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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.

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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.

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Development Strategies and Governance

Vandana Vidhani

Research Analyst

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Bio

Vandana Vidhani is a Research Analyst in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Her current work focuses on inclusive agriculture transformation (IAT) indicators.

Before joining IFPRI, Vandana worked as a research analyst in the Sustainable Mobility Team at the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW), New Delhi. She worked on the impact evaluation study in the electric-three-wheeler (e3W) space, behavioral biases involved in e3W transition, and gender inclusion in e3W. She also served as a summer research fellow at the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) on a project concerning the agricultural produce procurement system in Bihar. She has experience in literature reviews, quantitative economic research, sampling techniques, field surveys, focus group discussions, data analysis, and report writing.

She completed a master’s degree in environment and resource economics from the TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi; an MBA from Doon Business School, Dehradun; and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Fergusson College, Pune.

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Publications

Resource thumbnail

Report

Report on capacity strengthening training on best practices in outcome assessment, data interpretation and agricultural policy analysis

2025Saroj, Sunil; Vidhani, Vandana Shankar; Kumar Burman, Amit
Details

Report on capacity strengthening training on best practices in outcome assessment, data interpretation and agricultural policy analysis

The Capacity Strengthening Workshop on Best Practices in Impact Evaluation, Data Interpretation, and Agricultural Policy Analysis (Phase 1) was conducted on April 22-23, 2025, aiming to build the foundational skills of fieldbased government officials in using agricultural data for informed decision-making. To strengthen its initiative on developing the Inclusive Agriculture Transformation (IAT) indicator, IFPRI has proposed a three-phased capacity-building program for key departmental staff. The objective is to enhance their understanding of the importance of data and its systematic maintenance. This initial phase focused on enhancing participants’ understanding of various agricultural datasets and equipping them with basic skills in data interpretation and visualization. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment, Government of Odisha. The workshop was designed as part of a comprehensive capacity-building initiative to support the Inclusive Agriculture Transformation (IAT) framework, promoting evidence-based policy formulation and implementation.

Year published

2025

Authors

Saroj, Sunil; Vidhani, Vandana Shankar; Kumar Burman, Amit

Citation

Saroj, Sunil; Vidhani, Vandana Shankar; and Kumar Burman, Amit. 2025. Report on capacity strengthening training on best practices in outcome assessment, data interpretation and agricultural policy analysis. April 22-23, 2025 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. New Delhi: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/176135

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Agriculture; Capacity Development; Decision Making; Impact Assessment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Report

Resource thumbnail

Report

Report on capacity strengthening training on data interpretation and economic outcome analysis

2025Vidhani, Vandana; Kumar Burman, Amit
Details

Report on capacity strengthening training on data interpretation and economic outcome analysis

The Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment (DAFE), Government of Odisha (GoO), in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), organized the second phase of the Capacity Strengthening Training on Data Interpretation and Economic Outcome Analysis on May 29–30, 2025, in Bhubaneswar. The training was inaugurated by Sri Subhranshu Mishra (OAS), Additional Secretary to Government, DAFE, GoO who emphasized the Department’s commitment to building a data-driven culture among its field officers. Building on the successful completion of Phase-I, which focused on foundational skills in data analysis, visualization, and policy evaluation, the second phase aimed to deepen participants’ capacity to apply advanced techniques in real-world contexts. In Phase-I, participants gained hands-on experience with national datasets such as NSSO, PLFS, and the Agricultural Census, while working with tools like Excel, STATA, R, and Python. Phase-II was designed to reinforce these skills while introducing more practical and applied elements of data use in agricultural planning.

Year published

2025

Authors

Vidhani, Vandana; Kumar Burman, Amit

Citation

Vidhani, Vandana Kumar; and Burman, Amit. 2026. Report on capacity strengthening training on data interpretation and economic outcome analysis. New Delhi, India: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181298

Keywords

Capacity Building; Training; Data Analysis; Economic Situation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Report

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Transforming fallow lands: An impact evaluation of the Comprehensive Rice Fallow Management (CRFM) Program in Odisha

2025Roy, Devesh; Padhee, Arabinda K.; Pradhan, Mamata; Saroj, Sunil; Vidhani, Vandana; Kumar, Devendra; Kumar Burman, Amit
Details

Transforming fallow lands: An impact evaluation of the Comprehensive Rice Fallow Management (CRFM) Program in Odisha

The Comprehensive Rice Fallow Management (CRFM) program, initiated by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment (DAFE), Government of Odisha, is a program to address the underutilization of rice fallow lands in Odisha, particularly during the Rabi (post-monsoon) season which occurs following the Kharif (monsoon) paddy harvest. CRFM was implemented to encourage cultivation of pulses and oilseeds that thrive on residual soil moisture. The CRFM program was implemented in 20 districts of Odisha, in collaboration with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Government of India empaneled agencies that have a presence in the state and prior experience in similar programs. In the remaining 10 districts of the state, the CRFM program was implemented by the state government’s Chief District Agriculture Officers (CDAOs). The impacts of CRFM interventions evaluated in this study comprise crop demonstrations organized in clusters of at least 20 hectares, with crops like black gram, green gram, chickpeas, lentils, grass peas, sesamum, and mustard.

Year published

2025

Authors

Roy, Devesh; Padhee, Arabinda K.; Pradhan, Mamata; Saroj, Sunil; Vidhani, Vandana; Kumar, Devendra; Kumar Burman, Amit

Citation

Roy, Devesh; Padhee, Arabinda Kumar; Pradhan, Mamata; Saroj, Sunil; Vidhani, Vandana; Kumar, Devendra; and Burman, Amit. 2025. Transforming fallow lands: An impact evaluation of the Comprehensive Rice Fallow Management (CRFM) Program in Odisha. South Asia Policy Perspectives 2. New Delhi, India: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174401

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Fallow; Rice; Grain Legumes; Oilseeds; Agricultural Production

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Blogs

Navigating growth challenges: Strengthening farmer producer organizations in Odisha, India
Event Post
 | 
April 02, 2025

Navigating growth challenges: Strengthening farmer producer organizations in Odisha, India

By Amit Burman, Shubhranshu Mishra, Sangram Keshari Pattanaik, and Vandana Vidhani

Research and training for better management.