a nutrition-centric farming approach.

Year published

2025

Authors

Kumar, Shalander; Pramanik, Soumitra; Reardon, Thomas; Ellanki, Revathi

Citation

Kumar, S., Pramanik, S., Reardon, T. and Revathi, E. 2025 Links between protein-source diversity, household behavior, and protein consumption inadequacy in the Indian rural semi-arid tropics. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 9: 1490050. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1490050

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Food Security; Malnutrition; Socioeconomic Development; Sustainable Development

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1490050 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Article has an altmetric score of 21

Blogs

The promise of digital farmer services: Sifting reality from hype in Kenya
IFPRI Blog
 | 
January 22, 2025

The promise of digital farmer services: Sifting reality from hype in Kenya

By Michael Keenan, Erwin Bulte, Luc Christiaensen, Thomas Reardon, and Hannah Reed

Accelerating technology adoption.

Two years on, resilience innovations help food supply chains overcome COVID-19 disruptions
IFPRI Blog
 | 
February 23, 2022

Two years on, resilience innovations help food supply chains overcome COVID-19 disruptions

By Thomas Reardon, Johan Swinnen, and Rob Vos

Important lessons for policymakers.

Smallholder and agrifood SME resilience to shocks: Lessons from COVID-19 for the UN Food System Summit
IFPRI Blog
 | 
June 10, 2021

Smallholder and agrifood SME resilience to shocks: Lessons from COVID-19 for the UN Food System Summit

By Thomas Reardon, Johan Swinnen, and Rob Vos

Farmers and small businesses show both vulnerabilities and a capacity to adapt.

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Events

Taking Stock of Africa’s Agrifood Processing Sector
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

February 9, 2023, 8:00 – 9:30 am

Taking Stock of Africa’s Agrifood Processing Sector

Virtual Event: February 9, 2023 – 8:00 AM- 9:30 AM EST. During this event key research findings and policy recommendations of the 2022 ATOR will be presented and discussed by a distinguished panel of representatives from academia, the private sector, and international and regional organizations engaged in strengthening Africa’s agri-food processing sector.