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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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IFPRI Publications: Briefs

Explore Our Latest Briefs

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Brief

Building resilient farmer producer organizations: Driving inclusive and sustainable rural transformation through collective strength

2026Kumar Burman, Amit; Bahera, Biswajit
Details

Building resilient farmer producer organizations: Driving inclusive and sustainable rural transformation through collective strength

Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are increasingly recognized as engines of inclusive agricultural growth. By enabling small and marginal farmers to aggregate produce, access inputs, and improve bargaining power, FPOs hold the promise of transforming rural economies. Yet, many continue to struggle with weak governance structures, limited managerial capacity, and challenges in accessing markets and finance. To unlock their true potential, FPOs need systematic capacity-building. Recognizing this, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment (DA&FE), Government of Odisha, in collaboration with IFPRI, organized state-level trainings to strengthen FPOs across the state. Over three days, 130 representatives, including board members, chief executive officers (CEOs), and staff from 38 FPOs covering all districts, participated in three batches. The training was designed not only to impart technical knowledge but also to create a platform for peer learning, reflection, and problem-solving. The overarching goal was clear: move FPOs from scheme-driven entities to self-sustaining, market-ready businesses.

Year published

2026

Authors

Kumar Burman, Amit; Bahera, Biswajit

Citation

Kumar Burman, Amit; and Bahera, Biswajit. 2026. Building resilient farmer producer organizations: Driving inclusive and sustainable rural transformation through collective strength. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181985

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Capacity Building; Resilience; Farmers Associations; Farmers; Rural Areas

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Ghana: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

2026Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Jiang, Shiyun; Thurlow, James; Jones, Eleanor
Details

Ghana: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

In this policy brief, we present findings of a systematic evaluation and ranking of investment options for Ghana’s agrifood system based on their cost-effectiveness in achieving multiple development outcomes, including agrifood gross domestic product (GDP) growth, agrifood job creation, poverty reduction, declining undernourishment, and lowering diet deprivation. Additionally, the study assesses their environmental footprints, focusing on water consumption, land use, and emissions. In Ghana, extension in agronomy and post-harvest food loss reduction are the most cost-effective ways to improve social outcomes, including notably reducing poverty and undernourishment levels. Meanwhile, advisory services in livestock and support to small and medium enterprise (SME) processors are highly ranked in accelerating agrifood GDP and employment. Moreover, extension services for agronomy and climate, and investments in mechanization are also highly ranked. However, many of these cost-effective investments come with relatively high environmental footprints, which highlights potential tradeoffs. The study further reveals shifts in the cost-effectiveness ranking of investment options over time and moderately so in the presence of extreme production shocks.

Year published

2026

Authors

Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Jiang, Shiyun; Thurlow, James; Jones, Eleanor

Citation

Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Jiang, Shiyun; Thurlow, James; and Jones, Eleanor. 2026. Ghana: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development. Agrifood Investment Prioritization Country Series Brief 9. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181872

Keywords

Agrifood Systems; Development; Investment; Economic Aspects; Environmental Impact

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

The Cash Transfer & Intimate Partner Violence Research Collaborative: Expertise, impact, and future directions

2026Roy, Shalini; Palermo, Tia; Barrington, Clare; Buller, Ana Maria; Heise, Lori; Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Ranganathan, Meghna
Details

The Cash Transfer & Intimate Partner Violence Research Collaborative: Expertise, impact, and future directions

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) has severe long-term consequences for women’s health and well-being, imposes significant economic costs through lost productivity, and has intergenerational impacts on children. Although evidence exists on effective approaches to reduce VAWG, many interventions are resource-intensive and difficult to scale. Stakeholders increasingly recognize that accelerated progress requires embedding VAWG prevention and response approaches within diverse sectors, including in existing systems and large-scale sectoral programming. Sectors focused on reducing poverty and economic insecurity offer a particularly high-potential but underleveraged opportunity. Despite their extensive reach and influence over the structural drivers of VAWG, these sectors have not traditionally focused on VAWG reduction. The field lacks actionable evidence on how to leverage these large-scale systems to reduce VAWG in ways that governments and other key actors can adopt, finance, and sustain, including approaches that reach women and girls in fragile and climate-vulnerable settings.

Year published

2026

Authors

Roy, Shalini; Palermo, Tia; Barrington, Clare; Buller, Ana Maria; Heise, Lori; Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Ranganathan, Meghna

Citation

Roy, Shalini; Palermo, Tia; Barrington, Clare; Buller, Ana Maria; Heise, Lori; et al. 2026. The Cash Transfer & Intimate Partner Violence Research Collaborative: Expertise, impact, and future directions. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181857

Keywords

Africa; Asia; Southern Asia; Cash Transfers; Social Protection; Domestic Violence; Gender-based Violence; Social Problems; Impact

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Does Malawi’s exchange rate regime keep prices low? Evidence and policy implications

2026Changaya, Frederick; Comstock, Andrew; De Weerdt, Joachim; Duchoslav, Jan; Jamali, Andrew; Kamanga, Frank; Kumchulesi, Grace; Pauw, Karl
Details

Does Malawi’s exchange rate regime keep prices low? Evidence and policy implications

The current exchange rate regime in Malawi is untenable. It results in multiple effective parallel rates, which impose significant costs on the economy and the daily lives of citizens. A key concern underpinning the existence of the regime is that its removal would trigger rampant inflation and worsen livelihoods. However, the widespread importation of both food and nonfood products at informal exchange rates means that the average citizen derives little real benefit from the maintenance of the official rate. After two major fuel price hikes in recent months, pump prices have nearly converged with the cost that would prevail at market-determined exchange rates. Drawing on a combination of price multiplier and food demand simulations, this policy note shows that an exchange rate regime rationalization – through devaluing the official exchange rate to eliminate the informal premium and allowing the Malawi kwacha to trade at market-clearing levels – would not lead to runaway inflation or harm household welfare. Recent fuel price increases – in October 2025 and January this year – have pre-emptively absorbed much of the inflationary impact that would have been associated with exchange rate reform. Our analysis documents the direct, short-run effects of exchange rate unification on domestic prices and finds them to be relatively modest. Longer-term economic growth and sustained price stability will hinge on the effective execution of a coherent set of complementary reforms. Exchange rate unification is a necessary component of this package, but it is not sufficient. Implemented in isolation or treated as a one-off devaluation followed by business as usual, it will bring little relief. It must be accompanied by sound fiscal and monetary policy and sustained export growth to restore macroeconomic stability. We do not discuss the trade-offs inherent to these accompanying measures, as they have been addressed at length in AfDB et al. (2025) and Engel et al. (2025). Critically, there must be a credible and durable switch toward a more flexible and transparent exchange rate regime. It will take time for exports and growth to pick up after a devaluation, and whether they do will depend on economic actors believing that macroeconomic conditions will remain stable over the lifetime of their investments. It will require careful preparation to get the cocktail right. Politically, the current administration might just have one shot at this: failure will make future reform attempts much harder.

Year published

2026

Authors

Changaya, Frederick; Comstock, Andrew; De Weerdt, Joachim; Duchoslav, Jan; Jamali, Andrew; Kamanga, Frank; Kumchulesi, Grace; Pauw, Karl

Citation

Changaya, Frederick; Comstock, Andrew; De Weerdt, Joachim; Duchoslav, Jan; Jamali, Andrew; et al. 2026. Does Malawi’s exchange rate regime keep prices low? Evidence and policy implications. MaSSP Policy Note 56. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181860

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Exchange Rate; Prices; Controlled Prices; Price Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Agricultural trade in Africa: Current trends and challenges

2026Mamboundou, Pierre; Traoré, Fousseini; Piñeiro, Valeria; Hill, Ruth Vargas
Details

Agricultural trade in Africa: Current trends and challenges

Agricultural trade can play a central role in meeting people’s food needs, both by increasing available supply and by boosting stakeholders’ incomes, given that 60% of the labor force works in this sector (Bonuedi et al., 2020; Wonyra and Gnedeka 2023). However, an analysis of African agricultural trade performance over the past twenty years highlights some key issues to watch. First, African agricultural trade is the lowest in the world, not helped by high costs of trading and non-tariff measures. Second, a trade deficit that has been steadily widening since 2006 as Africa has become heavily dependent on imports of basic agricultural products such as cereals. The continent currently meets more than 40% of its cereal demand on world markets. This deficit in African agricultural trade is fueled by low productivity, linked to declining yields and a lack of sufficient investment in production, storage, processing, and marketing infrastructure, and rapid population growth and urbanization in Africa which has increased demand for imported food. Third, over the past two decades, the structure of African agricultural exports has remained largely undiversified, with unprocessed cash crops continuing to be the dominant export commodity. To better understand the dynamics of agricultural trade in Africa, this brief analyzes its performance, over the 2003-2023 period, by highlighting the most dynamic countries and regional economic communities, the most exported and imported products, and the continent’s revealed comparative advantages.

Year published

2026

Authors

Mamboundou, Pierre; Traoré, Fousseini; Piñeiro, Valeria; Hill, Ruth Vargas

Citation

Mamboundou, Pierre; Traoré, Fousseini; Piñeiro, Valeria; and Hill, Ruth Vargas. 2026. Agricultural trade in Africa: Current trends and challenges. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181883

Keywords

Africa; Trade; Agricultural Trade; Markets; Exports; Imports; Trade Policies; Non-tariff Barriers to Trade

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Commercial small scale vegetable producers and inclusive agricultural transformation in Odisha: An introduction to the methods and hypotheses of the INCATA project

2026Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Trivelli, Carolina; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Reardon, Thomas
Details

Commercial small scale vegetable producers and inclusive agricultural transformation in Odisha: An introduction to the methods and hypotheses of the INCATA project

The research project “Tracking commercial small-scale producers for inclusive agricultural transformation” (INCATA) studied the relationships between commercial small-scale producers (farmers) and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in horticulture value chains in Odisha, India. The goal was to understand whether and how these relationships could contribute to inclusive agricultural trans-formation. The project was designed to address several questions. This was based on the assumption that im-proved understanding of these dynamics will inform more effective policy design and implementation in support of inclusive agricultural transformation: 1)What factors kickstart agricultural commercialization? How do small-scale producers become commercial, how do MSMEs upstream and downstream of the farm get started, and how do these two sets of actors co-develop together? 2)To what degree does the co-development of commercial small-scale farms and supporting MSMEs translate into poverty reduction and women’s economic empowerment? Who is included, and who is excluded, or gets stuck at low levels of inclusion, or slips backward? What are the economic opportunities available for youth in the transformation process? 3)What policies and investments have the potential to accelerate the symbiotic co-development of commercial small-scale producers and MSMEs, and the inclusive effects of their co-development? To address these questions, INCATA focused on the value chain associated with commercial small-scale horticulture (vegetable cultivation) in Odisha. The vegetable value chain was selected because of the high level of participation and commercial orientation among small-scale vegetable producers, the high value of vegetable crops relative to staples, and the importance of vegetables for nutrition.

Year published

2026

Authors

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Trivelli, Carolina; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Reardon, Thomas

Citation

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Trivelli, Carolina; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; and Reardon, Thomas. 2026. Commercial small scale vegetable producers and inclusive agricultural transformation in Odisha: An introduction to the methods and hypotheses of the INCATA project. INCATA Project Note 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181785

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Vegetables; Small-scale Farming; Agricultural Transformation; Inclusion

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Are the relationships between actors in Odisha’s vegetable value chains parasitic or symbiotic?

2026Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Islam, Mir Raihanul; Reardon, Thomas
Details

Are the relationships between actors in Odisha’s vegetable value chains parasitic or symbiotic?

This project note identifies the following key findings in answer to the question of whether the relationships between off-farm micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and commercial small-scale vegetable farmers in Odisha’s vegetable value chains are parasitic or symbiotic: Relationships between MSMEs and farms in vegetable value chains in Odisha are predominantly symbiotic, not exploitative. Contrary to common assumptions, we find little evidence for the existence of parasitic credit relations between traders, input suppliers and smallholder vegetable farmers. Relationships between MSMEs and farms in vegetable value chains in Odisha are predominantly symbiotic, not exploitative. Contrary to common assumptions, we find little evidence for the existence of parasitic credit relations between traders, input suppliers and smallholder vegetable farmers. Value chain credit is relatively uncommon. More than 90 percent of input suppliers and retailers provide no credit of any kind, and fewer than 2 percent of surveyed enterprises impose exclusive tied-credit obligations on buyers or sellers. Trade credit functions primarily as short-term working capital, not a means of control. Wholesalers allowed buyers to delay payments for vegetables for several days in almost 40 percent of their most recent sales transactions. Farmers are not heavily credit constrained. Half of vegetable farmers borrowed money to fund agriculture within the past year, and only 5 percent of non-borrowing vegetable farmers reported that they wished to access agricultural credit but were unable to. Most farmers borrowed from family and friends or self-help groups. Less than 2 percent of loans originated from wholesalers or input suppliers. Input suppliers are an important source of advisory services for farmers. Nearly half of farmers sought advice from input suppliers during their most recent purchase, and over half received it, largely free of charge. Wholesalers and retailers often provide transport services when sourcing or supplying vegetables. These services are usually costed into the price of goods received or sold, but are convenient for time- or mobility-constrained farmers and other trading partners. Much of the transport organized by traders is supplied by third-party service providers (transport businesses). Provision of other types of service by wholesalers, retailers, and input suppliers to their suppliers and customers are quite limited, indicative of an intermediate level of value chain transformation. Farmers undertake more product upgrading and value addition activities than wholesalers or retailers. Many farmers grade, wash, and remove damaged produce prior to sale, enhancing value capture and simultaneously reducing transaction costs for buyers. Market “thickness” and competition moderate exploitative behavior. Improvements in infrastructure, mobility, communications, and the spatial clustering of farms and MSMEs may limit the ability of marketing intermediaries to create dependencies among farmers, and improve access to information and markets, lowering barriers to entry and giving rise to outcomes that are more symbiotic than exploitative.

Year published

2026

Authors

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Islam, Mir Raihanul; Reardon, Thomas

Citation

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Islam, Mir Raihanul; and Reardon, Thomas. 2026. Are the relationships between actors in Odisha’s vegetable value chains parasitic or symbiotic? INCATA Project Note 6. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181786

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Vegetables; Value Chains; Agricultural Value Chains; Symbiosis; Parasitism; Interspecific Relationships

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Does commercial small-scale vegetable farming production enhance farmer welfare?

2026Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Dey, Durjoy; Al-Hasan, Md.; Islam, Mir Raihanul; Khan, Asraul Hoque; Mishra, Bhumika
Details

Does commercial small-scale vegetable farming production enhance farmer welfare?

This project note analyzes links between agricultural commercialization and producer welfare by comparing vegetable farmers with non-vegetable farmers, who mainly grow rice. The following key findings stand out. Vegetable farming is an engine of smallholder commercialization in Odisha. Vegetable producers sell 74 percent of the vegetables they produce, about double the market surplus for rice. Vegetable farming households are of modestly higher average socioeconomic status than non-vegetable farmers. They are significantly better educated, more likely to belong to a general caste and less likely to belong to a scheduled tribe, but the size of differences in the characteristics of the two groups is not large. Access to land, irrigation, and midland plots are strongly associated with the adoption of commercial vegetable farming. Vegetable farmers operate slightly more land, lease in land more frequently, cultivate more midland plots, and are nearly twice as likely to have irrigated land. Vegetable farming is associated with higher agricultural income, but not total household income. Vegetable farmers earn 24 percent higher agricultural incomes on average, but total household incomes do not differ significantly from those of non-vegetable farmers, likely due to lower participation in non-farm employment. Vegetable commercialization is associated with better diet quality. Vegetable farming households consume a greater diversity of vegetables more frequently and have significantly higher household diet diversity scores than non-vegetable farmers. Income inequality is not higher among vegetable adopters. Gini coefficients for agricultural and household income are similar between vegetable and non-vegetable farmers, and similar across blocks with higher an lower concentrations of commercial vegetable cultivation, suggesting that smallholder commercialization has not exacerbated inequality. Spatial clustering of vegetable production is associated with higher agricultural incomes. Vegetable and non-vegetable farmers in blocks with high concentrations of vegetable farms have higher average agricultural incomes than those in blocks with less vegetable farming. This pattern suggests that links exist between initial conditions such as infrastructure, irrigation, and market access that foster the formation of spontaneous clusters, while intra-cluster features such as MSME density and knowledge spillovers may play a role in deepening agricultural commercialization and raising farm productivity.

Year published

2026

Authors

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Dey, Durjoy; Al-Hasan, Md.; Islam, Mir Raihanul; Khan, Asraul Hoque; Mishra, Bhumika

Citation

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Dey, Durjoy; Al-Hasan, Md.; Islam, Mir Raihanul; et al. 2026. Does commercial small-scale vegetable farming production enhance farmer welfare? INCATA Project Note 5. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181787

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Commercialization; Small-scale Farming; Vegetables; Agricultural Production; Welfare; Income Generation; Diet Quality

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Who is included in Odisha’s vegetable value chains, and on what terms?

2026Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Islam, Mir Raihanul
Details

Who is included in Odisha’s vegetable value chains, and on what terms?

This project note explores inclusion in Odisha’s vegetable value chains by asking: (1) Who – in terms of gender, caste, and community – participates in input supply, farming, wholesale, and retail, and; (2) What are the terms of their participation into the value chain —looking at the entry requirements, business characteristics, and the nature of benefits derived. The second half examines retailing, which is the most inclusive off-farm node. It looks at how participation varies by gender, caste, and community across several factors: entry requirements, invested capital, scale of operation, business practices, and incomes earned. This reveals how accessible retailing is to new entrants and how benefits differ across groups.

Year published

2026

Authors

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Islam, Mir Raihanul

Citation

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; and Islam, Mir Raihanul. 2026. Who is included in Odisha’s vegetable value chains, and on what terms? INCATA Project Note 7. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181791

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Vegetables; Value Chains; Agricultural Value Chains; Gender

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Spontaneous vegetable production clusters: How do they form, and how inclusive are they?

2026Lenka, Papesh Kumar; Mohanty, Bibhuti Bhusan; Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben
Details

Spontaneous vegetable production clusters: How do they form, and how inclusive are they?

A prominent but understudied aspect of Odisha’s recent agricultural transformation has been the emergence of spontaneous vegetable clusters. We summarize preliminary findings from three case studies of clusters that emerged organically – eggplant in Nayagarh district, pointed gourd and cauliflower in Cuttack district. The aims of this research effort are four-fold: How did these clusters emerge? How do these production clusters link with mid-stream actors and how do they co-evolve? What are the social dynamics of inclusion – across caste, class, gender and generation? What roles do these different groups perform in these production clusters and on what terms?

Year published

2026

Authors

Lenka, Papesh Kumar; Mohanty, Bibhuti Bhusan; Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben

Citation

Lenka, Papesh Kumar; Mohanty, Bibhuti Bhusan; Narayanan, Sudha; and Belton, Ben. 2026. Spontaneous vegetable production clusters: How do they form, and how inclusive are they? INCATA Project Note 8. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181790

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Vegetables; Agricultural Production; Gender; Groups

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Women’s voice and agency in “organized” vegetable clusters: The Agriculture Production Cluster (APC) program in Odisha, India

2026Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben; Mishra, Bhumika; Anowar, Md Sadat
Details

Women’s voice and agency in “organized” vegetable clusters: The Agriculture Production Cluster (APC) program in Odisha, India

A key policy tool for inclusive agrifood system transformation has been organizing women farmers into collectives. This is especially important for diversifying production into high-value sectors such as horticulture and livestock. Empirical evidence from around the world shows that some of these efforts can be transformative, but the impact is mixed and can involve tradeoffs (Malhotra et al. 2024; Quisumbing et al. 2021; Twyman et al. 2022). The extent to which programmatic interventions can enable inclusive and sustainable value chain participation thus depends on specific design principles. These includes the selection of commodities, bundling of interventions that tackle multiple constraints simultaneously, the presence of committed staff and champions for effective implementation, and a pathway to institutionalize these interventions (Narayanan et al. 2024, for example). In contrast to clusters that develop spontaneously, where incentives and supportive institutions may be present already and may have spawned these clusters to start with, the viability of organized clusters depends crucially on these inputs. In this note, we bring together qualitative and quantitative data from a larger research effort (See Project Note 1) to spotlight the experiences of women farmers in organized clusters in the Indian state of Odisha. We focus on the Agriculture Production Cluster Program (APC). The goals of our research are to understand how organized clusters can foster and support diversification into vegetable cultivation. A second goal is to understand women’s experience in vegetable production within these clusters. A third goal is to reflect on the broader design and implementation of the APC program and its sustainability in a context where many cluster interventions are known to implode or fade after the program ends (Belton et al. 2025; Narayanan et al. 2025).

Year published

2026

Authors

Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben; Mishra, Bhumika; Anowar, Md Sadat

Citation

Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben; Mishra, Bhumika; and Anowar, Md Sadat. 2026. Women’s voice and agency in “organized” vegetable clusters: The Agriculture Production Cluster (APC) program in Odisha, India. INCATA Project Note 9. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181788

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Gender; Women; Women’s Empowerment; Women Farmers; Vegetables; Agricultural Production

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Mindset or economics: What explains the dominance of maize in Malawi

2026Cockx, Lara; De Weerdt, Joachim; Duchoslav, Jan; Nagoli, Joseph
Details

Mindset or economics: What explains the dominance of maize in Malawi

Malawi’s policy ambitions increasingly emphasize the need for greater crop and diet diversity. De-spite these stated goals, the country’s food system continues to revolve around maize, both in pro-duction and consumption. This brief discusses the economic imperatives that drive low-income, land-constrained Malawians to prioritize maize. Only by addressing these underlying incentives can policy effectively reduce maize dominance and support the diversification agenda it seeks to advance.

Year published

2026

Authors

Cockx, Lara; De Weerdt, Joachim; Duchoslav, Jan; Nagoli, Joseph

Citation

Cockx, Lara; De Weerdt, Joachim; Duchoslav, Jan; and Nagoli, Joseph. 2026. Mindset or economics: What explains the dominance of maize in Malawi. MaSSP Policy Note 55. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181792

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Maize; Consumer Behaviour; Consumer Economics; Feeding Habits; Economic Behaviour; Crop Production

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: February 2026

2026International Food Policy Research Institute; Hayoge, Glen; Kedir Jemal, Mekamu
Details

Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: February 2026

This bulletin reports on food price trends from major markets in Papua New Guinea, for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2025 based on data collected by Fresh Produce Development Authority (FPDA). Consistent data collection continues to be a challenge during the fourth quarter: no data was collected for the month of October (except for one round in Goroka and Kokopo, respectively). To provide up-to-date analysis, this bulletin incorporates all available data from October 2025 – January 2026 data. For Port Moresby, food price data were collected only for December and one round in January. This report compares Q4 2025 (November & December) prices with the same period in 2024 and 2023. Prices are reported in PGK per kilogram and represent real prices adjusted for inflation using the FAO Consumer Food Price Index (PCI) and price gaps (July 2025 to January 2026) filled using a growth rate calculated from the PNG National Statistical Office – June quarterly PCI data. This bulletin focuses on selected important staples (sweet potato, taro, cassava, cooking banana and rice), vegetables (aibika, English cabbage, capsicum, carrot, and choko-tips) and fruits (lemon, orange, pawpaw and pineapple). For longer time series data and interactive tools, visit the IFPRI website and download food price data here.

Year published

2026

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute; Hayoge, Glen; Kedir Jemal, Mekamu

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute. 2026. Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: February 2026. Papua New Guinea Food Price Bulletin February 2026. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181789

Country/Region

Papua New Guinea

Keywords

Oceania; Food Prices; Legumes; Markets; Staple Foods; Rice; Fruits; Food Security; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Does commercial small-scale aquaculture drive inclusive agricultural transformation in Odisha?

2026Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Mishra, Bhumika; Gautam, Aditi; Shen, Meicheng
Details

Does commercial small-scale aquaculture drive inclusive agricultural transformation in Odisha?

This mixed methods analysis of the status of small-scale aquaculture in Odisha and its potential to induce inclusive agricultural transformation yields the following key findings: Most of Odisha’s population eat fish, but widely observed religious customs limit fish consumption to three days per week for most people. This means that aggregate demand for fish is about 60 percent lower than it might be in a fish-eating state with a similar population and no dietary restrictions, resulting in low derived demand for aquaculture development to serve local markets. Odisha faces a “second mover” disadvantage in farming fish. Most of the farmed fish in Odisha’s markets is ‘imported’ from neighboring Andhra Pradesh, which has a long-established, highly productive medium- and large-scale commercial freshwater aquaculture sector that can outcompete farms in Odisha on price, even after accounting for transport costs. Aquaculture growth in Odisha is concentrated along the coast, in capital-intensive shrimp farming clusters linked to global export markets. Intensive shrimp farming is difficult for small-scale producers to enter or participate in successfully and has been linked to a variety of exclusionary outcomes including soil salinization, and conflicts over land. There is very little commercial small-scale freshwater aquaculture in Odisha. We found no evidence of major spontaneous clusters of inland aquaculture farms comparable to those found in neighboring West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, suggesting that aquaculture plays a limited role in driving agricultural transformation in Odisha at present. Government schemes have doubled the number of community tanks and small private fishponds in some areas of Odisha over the past decade, but the spatial pattern of development atomized, and fish farming is mainly oriented toward subsistence production. Only 0.5 percent of farm households in six surveyed districts had a fishpond. Small-scale inland aquaculture in Odisha makes localized contributions to food and nutrition security. Households in rural areas with more ponds are more likely to have eaten fish recently. This is valuable for those households who benefit directly. Climate stress poses significant and growing challenges to aquaculture in Odisha’s semi-arid and cyclone-prone environment. These challenges are likely to intensify over time.

Year published

2026

Authors

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Mishra, Bhumika; Gautam, Aditi; Shen, Meicheng

Citation

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Mishra, Bhumika; Gautam, Aditi; and Shen, Meicheng. 2026. Does commercial small-scale aquaculture drive inclusive agricultural transformation in Odisha? INCATA Project Note 10. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181753

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Small-scale Aquaculture; Agricultural Transformation; Inclusion; Fish Culture; Freshwater Aquaculture

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Who grows vegetables? Smallholder commercialization in Odisha, India

2026Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben; Nayak, P. C.; Pandey, Rakshit; Dash, Debasish
Details

Who grows vegetables? Smallholder commercialization in Odisha, India

We analyze data from a house listing exercise, conducted as part of the INCATA project, covering 35,913 households across 154 villages in 24 blocks in six districts in Odisha, to assess the extent, patterns, and growth of vegetable farming. We successfully listed 27,189 of the 35,913 households; 69% of those we successfully listed reported being engaged in cultivation in the past year. Of these, 95% grew paddy, the most important staple grain in the state, while only 22% grew vegetables (this is equal to 15% of all those listed). A larger share of listed households (34%), however, had a kitchen garden; 24% of listed households had both a vegetable farm and a kitchen garden. Only 14% of those with kitchen garden also sell from the kitchen garden. Although only 15% of all those listed grew vegetables themselves, thrice as many had worked on others’ vegetables vegetable fields, highlighting the wider implications of vegetable cultivation for employment. Vegetable cultivation has a non-linear relationship with landholding size, with those owning around 2-5 acres (small farmers) or 10-12 acres (medium farmers) having a higher proportion of vegetable cultivators than others. This suggests that vegetable cultivation is both inclusive while also permitting larger – scale commercialization. Land leasing is widespread. Over 85% of those who began growing vegetables after 1950 started selling vegetables that same year, underlining the commercial orientation from the start. At the same time, growing for own consumption is an important driver for vegetable farming. The recent spurt in the numbers of vegetable farmers has been disproportionately in high “intensity” blocks, i.e. where there are more vegetable farmers, implying a clustering effect. Regionally, the recent growth is relatively greater in the coastal districts (Ganjam, Cuttack) and in what we refer to as the central spine (Anugul, Keonjhar and Koraput). Irrigation appears to be by far the most important correlate of vegetable cultivation. Contrary to popular perception that marketing constraints deter diversification into vegetables, water and land constraints prevent uptake; further, the most frequent reasons for those who give up vegetable production are water constraints and animal conflict. Further analysis will investigate in detail the enablers of and barriers to commercial vegetable cultivation.

Year published

2026

Authors

Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben; Nayak, P. C.; Pandey, Rakshit; Dash, Debasish

Citation

Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben; Nayak, P. C.; Pandey, Rakshit; and Dash, Debasish. 2026. Who grows vegetables? Smallholder commercialization in Odisha, India. INCATA Project Note 3. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181756

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Vegetables; Smallholders; Commercialization; Farming Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

How are vegetable markets in Odisha transforming?

2026Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben; Gautum, Aditi; Al-Hasan, Md.; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.
Details

How are vegetable markets in Odisha transforming?

Odisha’s market environment for vegetables is a complex mosaic of diverse institutions – including marketplaces regulated by the Odisha State Agricultural Marketing Board (OSAMB), those under local governments and those that private and unregulated. Since the 2000s, the State’s agricultural marketing policy has been progressively reformed to allow contract farming, establish private markets, free vegetable trade from regulatory purview and abolish fees associated with transacting in the regulated markets. This note presents results from a survey of 158 vegetable markets in six districts: Anugul, Bolangir, Cuttack, Ganjam, Keonjhar, and Koraput. It also covers four terminal markets in Bhubaneshwar, Puri, Rourkela, and Sambalpur. Contrary to popular belief about restrictive regulation and an overbearing state, over 90% of estimated vegetable deliveries in the study area arrive at unregulated markets. We estimate that each trader serves about 258-552 people and 4.1-8.39 operational holdings in the study area, depending on the season. There are approximately 18 retailers for every wholesaler. Vegetable markets have seen rapid transformation in recent years. Markets, especially private markets, have proliferated. More of them have become daily markets operating more days per week and hours per day. In 2025, they have a greater proportion and number of permanent stalls than in 2015. Both wholesalers and retailers have grown significantly in the past decade—wholesalers by 65% and retailers by 20%. Average quantities traded by both groups have increased, along with overall produce deliveries and transactions. Growth of volumes traded has been accompanied by market diffusion. The Hirschman-Herfindahl Index (HHI) for volumes delivered and traded declined to 7/10th and 3/5th of 2015 levels, respectively. An overwhelming 89% of the markets registered a growth in arrivals over the decade. This transformation is reflected in the villages as well, based on data from a survey of 154 villages in the study area. Two groups – retailers who purchase from farmers and sell within the village and farmers who retail their own produce – have a significant presence and have maintain their presence over the decade. More villages (about 38%) have transporters today who serve as market intermediaries compared to about less than 13% a decade ago. Today, a majority of villages have traders visiting the village during high season to collect produce just as village traders often collect vegetables from farmers to sell to traders outside even though on average there are just 1-2 per village. Collectively, these findings suggest that most villages have local marketing options available. A key finding, however, is that vegetable markets—where much of the trade occurs—have limited or poor infrastructure. Further, it may be useful to revisit the process of tendering the functions of market maintenance and operations for a system with greater accountability.

Year published

2026

Authors

Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben; Gautum, Aditi; Al-Hasan, Md.; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.

Citation

Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben; Gautum, Aditi; Al-Hasan, Md.; and Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. 2026. How are vegetable markets in Odisha transforming? INCATA Project Note 2. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181755

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Vegetables; Markets; Agricultural Transformation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

How inclusive is transformation in Odisha’s vegetable value chains?

2026Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha
Details

How inclusive is transformation in Odisha’s vegetable value chains?

The research project “Tracking commercial small-scale producers for inclusive agricultural transformation” (INCATA) studied the relationships between commercial small-scale producers (farmers) and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to understand whether and how these relationships could contribute to inclusive agricultural transformation.

Year published

2026

Authors

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha

Citation

Belton, Ben; and Narayanan, Sudha. 2026. How inclusive is transformation in Odisha’s vegetable value chains? INCATA Research Brief 2. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181750

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Value Chains; Vegetables; Inclusion; Agricultural Transformation; Markets

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

How are the production practices of vegetable farmers in Odisha transforming?

2026Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Anowar, Md Sadat; Khan, Asrual; Islam, Mir Raihanul
Details

How are the production practices of vegetable farmers in Odisha transforming?

Agricultural transformation and smallholder commercialization are accompanied and driven by deepening integration of farmers into input markets and associated technological change. This project note examines two related questions: (1) How do households enter commercial vegetable cultivation? (2) How have technologies used to produce vegetables changed over time? The following key findings stand out: Vegetable farming in Odisha is a long-standing activity. Most farmers entered vegetable cultivation over 20 years ago, with expansion accelerating 20–30 years back as markets deepened. Fewer than one in five respondents are first-generation vegetable farmers. Entry into vegetable farming is primarily self-financed. Over 80% of farmers required startup capital to purchase inputs or make plot modifications such as land levelling. These investments were funded mainly through agricultural earnings, migration income, or non-farm earnings. Self-help groups are also an important source of finance for these investments. Subsistence coexists with commercialization. Most farmers were partly motivated to start producing vegetables for home consumption, but virtually all sell some of what they produce. Marketed surpluses of vegetables have risen gradually, to reach over 70% by 2025, without displacing household self-provisioning, and own production accounts for around half of farmers’ vegetable consumption. Crop portfolios are both concentrated and diverse. Production is dominated by a small set of “commodity vegetables” (most importantly tomato and brinjal), alongside a wide array of niche crops grown by smaller numbers of farmers. Recent contraction in crop diversity and off-season production signals rising climate stress. The share of household growing vegetables in multiple seasons, and the number of crops produced per farm has fallen slightly, consistent with increasing climate stress and perhaps reflecting competitive pressures from out of state vegetable producers. Adoption of productivity enhancing agricultural technologies is at a transitional stage. Hybrid vegetable seed, inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, and mechanized land preparation are widely adopted, but adoption of more advanced technologies that could give rise to greater commoditization (e.g. seed trays, seedlings purchased from nurseries, plastic mulch, drip irrigation, drones) remains low. Adoption of environmentally friendly inputs such as vermicompost, organic pesticides, and insect traps is limited. Technology adoption is shaped by clustering and scale. Uptake of inputs, mechanization, and post-harvest handling tends to be greater in areas with high concentrations of vegetable production and among larger farms, reflecting agglomeration effects and access to service markets. Expansion of irrigation access has been a critical catalyst for smallholder vegetable commercialization. The number of irrigated parcels of land operated by surveyed households has grown 74 percent since 1980, with irrigation accelerating sharply after 2010. Improving access to irrigation post-2010 has spurred entry into vegetable cultivation and simultaneous adoption of a complementary bundle of productivity enhancing technologies. Vegetable cultivation relies heavily on private investments in irrigation, particularly open wells and borewells. Government irrigation schemes have been targeted primarily toward rice. Although more than half of irrigated parcels of land are served by government irrigation and the number of parcels with access to government irrigation has grown 35 percent in the past 15 years, the expansion of private irrigation provision has been almost twice as fast, growing 67 percent in the same period.

Year published

2026

Authors

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Anowar, Md Sadat; Khan, Asrual; Islam, Mir Raihanul

Citation

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha; Anowar, Md Sadat; Khan, Asrual; and Islam, Mir Raihanul. 2026. How are the production practices of vegetable farmers in Odisha transforming? INCATA Project Note 4. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181760

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Agricultural Production; Vegetables; Farmers; Agricultural Transformation; Smallholders

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Synopsis: Implications of increased urbanization and consumer awareness on future food supplies in Tanzania

2026Marivoet, Wim; Alphonce, Roselyne; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane
Details

Synopsis: Implications of increased urbanization and consumer awareness on future food supplies in Tanzania

This research quantifies how demographic change, urbanization, and healthy diet requirements will reshape Tanzania’s food supply. Using contextualized healthy diet benchmarks, it identifies the scale, composition, and policy implications of food system transformation needed to ensure healthy diets in Tanzania by 2050. Tanzania’s population is projected to more than double by 2050, with rapid urbanization increasing the share of urban residents from one-third to more than half and intensifying pressure on food supply systems and rural–urban linkages. To align with this growth, annual food supplies also need to increase by more than double—from about 24 million tons in 2020/21 to 52–62 million tons by 2050—but must do so with fewer food producers. Current diets are dominated by cereals and sugar, while fruits, vegetables, dairy, eggs, and animalsource foods are substantially under-consumed across all four geographic population strata. Future food system transformation should primarily focus on increasing supplies of dairy, eggs, fruits, and vegetables, and, for diets focused on micronutrients, meat and fish. For most priority foods, required productivity gains fall within current global technological frontiers, but environmental constraints—particularly for livestock—necessitate climate-smart intensification and protein source substitution. High postharvest losses, misalignment between nutrition priorities and agricultural policy—specifically Tanzania’s Agriculture Master Plan—and weak rural–urban food system integration are critical bottlenecks and policy entry points for achieving healthy diets sustainably.

Year published

2026

Authors

Marivoet, Wim; Alphonce, Roselyne; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane

Citation

Marivoet, Wim; Alphonce, Roselyne; and Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane. 2026. Synopsis: Implications of increased urbanization and consumer awareness on future food supplies in Tanzania. SFS4Youth Research Note 6. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181680

Keywords

Tanzania; Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Food Systems; Urbanization; Consumers; Food Supply

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Small-scale commercial vegetable farming in Odisha: Who is involved, how is it changing, and how inclusive is it?

2026Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha
Details

Small-scale commercial vegetable farming in Odisha: Who is involved, how is it changing, and how inclusive is it?

The research project “Tracking commercial small-scale producers for inclusive agricultural transformation” (INCATA) studied the relationships between commercial small-scale producers (farmers) and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to understand whether and how these relationships could contribute to inclusive agricultural transformation.

Year published

2026

Authors

Belton, Ben; Narayanan, Sudha

Citation

Belton, Ben; and Narayanan, Sudha. 2026. Small-scale commercial vegetable farming in Odisha: Who is involved, how is it changing, and how inclusive is it? INCATA Research Brief 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181718

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Small-scale Farming; Vegetables; Value Chains; Smallholders

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Towards inclusive and sustainable vegetable value chains in Odisha: Some policy recommendations

2026Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben
Details

Towards inclusive and sustainable vegetable value chains in Odisha: Some policy recommendations

Odisha grows about 10.9 million tons of vegetables in 2023-24 from 0.77 million hectares, representing about 8% of Gross Cropped Area. In recent years, it has witnessed a significant increase in vegetable production and is presently the 7th largest vegetable growing state in India accounting for over 5% of national vegetable production. At the same time, there is a perception that demand for vegetables far outstrips supply; consequently, the state depends on other states to make up the shortfall in supply. The Government of Odisha has focused on increasing vegetable production with a range of innovative policies and has recognized that vegetable farming as a key pathway to agricultural commercialization and doubling farmers’ incomes. Against this backdrop, we undertook an ambitious research effort as part of a larger project titled INCATA to document the pace and nature of transformation of vegetable value chains in Odisha. The study comprised many components, including rapid reconnaissance visits to 19 districts in the state, secondary data analysis and qualitative case studies. Our research culminated a large-scale survey of 5640 value chain actors (farmers, inputs suppliers, wholesalers, commission agents and retailers). In addition, we documented the profile of 11,800 traders across 158 vegetable markets and 35,913 households in vegetable growing villages in 24 blocks and 6 districts as part of a listing exercise. We summarize the results of this study in a series of project notes and research briefs. This policy note aims to distill lessons from the study to identify a set of policy interventions.

Year published

2026

Authors

Narayanan, Sudha; Belton, Ben

Citation

Narayanan, Sudha; and Belton, Ben. 2026. Towards inclusive and sustainable vegetable value chains in Odisha: Some policy recommendation. INCATA Policy Note 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181681

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Inclusion; Sustainability; Value Chains; Vegetables; Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Ice use in the fisheries value chain in Hadramawt: Findings from a qualitative survey

2026Belton, Ben; Bahurmiz, Osan
Details

Ice use in the fisheries value chain in Hadramawt: Findings from a qualitative survey

A qualitative study of ice use in the fisheries value chain in Hadramawt, Yemen, reveals the following key findings. • Ice is a widely used and essential input in the fishery value chain in Hadramawt. Almost all fish transported, traded, and retailed in surveyed markets relies on ice to maintain its quality. • Ice production capacity has expanded in recent years, but many ice factories face serious operational challenges, including unreliable electricity supply, high fuel costs, aging equipment, and volatile demand. • Ice use by fishers varies by type of vessel and target species. All large offshore vessels (abri) depend on ice. Small-scale houri sometime use ice when fishing for high-value demersal species, which deteriorate quickly without ice, but rarely when targeting pelagic fish. • Traders use large quantities of ice for transporting fish inland and exporting it overland and would be unable to operate their businesses without access to ice. • Retailers use ice strategically. Surveyed retailers displayed small quantities of un-iced fish to customers, in line with consumer preferences, but replenished their displays throughout the day with fish chilled in cool boxes out of sight. • Rates of physical and economic loss and waste in all segments of the fisheries value chain in Hadramawt may be lower than generally thought. • Energy and infrastructure are the most critical constraints to the performance of enterprises in most segments of the fisheries value chain in Hadramawt.

Year published

2026

Authors

Belton, Ben; Bahurmiz, Osan

Citation

Belton, Ben; and Bahurmiz, Osan. 2026. Ice use in the fisheries value chain in Hadramawt: Findings from a qualitative survey. MENA Project Note 30. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181710

Country/Region

Yemen

Keywords

Asia; Western Asia; Fisheries; Value Chains; Aquatic Value Chains; Ice

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Improving fruit and vegetable intake and production in Sri Lanka: An evaluation of the FRESH end-to-end approach

2026Koyratty, Nadia; Marshall, Quinn; Kumar, Neha; Silva, Renuka; Hemachandra, Dilini; Hess, Sonja Y.; Aheeyar, Mohamed; Olney, Deanna K.
Details

Improving fruit and vegetable intake and production in Sri Lanka: An evaluation of the FRESH end-to-end approach

Inadequate diets are a major contributor to malnutrition and the leading risk factor for morbidity and mortality worldwide. Low fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake contributes significantly to these burdens. F&Vs are essential sources of micronutrients, and their production has a lower environmental footprint compared to other nutrient-dense foods, making them critical for both health and sustainability. Despite these well-documented benefits, global F&V intake remains below the recommended 400 grams (about 5 servings) per person per day. This is particularly true in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where less than 20% of adults meet this target. This is likely due to a complex interplay of factors including availability, affordability, accessibility, and other context-specific barriers. Narrowing F&V intake gaps requires a nuanced understanding of the interconnected factors influencing their consumption. The approach must be comprehensive and encompass addressing factors across the food system. Generating high-quality, context-specific evidence on these factors is essential to designing effective strategies that enhance F&V desirability, affordability, accessibility, and availability, ultimately supporting healthier, more sustainable diets.

Year published

2026

Authors

Koyratty, Nadia; Marshall, Quinn; Kumar, Neha; Silva, Renuka; Hemachandra, Dilini; Hess, Sonja Y.; Aheeyar, Mohamed; Olney, Deanna K.

Citation

Koyratty, Nadia; Marshall, Quinn; Kumar, Neha; Silva, Renuka; Hemachandra, Dilini; et al. 2026. Improving fruit and vegetable intake and production in Sri Lanka: An evaluation of the FRESH end-to-end approach. FRESH Sri Lanka Research Brief 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181539

Country/Region

Sri Lanka

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Fruits; Vegetables; Food Intake; Food Production; Project Evaluation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Brief

Brief

Synopsis: Implications of urbanization, consumer awareness, and income trends on future food supplies in Senegal

2026Marivoet, Wim
Details

Synopsis: Implications of urbanization, consumer awareness, and income trends on future food supplies in Senegal

Our food systems (FS) are unable to provide healthy diets in a just and sustainable way, an observation which prompted the United Nations Food Systems Summit to establish a consensus on the need to transform FS. This study examines potential entry points—and resulting implications—to improve Senegal’s FS following expected trends in population growth and urbanization, consumer awareness, and income growth. The study finds that total food supplies need to triple by 2040, with animal-source foods (ASF), fruits, and vegetables requiring increases of a factor of four or more. The study identifies potential strategies to increase the production of these food products while also considering their environmental impact. The study underscores the importance of socially inclusive and equitable outcomes and highlights the need for significant investments to reduce food waste in targeted subsectors.

Year published

2026

Authors

Marivoet, Wim

Citation

Marivoet, Wim. 2026. Synopsis: Implications of urbanization, consumer awareness, and income trends on future food supplies in Senegal. SFS4YOUTH Research Note 5. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181172

Country/Region

Senegal

Keywords

Africa; Western Africa; Food Systems; Urbanization; Consumer Behaviour; Healthy Diets; Income

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Using small-object detection to track solar irrigation scaling: Opportunities and limitations

2026Koppolu, Sarath Chandra; Steinhuebel-Rasheed, Linda; Maruejols, Lucie
Details

Using small-object detection to track solar irrigation scaling: Opportunities and limitations

In this study, we pilot a workflow in Fayoum, Egypt, using freely available high-resolution imagery and an iteratively expanded, custom-labeled dataset, to explore whether small-object detection can feasibly track solar-powered irrigation adoption. If feasible, this approach can provide a low-cost, scalable foundation for evidence-based policy. Beyond mapping adoption, the method also has potential to link solar irrigation detection to environmental and agricultural outcomes, such as vegetation dynamics, cropping intensity, or water use efficiency.

Year published

2026

Authors

Koppolu, Sarath Chandra; Steinhuebel-Rasheed, Linda; Maruejols, Lucie

Citation

Koppolu, Sarath Chandra; Steinhuebel-Rasheed, Linda; and Maruejols, Lucie. 2026. Using small-object detection to track solar irrigation scaling: Opportunities and limitations. MENA Project Note 29. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181060

Country/Region

Egypt

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Irrigation; Solar Powered Irrigation Systems; Monitoring Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Wages of the poor: Insights from the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey in Q3/Q4 2025

2026Zu, A Myint; Minten, Bart; van Asselt, Joanna
Details

Wages of the poor: Insights from the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey in Q3/Q4 2025

We assess the wage levels and food purchasing power of casual laborers, who are among the poorest segment of the population, using data from the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey (MHWS) collected in the second half of 2025, and compare these results with earlier survey rounds.

Year published

2026

Authors

Zu, A Myint; Minten, Bart; van Asselt, Joanna

Citation

Zu, A Myint; Minten, Bart; and van Asselt, Joanna. 2026. Wages of the poor: Insights from the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey in Q3/Q4 2025. Myanmar SSP Research Note 129. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/180695

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Remuneration; Poverty; Costs; Labour Costs; Workers; Working Class

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Outcome assessment of the digital agriculture ecosystem in Ethiopia

2026Yesigat, Habtamu; Abate, Gashaw T.; Spielman, David J.
Details

Outcome assessment of the digital agriculture ecosystem in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is making gradual but notable progress toward the digital transformation of its agricultural sector, driven by investments in connectivity, digital infrastructure, and cross-institutional coordination. Recent policy milestones have established an enabling foundation for scale, including the Digital Ethiopia 2025 and Digital Ethiopia 2030, personal data protection regulation and governance frameworks, and national roadmaps that will steer investment and implementation over the next decade—particularly the Digital Agriculture Extension and Advisory Services (DAEAS) roadmap and the Digital Agriculture Roadmap (DAR). However, persistent structural constraints such as limited rural internet coverage, low smartphone penetration, and unreliable electricity continue to shape the pace and equity of adoption. This paper synthesizes Ethiopia’s digital agriculture ecosystem with a focus on technology, data and analytical capacity, and policy environment. In the technology landscape, work is ongoing to develop decision-support applications alongside digital channels for delivering advisory services. Evidence from multiple pilot initiatives suggests these tools can expand outreach cost-effectively and improve the timeliness and relevance of agronomic guidance. The success of various pilot projects, along with valuable lessons from earlier efforts, strong government commitment, and supportive policies, has driven further investment in Ethiopia’s digital ecosystem. Nonetheless, substantial gaps remain in data availability and quality that limits the production of high-quality and context-specific advisory content. In addition, the reach and intensity of extension services needed to translate digital innovation into sustained productivity gains, income and livelihoods is not yet at the level desired. While Ethiopia’s digital agriculture agenda is well-positioned for accelerated scale, its impact will depend on resolving foundational constraints in last-mile connectivity, power reliability, and the institutions and pipelines required for trustworthy data and localized advisory at national scale.

Year published

2026

Authors

Yesigat, Habtamu; Abate, Gashaw T.; Spielman, David J.

Citation

Yesigat, Habtamu; Abate, Gashaw T.; and Spielman, David J. 2026. Outcome assessment of the digital agriculture ecosystem in Ethiopia. IFPRI Policy Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/180318

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Assessment; Digital Agriculture; Data

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

The state of fisheries in Hadramawt: Insights from a scoping review

2026Belton, Ben; Abdelhadi, Ali; Dey, Durjoy; Jovanovic, Nina; Kurdi, Sikandra; Ecker, Olivier
Details

The state of fisheries in Hadramawt: Insights from a scoping review

In this project note, we review prior research and integrate insights from 14 semi-structured key informant interviews with experts on fisheries in southern Yemen to synthesize current knowledge on fisheries in Hadramawt governorate—home to the largest population of fishers in Yemen—and identify gaps that warrant further investigation.

Year published

2026

Authors

Belton, Ben; Abdelhadi, Ali; Dey, Durjoy; Jovanovic, Nina; Kurdi, Sikandra; Ecker, Olivier

Citation

Belton, Ben; Abdelhadi, Ali; Dey, Durjoy; Jovanovic, Nina; Kurdi, Sikandra; and Ecker, Olivier. 2026. The state of fisheries in Hadramawt: Insights from a scoping review. MENA Project Note 29. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179858

Country/Region

Yemen

Keywords

Asia; Western Asia; Fisheries; Systematic Reviews; Stakeholders; Value Chains; Fishing Vessels; Fishery Industry Equipment; Governance; Markets; Postharvest Losses; Fish Consumption

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Synopsis: Economywide assessment of CSA interventions in building resilient agri-food systems in Rwanda

2026Aragie, Emerta A.; Thurlow, James; Warner, James; Niyonsingiza, Josue
Details

Synopsis: Economywide assessment of CSA interventions in building resilient agri-food systems in Rwanda

This research extends IFPRI’s RIAPA modeling to include both the full implementation of PSTA 5’s climate smart agriculture and a once-in-five-year weather shock, and the interactions of both on agricultural sectors, agricultural GDP, and on national GDP. Main findings include: Rwanda’s agri-food system is highly vulnerable to climate variability due to its structural characteristics. Results indicate that CSA practices during the PSTA-5 period (2024/25–2028/29) increase agricultural GDP growth by 0.9 percentage points annually, with the largest impacts on horticulture and roots and tubers. However, several CSA interventions relate to infrastructural improvements and therefore the benefits extend over a longer time horizon, ultimately having even greater impact beyond PSTA 5. The weather shock causes dramatic declines in agricultural GDP (-1.6 percent), with horticulture affected most negatively, suffering a 2.4 percent decline. The joint Climate + CSA scenario depicts how CSA helps mitigate, but not fully eliminate, the negative impacts of weather shocks during the PSTA 5 period.

Year published

2026

Authors

Aragie, Emerta A.; Thurlow, James; Warner, James; Niyonsingiza, Josue

Citation

Aragie, Emerta A.; Thurlow, James; Warner, James; and Niyonsingiza, Josue. 2025. Synopsis: Economywide assessment of CSA interventions in building resilient agri-food systems in Rwanda. Rwanda SSP Policy Note 26. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179844

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Climate-smart Agriculture; Modelling; Food Systems; Agricultural Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Fish for food security in Yemen: Insights from the Data in Emergencies survey

2026Dey, Durjoy; Belton, Ben; Kurdi, Sikandra; Ecker, Olivier
Details

Fish for food security in Yemen: Insights from the Data in Emergencies survey

Fish is the most frequently consumed animal-source food in Yemen, apart from dairy. Fish consumption is highest in coastal southern Yemen but also very common in southern inland districts. Nine percent of households in coastal southern Yemen earned income from fishing. Earning fishing income is highly positively associated with consumption of fish or meat and with the frequency of fish or meat consumption. Sustaining fish stocks and fishing livelihoods is critical to food security and nutrition in southern Yemen.

Year published

2026

Authors

Dey, Durjoy; Belton, Ben; Kurdi, Sikandra; Ecker, Olivier

Citation

Dey, Durjoy; Belton, Ben; Kurdi, Sikandra; and Ecker, Olivier. 2026. Fish for food security in Yemen: Insights from the Data in Emergencies survey. MENA Project Note 28. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179637

Country/Region

Yemen

Keywords

Asia; Western Asia; Fish; Food Security; Surveys; Fish Consumption; Fishing; Livelihoods

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Food processing and nutrition in Africa: Improving diets under the Kampala Declaration

2026Nakitto, Aisha Musaazi S.; Ulimwengu, John M.
Details

Food processing and nutrition in Africa: Improving diets under the Kampala Declaration

Africa’s food systems are undergoing rapid transformation, yet they remain burdened by a dual nutrition crisis: widespread undernutrition alongside rising obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Food processing stands at the intersection of this challenge—offering both risks and opportunities. This policy brief argues that when guided by nutrition-sensitive strategies, food processing can be harnessed to improve dietary quality, enhance food safety, reduce postharvest losses, and create economic opportunities, particularly for women- and youth-led enterprises. However, the proliferation of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) threatens to worsen public health outcomes unless appropriate regulation and consumer education accompany industrial growth. Drawing on evidence from the Malabo Montpellier Panel’s 2024 VALUE-UP report and innovative case studies across Africa, the brief recommends a multi-pronged approach: supporting fortified and minimally processed foods, strengthening small and medium-sized processing enterprises, advancing food safety systems, and investing in public-private partnerships for nutrition-focused innovation. Linking agrifood processing to better nutrition outcomes is essential to achieving the goals of the Kampala Declaration and the CAADP Strategy (2026–2035).

Year published

2026

Authors

Nakitto, Aisha Musaazi S.; Ulimwengu, John M.

Citation

Nakitto, Aisha Musaazi S.; and Ulimwengu, John M. 2026. Food processing and nutrition in Africa: Improving diets under the Kampala Declaration. Kampala Policy Brief Series 12. Kigali, Rwanda: Akademiya2063. https://doi.org/10.54067/kpbs.12

Keywords

Africa; Food Processing; Diet; Ultraprocessed Foods; Nutrition; Non-communicable Diseases; Health; Food Security; Nutrition-sensitive Agriculture

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.54067/kpbs.12 Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Life after a cluster intervention: Insights from shrimp farming in Bangladesh

2025Narayanan, Sudha; Sakil, Abdul Zabbar; Kabir, Razin; Redoy, Md.; Belton, Ben
Details

Life after a cluster intervention: Insights from shrimp farming in Bangladesh

This project note summarizes insights from a three-year research project focused on an ambitious cluster intervention by the Department of Fisheries (DoF), Government of Bangladesh for shrimp farmers. In 2022, as part of a World Bank funded project, the Department of Fisheries organized smallholder shrimp farmers with contiguous ponds into clusters in Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat districts in southwest Bangladesh. Each cluster brought together 20-25 farmers, with pond sizes of at most 1.5 acres in size, to deliver training on best management practices, supply inputs, and encourage coordination. Group members were encouraged to follow a suite of management practices aimed at raising farm productivity, reducing the incidence of shrimp disease, and increasing the supply of raw material for processors. These measures included farming bagda shrimp (P. monodon)—Bangladesh’s main export species—in monoculture, raising shrimp stocking densities, stocking disease-free shrimp larvae (SPFPL), using factory-made feeds, deepening ponds, erecting biosecurity fencing, and coordinating stocking and harvesting activities with other group members. The costs of deepening ponds and adopting other improved management practices were borne by farmers themselves, but the clusters that made these investments received free SPF-PL and feed as incentives for doing so. The goal of this cluster intervention was to promote sufficient volumes of shrimp for processing plants for export, eventually paving the way for instituting traceability systems and group-based sustainability certification, increasingly a requirement in global retail markets. Even at the time of inception, the cluster program was intended as a time-bound two-year project that would end in 2025.

Year published

2025

Authors

Narayanan, Sudha; Sakil, Abdul Zabbar; Kabir, Razin; Redoy, Md.; Belton, Ben

Citation

Narayanan, Sudha; Sakil, Abdul Zabbar; Kabir, Razin; Redoy, Md.; and Belton, Ben. 2025. Life after a cluster intervention: Insights from shrimp farming in Bangladesh. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179366

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Shrimp Fisheries; Evaluation; Shrimp Culture; Farming Systems; Aquaculture Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Climate-smart agriculture and development practices in Egypt: Report on a policy seminar event

2025Hassan, Ganna; Tarek, Abdallah
Details

Climate-smart agriculture and development practices in Egypt: Report on a policy seminar event

This policy note summarizes presentations and discussion shared during the workshop held in Cairo on May 25th 2025, as part of the Bridging Evidence and Policy (BEP) seminar series, a collaborative initiative by the Egyptian Food Bank (EFB), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD) which brings together researchers, policymakers, and development practitioners.

Year published

2025

Authors

Hassan, Ganna; Tarek, Abdallah

Citation

Hassan, Ganna; and Tarek, Abdallah. 20025. Climate-smart agriculture and development practices in Egypt: Report on a policy seminar event. IFPRI Policy Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179367

Country/Region

Egypt

Keywords

Northern Africa; Middle East; Climate Change; Climate-smart Agriculture; Early Warning Systems; Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Evolution of consumption and livelihood impacts from cash and food transfer programs: Eight-year post-program experimental evidence from Bangladesh

2025Ahmed, Akhter; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John F.; Rakshit, Deboleena; Roy, Shalini
Details

Evolution of consumption and livelihood impacts from cash and food transfer programs: Eight-year post-program experimental evidence from Bangladesh

Findings from this study will provide greater insight as to how and why transfer programs have mixed post-intervention effects across different contexts, and how gender and livelihood opportunities may influence these trajectories. These insights will help inform the future design of transfer programs that aim to support sustainable poverty reduction and gender-equitable livelihoods, including to guide modifications tailored to the local context.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ahmed, Akhter; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John F.; Rakshit, Deboleena; Roy, Shalini

Citation

Ahmed, Akhter; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Hidrobo, Melissa; Hoddinott, John F.; Rakshit, Deboleena; and Roy, Shalini. 2025. Evolution of consumption and livelihood impacts from cash and food transfer programs: Eight-year post-program experimental evidence from Bangladesh. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179365

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Social Protection; Cash Transfers; Food Security; Evaluation; Consumption; Livelihoods; Food Assistance

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Solar powered drip irrigation: Lessons learned from an impact evaluation in Yemen

2025Jovanovic, Nina; Darwish, Maram; Kurdi, Sikandra; Yamauchi, Futoshi
Details

Solar powered drip irrigation: Lessons learned from an impact evaluation in Yemen

This policy note summarizes findings from a clustered randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in eastern Yemen to assess the impacts of subsidized solar powered drip irrigation systems on smallholder farmers’ production decisions and household food security. The study provides causal evidence on how subsidizing solar drip irrigation for smallholders affects crop choice, market engagement, and welfare outcomes in a fragile, water-scarce context. The intervention led to a significant shift in cropping patterns, with treated farmers becoming less likely to cultivate cereals and more likely to grow higher-value horticultural crops. Treated households also sold a greater share of their harvest in markets during the first season following installation, suggesting increased commercialization. However, the study did not detect significant short-term impacts on household food security, indicating that production changes did not immediately translate into improved consumption outcomes.

Year published

2025

Authors

Jovanovic, Nina; Darwish, Maram; Kurdi, Sikandra; Yamauchi, Futoshi

Citation

Jovanovic, Nina; Darwish, Maram; Kurdi, Sikandra; and Yamauchi, Futoshi. 2025. Solar powered drip irrigation: Lessons learned from an impact evaluation in Yemen. MENA Policy Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179369

Country/Region

Yemen

Keywords

Western Asia; Middle East; Climate Change Adaptation; Solar Energy; Irrigation; Evaluation; Solar Powered Irrigation Systems; Trickle Irrigation; Groundwater Irrigation; Irrigation Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Measuring norms and beliefs about gender-based violence among adolescent girls and young women in rural Senegal: Psychometric validation in a novel population and setting

2025Heckert, Jessica; Dione, Malick; Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Le Port, Agnes; Seye, Moustapha
Details

Measuring norms and beliefs about gender-based violence among adolescent girls and young women in rural Senegal: Psychometric validation in a novel population and setting

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-partner sexual violence (NPSV) are forms of gender-based violence (GBV) and contribute to a range of poor mental and physical health outcomes (Beydoun et al., 2012; Dillon et al., 2013; Flor et al., 2025). Among ever-partnered women aged 15 and older in the Africa region, 33% report physical and/or sexual IPV in their lifetime and 19% in the past year (Sardinha et al., 2022). In addition, the lifetime prevalence of NPSV among woman aged 15 to 49 years is 6% in sub-Saharan Africa (Sardinha et al., 2024). Norms (i.e., the societal expectations and rules that dictate acceptable behavior in a given context) that consider GBV acceptable in its various forms perpetuate GBV by reinforcing its acceptability. Among interventions that aim to reduce the prevalence of GBV, many aim to do so, at least in part, by changing both norms and beliefs about GBV (Leight et al., 2023; Ullman et al., 2025). Validated scales for measuring these outcomes are limited, but important for understanding factors that contribute to changes in norms and beliefs.

Year published

2025

Authors

Heckert, Jessica; Dione, Malick; Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Le Port, Agnes; Seye, Moustapha

Citation

Heckert, Jessica; Dione, Malick; Hidrobo, Melissa; Peterman, Amber; Le Port, Agnes; and Seye, Moustapha. 2025. Measuring norms and beliefs about gender-based violence among adolescent girls and young women in rural Senegal: Psychometric validation in a novel population and setting. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179408

Country/Region

Senegal

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Western Africa; Gender; Women; Domestic Violence; Gender Norms; Youth; Rural Areas

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Scaling biofortified zinc wheat through policy reform and partnerships in Punjab, Pakistan

2025Misra, Rewa S.; Ahmad, Javed
Details

Scaling biofortified zinc wheat through policy reform and partnerships in Punjab, Pakistan

Between 2019 and 2023, Pakistan’s Zinc Wheat (ZnW) initiative achieved rapid scaling from pilot to national level through coordinated policy reform, institutional investment, and private-sector engagement. Initially constrained by weak seed systems, limited farmer awareness, and fragmented policy implementation, the enabling environment for zinc wheat transformed through reforms in seed certification, public investment in early generation seed (EGS), and targeted digital advisories for farmers. Punjab province, accounting for most of Pakistan’s wheat area, became the central hub for scaling. This was facilitated through the joint efforts of the Punjab Agriculture Department, Ayub Agriculture Research Institute, HarvestPlus, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and private seed companies, which resulted in the area planted with zinc wheat expanding from 64,000 to over 3.1 million hectares, reaching 3.3 million farming households and more than 20 million consumers. This case illustrates how coordinated institutional, policy, and market interventions can translate research innovation into widespread impact, improving both agricultural productivity and population nutrition.

Year published

2025

Authors

Misra, Rewa S.; Ahmad, Javed

Citation

Misra, Rewa; and Ahmad, Javed. 2025. Scaling biofortified zinc wheat through policy reform and partnerships in Punjab, Pakistan. Enabling Environment Success and Failure Stories 14. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute and CGIAR Scaling for Impact program. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181241

Country/Region

Pakistan

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Wheat; Biofortification; Zinc; Reforms; Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Assessment of the facilitation process of establishing a living lab for co-creating locally-led climate action in Caquetá/Colombia

2025Falk, Thomas; Rodríguez, Luz A.; Vanegas, Martha; Nehring, Ryan; Calle, Johana; Lopez, Maria
Details

Assessment of the facilitation process of establishing a living lab for co-creating locally-led climate action in Caquetá/Colombia

One of the key ambitions of the CGIAR Climate Action Program is to support structures that enable affected people to take ownership of food system innovation processes and to determine their goals, strategies, and modalities. To this end, the program team adopts and expands the concept of living labs, understood as social spaces – virtual or physical – where stakeholders co-develop new ways of thinking and acting to transform collaboration and practices. In the Department of Caquetá, within the Colombian Amazon, the program supports a place-based and community-led living lab focused on inclusion, environmental justice, and peacebuilding—an initiative participants have termed the “Participatory Rural Innovation Lab: Towards a Sustainable Territory” (PRIL). This paper presents the results of an assessment of the early dynamics in PRIL’s development in light of the normative principles of the living lab approach. Moreover, it examines whether significant power and agency imbalances exist and to what extent contextual factors influence the process.

Year published

2025

Authors

Falk, Thomas; Rodríguez, Luz A.; Vanegas, Martha; Nehring, Ryan; Calle, Johana; Lopez, Maria

Citation

Falk, Thomas; Rodríguez, Luz A.; Vanegas, Martha; Nehring, Ryan; Calle, Johana; and Lopez, Maria. 2025. Assessment of the facilitation process of establishing a living lab for co-creating locally-led climate action in Caquetá/Colombia. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179912

Country/Region

Colombia

Keywords

Americas; South America; Capacity Building; Living Labs; Local Climate Action; Locally-led Action; Facilitation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Low-Emission Food Systems

Record type

Brief

Brief

Diet & nutrition profile: Tanzania

2025Amunga, Dorcas; Honeycutt, Sydney; Grant, F.; Kinabo, Joyce; Bliznashka, Lilia; Olney, Deanna K.
Details

Diet & nutrition profile: Tanzania

Poor nutrition, suboptimal diets, and low fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake are key preventable risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally. From 2022 to 2024, the CGIAR Research Initiative on Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets (FRESH) designed and began implementation of an end-to-end approach to increase F&V intake and improve diet quality, nutrition, and health, while also enhancing livelihoods, empowering women and youth, and mitigating environmental impacts. Now under the CGIAR Science Program on Better Diets and Nutrition (BDN), implementation of the FRESH approach continues with the aim of addressing barriers to the desirability, affordability, accessibility, and availability of diverse, safe, and sustainable F&V in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Tanzania is one of the four original priority countries implementing this end-to-end approach to increase intake of F&V and other perishable nutrient-rich foods. The aim of this brief is to describe the nutrition and diet landscape in Tanzania and highlight relevant programs, strategies and policies.

Year published

2025

Authors

Amunga, Dorcas; Honeycutt, Sydney; Grant, F.; Kinabo, Joyce; Bliznashka, Lilia; Olney, Deanna K.

Citation

Amunga, Dorcas; Honeycutt, Sydney; Grant, Frederick K. E.; Kinabo, Joyce; Bliznashka, Lilia; and Olney, Deanna K. 2025. Diet & nutrition profile: Tanzania. CGIAR Research Program on Better Diets and Nutrition. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179845

Keywords

Tanzania; Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Diet; Nutrition; Nutritional Status; Health; Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Brief

Brief

Urban markets in Honduras and Guatemala: Dynamics, challenges, and opportunities for sustainable healthy diets

2025Peña, Meliza; Van Loon, Jelle
Details

Urban markets in Honduras and Guatemala: Dynamics, challenges, and opportunities for sustainable healthy diets

This study analyzes the dynamics of urban food markets in Honduras and Guatemala, with the objective of understanding their linkages with smallholder farmers and their role in the availability of and accessibility to nutritious foods. The analysis was based on 86 interviews with retailers, smallholder farmers, and local agents, such as representatives from government programs and non-governmental organizations involved in market regulation, technical assistance, and support to smallholders. The study assessed factors that determine prices, supply stability, postharvest losses, and consumer preferences. The results show that intermediary actors are the main mechanism supporting local value chains, which connect rural production with urban markets; this ensures continuous supply but limits the direct participation of smallholder farmers. Seasonality, high transport costs, and lack of cold storage infrastructure contribute to price instability and losses of up to 40 percent for some products. Consumers prioritize freshness and appearance over nutritional attributes or local origin. Based on these findings, the authors suggest strengthening short value chains, investing in postharvest infrastructure such as cold storage units to reduce food loss, and raising awareness about healthy diets to promote sustainability and nutrition among urban consumers. These actions would contribute to more inclusive urban markets and resilient value chains, aligned with the expected outcomes of Area of Work 2: Market Systems for Better Diets under CGIAR’s Better Diets and Nutrition (BDN) Science Program.

Year published

2025

Authors

Peña, Meliza; Van Loon, Jelle

Citation

Peña, Meliza; and Van Loon, Jelle. 2025. Urban markets in Honduras and Guatemala: Dynamics, challenges, and opportunities for sustainable healthy diets. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/180907

Country/Region

Honduras; Guatemala

Keywords

Americas; Central America; Urban Areas; Markets; Sustainability; Healthy Diets

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Narratives of change: Actors’ perceptions of climate change and community-led innovation in Banspal, Odisha, India

2025Chaby, Ilan
Details

Narratives of change: Actors’ perceptions of climate change and community-led innovation in Banspal, Odisha, India

The report examines how tribal community members and district officials in Banspal, Odisha perceive climate change, livelihoods, and local governance as part of building a climate‑focused Living Lab in the region. It is based on nine semi‑structured interviews conducted in 2025, mostly with tribal members, and aims to understand social–ecological challenges and opportunities for community‑led innovation. Interviewees emphasized agriculture as a primary livelihood, while noting challenges such as water scarcity, forest degradation, and conflicts with wild animals. Many tribal residents expressed concerns about unclear land tenure and the risk of losing forest rights to mining and logging interests. Participants also described noticeable climate‑related changes, especially irregular rainfall affecting farming and drinking water. District officials highlighted government programs supporting livelihoods, bamboo plantations, water infrastructure, and organic farming incentives, though uptake was limited. Communication between villagers and officials appeared inconsistent: officials described active channels, while villagers often reported limited engagement and greater trust in NGOs. Education gaps and difficulties accessing medical care and drinking water were recurring themes. Overall, the narratives reveal misalignments in perceptions, uneven access to resources, and strong community interest in forest protection, all of which will shape the development of the Banspal Living Lab.

Year published

2025

Authors

Chaby, Ilan

Citation

Chaby, Ilan. 2025. Narratives of change: Actors’ perceptions of climate change and community-led innovation in Banspal, Odisha, India. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/180991

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Living Labs; Climate Change; Livelihoods; Governance; Innovation

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Supply- and demand-side factors influencing uptake of anemia interventions: Systematic review of evidence from low-and-middle income countries

2025Gune, Soyra; Avula, Rasmi; Scott, Samuel P.; White, Howard; TV, Bhumika; Gupta, Neha; Yadav, Kapil; Vohra, Kashish
Details

Supply- and demand-side factors influencing uptake of anemia interventions: Systematic review of evidence from low-and-middle income countries

This Research Note summarizes findings from a systematic review that included published papers and reports from 27 low-and-middle income countries on barriers and facilitators to uptake of interventions to address anemia. The findings from this review, could inform programs and policies across sectors to strengthen delivery and uptake of interventions for reducing anemia.

Year published

2025

Authors

Gune, Soyra; Avula, Rasmi; Scott, Samuel P.; White, Howard; TV, Bhumika; Gupta, Neha; Yadav, Kapil; Vohra, Kashish

Citation

Gune, Soyra; Avula, Rasmi; Scott, Samuel P.; White, Howard; TV, Bhumika; et al. 2025. Supply- and demand-side factors influencing uptake of anemia interventions: Systematic review of evidence from low-and-middle income countries. SANI Research Note 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179908

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Supply Balance; Anaemia; Interventions; Systematic Reviews; Developing Countries

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

SAA’s extension model: Scaling sustainable farming in Nigeria

2025Kirui, Oliver K.; Balana, Bedru; Olanrewaju, Opeyemi; Edeh, Hyacinth O.; Nwagboso, Chibuzo
Details

SAA’s extension model: Scaling sustainable farming in Nigeria

In Nigeria, scaling agricultural innovations faces a major enabling environment challenge. This includes weak national extension systems, low extension officers-farmer ratios (1:1,800–1:3,000) and ineffective input-output market linkages, limiting technology adoption, and value addition for smallholders. The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) addressed this through its Value-Chain Based Extension (VCBE) Models, including Commodity Association Trader-Trainers and post-harvest centers, fostering public-private partnerships to build capacity, improve group dynamics, and create aggregation hubs. This innovative extension model has mobilized agricultural produce valued at approximately USD 3.9 million and delivered significant impact for smallholder farmers. The approach has doubled maize yields—from traditional levels of 2,438 kg/ha to 4,823 kg/ha—while enhancing incomes for more than 455,200 farmers. These outcomes are strengthening both food security and economic resilience across participating communities.

Year published

2025

Authors

Kirui, Oliver K.; Balana, Bedru; Olanrewaju, Opeyemi; Edeh, Hyacinth O.; Nwagboso, Chibuzo

Citation

Kirui, Oliver K.; Balana, Bedru; Olanrewaju, Opeyemi; Edeh, Hyacinth O.; and Nwagboso, Chibuzo. 2025. SAA’s extension model: Scaling sustainable farming in Nigeria. Enabling Environment Success and Failure Stories 7. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/180316

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Western Africa; Agricultural Extension; Sustainability; Innovation Scaling; Sustainable Agriculture; Farming Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Water for food security: The contribution of CGIAR in addressing global agricultural water challenges

2025Xie, Hua; Masso, Cargele
Details

Water for food security: The contribution of CGIAR in addressing global agricultural water challenges

Water is a fundamental input for food production and is used extensively across all agricultural activities, including crop cultivation, livestock production, aquaculture, and food processing. Substantial investments have been made to expand water supply capacity for agriculture, which has made a significant contribution to agricultural production growth (FAO, 2021). At the same time, the intensive use of water in agriculture and related processes creates significant pressures on water resources and aquatic ecosystems. Water scarcity and pollution are among the major water-related challenges associated with global food production, which are directly relevant to SDG 6.

Year published

2025

Authors

Xie, Hua; Masso, Cargele

Citation

Xie, Hua and Masso, Cargele. 2025. Water for food security: The contribution of CGIAR in addressing global agricultural water challenges. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179405

Keywords

Water Management; Food Security; Water

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Measuring gender sensitive climate adaptation in agrifood systems for climate finance

2025Eissler, Sarah; Magalhaes, Marilia; Ringler, Claudia; Bryan, Elizabeth
Details

Measuring gender sensitive climate adaptation in agrifood systems for climate finance

There is a need for clear and flexible national-level frameworks to help countries identify their progress towards gender integration in climate adaptation. Gender-sensitive frameworks would also help strengthen gender considerations when determining climate financing and steer potential financing to accelerate progress towards gender equality. Without such frameworks, it becomes difficult to direct climate finance strategically to women in the AFS and to systematically track the adaptation outcomes associated with the funds they receive. This brief draws on a literature review of existing policies and frameworks and key informant interviews (KIIs) with experts in designing gender-informed national-level frameworks conducted by researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) under the Gender, Climate Change, and Nutrition (GCAN) Integration Initiative and the CGIAR Climate Action Science Program. In this brief, we summarize the need for clear and applicable national-level frameworks to measure gender integration in climate change adaptation strategies and how such guidance could be used to direct climate financing to address gender equality.

Year published

2025

Authors

Eissler, Sarah; Magalhaes, Marilia; Ringler, Claudia; Bryan, Elizabeth

Citation

Eissler, Sarah; Magalhaes, Marilia; Ringler, Claudia; and Bryan, Elizabeth. 2025. Measuring gender sensitive climate adaptation in agrifood systems for climate finance. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179203

Keywords

Climate Change; Gender; Climate Change Adaptation; Agrifood Systems; Financing

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Internal displacement and the promotion of bundled agricultural technologies: Evidence from a fragile setting in Nigeria

2025Amare, Mulubrhan; Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Misra, Rewa S.
Details

Internal displacement and the promotion of bundled agricultural technologies: Evidence from a fragile setting in Nigeria

Fragile regions within Nigeria face multiple, overlapping challenges including climate volatility, violent conflict, widespread displacement, and persistent malnutrition. These pressures can constrain agricultural production and compromise household welfare, particularly for internally displaced households, who face depleted assets and repeated exposure to shocks. Within the context of Nigeria, addressing these constraints requires interventions that improve access to agricultural technologies and strengthen food systems. This brief summarizes experimental evidence from Gombe State, Nigeria, where we implemented an intervention promoting the adoption of a bundle of agricultural technologies. The intervention specifically disentangled the effects of price discounts and information campaigns on bundle adoption. We collected data on the use of each of the bundle components as well as the implementation of agronomic practices recommended for achieving agricultural intensification benefits, enabling us to document adoption beyond the initial purchase of the bundle in a detailed way. The bundle—which includes biofortified seeds, fertilizers, crop protection products, and weather-risk insurance—was designed to generate an intensification response among farmers and address micronutrient deficiencies among adopting households. In principle, biofortified crops—such as vitamin A maize and high-iron millet—offer a dual benefit: improved crop productivity and improved access to nutritious foods. While Nigerian agricultural policies encourage biofortification, sustained adoption remains limited, and existing studies overwhelmingly focus on peaceful and stable settings. We aim to addresses existing knowledge gaps by implementing a randomized control trial in Gombe State, Nigeria—a fragile and conflict-affected setting with a relatively large displaced population. Existing evidence shows that bundled input packages, rather than interventions promoting a single agricultural input, can generate productivity gains associated with agricultural intensification. Adoption is often hindered by liquidity constraints, perceived risk, and weak extension systems. Moreover, displaced households can face additional barriers due to asset loss and insecure land tenure. This motivates us to specifically investigate whether displaced households respond differently to our intervention than households from the host population.

Year published

2025

Authors

Amare, Mulubrhan; Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Misra, Rewa S.

Citation

Amare, Mulubrhan; Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; and Misra, Rewa S. 2025. Internal displacement and the promotion of bundled agricultural technologies: Evidence from a fragile setting in Nigeria. FCA Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179196

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Western Africa; Fragility; Displacement; Dispossession; Agricultural Technology; Internally Displaced Persons; Bundling

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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

Brief

Policy entry points for healthy diets in India: Insights from three consultations

2025Kishore, Avinash; Swaminathan, Soumya; Scott, Samuel P.; Avula, Rasmi; Menon, Purnima
Details

Policy entry points for healthy diets in India: Insights from three consultations

Improving diet quality in India is both urgent and achievable, and the cost of inaction is high. The policy entry points identified through stakeholder consultations offer practical ways forward—from implementing front-of-package labeling and restricting ultra-processed food advertisements, to strengthening nutrition behavior change communication in existing safety net programs and making these programs more nutrition-sensitive. India’s increasingly diverse food production is creating the supply-side foundation for healthier diets. Policy action should now focus on three key areas: making nutritious foods more accessible and affordable through agricultural policies and social protection programs that enable and incentivize crop and diet diversification; fostering healthier food environments by regulating ultra-processed foods with improved labeling, restrictions on advertising and promotion near schools, and limits on sugar, fat, and salt content; and building sustained demand for diverse, nutritious diets through targeted behavior change communication. Implementation should apply a consistent equity lens: prioritizing lagging geographies and marginalized groups, addressing gendered time constraints through childcare and other supports, and enabling women-led and small enterprises that produce nutritious, convenient foods. Success requires prioritizing cost-effective interventions with demonstrated impact, fostering collaboration across government departments and levels, and leveraging India’s growing data infrastructure to ensure interventions reach the most vulnerable populations.

Year published

2025

Authors

Kishore, Avinash; Swaminathan, Soumya; Scott, Samuel P.; Avula, Rasmi; Menon, Purnima

Citation

Kishore, Avinash; Swaminathan, Soumya; Scott, Samuel P.; Avula, Rasmi; and Menon, Purnima. 2025. Policy entry points for healthy diets in India: Insights from three consultations. IFPRI Policy Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179208

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Nutrition; Diet; Food Consumption; Policies; Healthy Diets; Stakeholders

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia

Record type

Brief

Brief

Synopsis: The changing demographics in Nigeria’s food systems and implications for future youth engagement

2025Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Andam, Kwaw S.; Mawia, Harriet; Popoola, Olufemi
Details

Synopsis: The changing demographics in Nigeria’s food systems and implications for future youth engagement

Food systems (FS) are critically important in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA), where they account for a significant share of the GDP and employment. FS transformation is both strongly influenced by and strongly influences employment and job creation. This study documents FS employment in the past two decades observed in Nigeria, focusing on changes in demographic structure and inclusiveness. Key findings of the study are: FS in Nigeria are poised for significant transformation driven by demographic shifts, urbanization, income growth, and a favorable policy environment, while the conflict adversely affects this transformation. Agricultural employment declined significantly during the period, while the share of nonfarm agrifood sectors in total employment almost tripled, signaling major structural transformation. Employment in food manufacturing expanded rapidly, albeit from a lower base, with women’s share among the fastest growing. Women’s share in nonfarm agrifood system (AFS) employment tripled over the period, while youth participation quadrupled. However, Nigeria’s youth face persistent barriers. Youth unemployment is double the national rate and their labor force participation is considerably below the average rate. The nonfarm AFS employment share in Nigeria far exceeds the continental average, positioning Nigeria ahead in AFS transformation. Policy recommendations from the study include providing targeted youth training and financing for nonfarm AFS roles; closing gender gaps through resource access and supportive regulations; investing in marketing infrastructure; prioritizing recovery and job programs in conflict zones; and adopting a holistic FS approach that also engenders the active involvement of women and youth.

Year published

2025

Authors

Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Andam, Kwaw S.; Mawia, Harriet; Popoola, Olufemi

Citation

Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Andam, Kwaw S.; Mawia, Harriet; and Popoola, Olufemi. 2025. Synopsis: The changing demographics in Nigeria’s food systems and implications for future youth engagement. SFS4Youth Research Note 4. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179186

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Africa; Western Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Demographic Transition; Food Systems; Youth; Youth Employment; Employment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Climate–agriculture–gender inequality hotspots: Insights for Nigeria

2025Azzarri, Carlo; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; Kedir Jemal, Mekamu
Details

Climate–agriculture–gender inequality hotspots: Insights for Nigeria

Climate change intensifies risks in Nigeria’s agri-food systems, disproportionately affecting women due to social inequalities that increase their vulnerability and limit their adaptive capacity. Hotspot areas are concentrated in northern and north-central Nigeria, notably Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Jigawa, Kebby, Nasarawa, Niger, Sokoto, and Zamfara. Policy actions should prioritize climate-smart agriculture, gender-sensitive climate services, and social protection to improve resilience and equity.

Year published

2025

Authors

Azzarri, Carlo; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; Kedir Jemal, Mekamu

Citation

Azzarri, Carlo; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; and Kedir Jemal, Mekamu. 2025. Climate–agriculture–gender inequality hotspots: Insights for Nigeria. GCAN Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179189

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Western Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Climate Change; Gender; Agriculture; Agrifood Systems; Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Lessons from the Digital Agricultural Advisory Services (DAAS) project in Ethiopia: Dairy use case

2025Abate, Gashaw T.; McNamara, Brian; Bonilla, Juan; Yesigat, Habtamu; Spielman, David J.
Details

Lessons from the Digital Agricultural Advisory Services (DAAS) project in Ethiopia: Dairy use case

Agricultural extension services are a cornerstone of rural development and a vital instrument for policymakers to directly shape economic, social, and environmental outcomes in rural areas. These services aim to enhance farm productivity by promoting the adoption of agricultural technologies, inputs, and management practices. Through outreach, training, knowledge sharing, and learning, extension activities help bridge the gap between research and practice, potentially supporting more resilient and productive farming systems (Davis 2008; Jack 2013).

Year published

2025

Authors

Abate, Gashaw T.; McNamara, Brian; Bonilla, Juan; Yesigat, Habtamu; Spielman, David J.

Citation

Abate, Gashaw T.; McNamara, Brian; Bonilla, Juan; Yesigat, Habtamu; and Spielman, David J. 2025. Lessons from the Digital Agricultural Advisory Services (DAAS) project in Ethiopia: Dairy use case. IFPRI Policy Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178948

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Advisory Services; Dairying; Agricultural Extension

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Labor market and gender impacts of agricultural mechanization: Evidence from Bangladesh’s combine harvester subsidy program

2025Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Karim, Md. Aminul; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Roy, Shalini
Details

Labor market and gender impacts of agricultural mechanization: Evidence from Bangladesh’s combine harvester subsidy program

Bangladesh’s Phase III agricultural mechanization subsidy program (2020–2024) distributed over 35,000 machines worth BDT 1,595 crore (USD 163 million), including nearly 9,000 combine harvesters (CHs) that accounted for 84% of machinery expenditure. Earlier causal econometric analysis suggests that high-allocation CH areas saw 6-13% yield gains, 38-70% lower labor costs, and 12-26% lower production costs. In this note, we explore the distributional consequences of subsidized combine harvesters, particularly along gender lines. As a result of the program, self-employment in agriculture increases by 5.3 percentage points; men shift from wage labor to own-account farm work linked to mechanized operations. Female self-employment in agriculture declines by 2.6 percentage points; overall female employment probability falls by 1.8 percentage points. Unlike men, women do not transition into non-agricultural employment, indicating limited capacity to absorb displaced female workers. Among those who remain self-employed, women increase their time allocation substantially—suggesting that while fewer women participate, those who do work more hours, likely in livestock and fisheries. Foreign migration increases by 6.1 percentage points in high-mechanization areas, suggesting households use freed labor for overseas opportunities.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Karim, Md. Aminul; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Roy, Shalini

Citation

Mahzab, Moogdho; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Karim, Md. Aminul; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; and Roy, Shalini. 2025. Labor market and gender impacts of agricultural mechanization: Evidence from Bangladesh’s combine harvester subsidy program. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178946

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Labour Market; Gender; Impact; Agricultural Mechanization; Subsidies; Combine Harvesters

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Community health worker caseloads, home visits, and child survival: Experimental evidence of heterogenous effects from Mali

2025Allen IV, James
Details

Community health worker caseloads, home visits, and child survival: Experimental evidence of heterogenous effects from Mali

I examine whether the effectiveness of community health worker (CHW) home visits in reducing under-five mortality varies with the population-to-CHW ratio in rural, fragile, and conflict-affected Mali. Muso, a global health NGO focused on reducing child and maternal mortality, recently signed a data use agreement with IFPRI to enable study of new research questions using data from its recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) of proactive home visits in Mali’s Bankass region. The original trial found that proactive home visits by professional CHWs did not lead to detectable reductions in child mortality relative to fixed-site care, although health infrastructure improvements in both treatment arms likely led to experienced large declines in under-five mortality across all study communities amid ongoing conflict. In this project note, I study heterogeneous effects of the proactive home visit model by population-to-CHW ratios using nearly census level baseline population data and administrative records on CHW assignment. I test the hypothesis that home visits may operate differently when CHWs face particularly high or low caseloads. In theory, CHWs serving small populations may not be necessary for improving access because travel distances to fixed sites are already short, whereas CHWs serving very large populations may be unable to conduct sufficiently frequent and high-quality home visits. If both mechanisms operate, an optimal population-to-CHW ratio may exist. Instead, I find evidence that CHW home visits are more effective when the population-to-CHW ratio is high. At 900 people per CHW (about the 90th percentile in the trial data), children in control clusters experience significantly higher mortality risk. This elevated risk, however, is offset in clusters assigned to proactive home visits. Additional checks indicate that this is driven by CHW coverage rather than underlying population size. These findings suggest that proactive home visits may be most beneficial in areas where fixed-site CHWs otherwise face heavy caseloads.

Year published

2025

Authors

Allen IV, James

Citation

Allen IV, James. 2025. Community health worker caseloads, home visits, and child survival: Experimental evidence of heterogenous effects from Mali. FCA Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178959

Country/Region

Mali

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Western Africa; Community Organizations; Health Care; Child Health; Fragility

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Impact of NGOs on women’s empowerment and voice in Bangladesh

2025Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Kyle, Jordan; Simi, Sonjida Mesket
Details

Impact of NGOs on women’s empowerment and voice in Bangladesh

Bangladesh continues to experience persistent gender inequalities shaped by cultural, religious, and social norms. Within its patriarchal social structure, women’s roles are commonly limited to reproductive work or household-based productive activities. These tasks are essential to family well-being but unpaid, undervalued, and routinely overlooked compared to men’s work (Efroymson et al., 2007). These norms have historically constrained women’s visibility, mobility, and participation in the public sphere. The expansion of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) marked an important shift in this landscape. Bangladesh’s NGO sector is heterogeneous, with diverse organizational structures, management styles, and ideological orientations that span both service-delivery and movement-based models (Kabeer, 2002). The rapid growth of NGOs starting in the 1980s is driven largely by increases in donor funding, which signaled a move away from earlier approaches focused on promoting political mobilization and accountability of government toward more service-oriented delivery systems (Rahman, 2006). Over the last decades, many of these service-delivery organizations have incorporated advocacy and rights-based strategies into their work (Nazneen, 2008). Through these evolving programmes, NGOs highlighted and strengthened the contributions of underprivileged women as economic actors and active participants in development and political process. However, despite this progress, there is still no clear empirical evidence from Bangladesh that directly links the presence of NGOs to improvements in women’s agency, voice, and empowerment.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Kyle, Jordan; Simi, Sonjida Mesket

Citation

Mahzab, Moogdho; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Kyle, Jordan; and Simi, Sonjida Mesket. 2025. Impact of NGOs on women’s empowerment and voice in Bangladesh. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178930

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Women’s Empowerment; Gender; Impact; Non-governmental Organizations

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Livelihoods and recovery after Cyclone Idai: Short- and long-run household evidence from Mozambique

2025Allen IV, James; Yu, Hang
Details

Livelihoods and recovery after Cyclone Idai: Short- and long-run household evidence from Mozambique

Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionate share of global poverty and is also among the regions most vulnerable to natural disasters that pose persistent threats to livelihoods, food security, and long-run development. This study examines how exposure to a major natural disaster—Cyclone Idai, one of the deadliest and costliest disasters in Mozambique’s history—affected household well-being and economic behavior in central Mozambique following its landfall in March 2019. We combine satellite-based best-track data on Cyclone Idai’s trajectory with longitudinal household survey data collected both shortly after the disaster and five to six years later. Specifically, we link predicted maximum wind speed at the community level to a pre-defined sample of households surveyed before the cyclone, allowing us to estimate impacts in the short run (within the same year) and the longer run. This design leverages rich pre-baseline data and province fixed effects to mitigate concerns about selection bias, displacement, and omitted variables that commonly complicate causal inference in disaster impact studies. We find that greater cyclone exposure is strongly associated with short-run reports of shock experience and asset loss, validating predicted wind speed as a measure of disaster intensity. In the long run, however, households appear to recover from the immediate shock. Cyclone exposure is associated with persistent declines in reliance on agriculture as a primary livelihood and increases in small business activity and formal wage employment. At the same time, we observe mixed effects on asset ownership, with sustained declines in housing ownership alongside increases in durable asset holdings. Future work will continue to highlight how complex and heterogeneous pathways through which large-scale disasters reshape household livelihoods and economic behavior over time.

Year published

2025

Authors

Allen IV, James; Yu, Hang

Citation

Allen IV, James; and Yu, Hang. 2025. Livelihoods and recovery after Cyclone Idai: Short- and long-run household evidence from Mozambique. FCA Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178950

Country/Region

Mozambique

Keywords

Southern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Livelihoods; Cyclones; Extreme Weather Events; Households

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Mastitis treatment in Karnataka: Results from a qualitative scoping survey

2025Hiremath, Arpita; Hoffmann, Vivian; Rao, Manaswini; Shenoy, Ashish
Details

Mastitis treatment in Karnataka: Results from a qualitative scoping survey

Bovine mastitis, inflammation of a cow’s mammary gland, is estimated to cost Indian dairy farmers approximately 1.5 billion US dollars each year through the reduction of milk production and quality (Banal and Gupta, 2009). Milk production may decrease by as much as 17.5% before any noticeable signs of infection are present (Krishnamoorthy et al., 2021), with even larger losses in the case of clinically observable mastitis (Singh and Singh, 1994). Prevalence of sub-clinical mastitis in India has been estimated at 42% and is increasing with warming global temperatures (Krishnamoorthy et al., 2021; Jingar, Mehla, and Singh, 2014). Farmers in India typically treat animals for mastitis only once clinical signs appear, using broad-spectrum antibiotics that may accelerate development of resistant pathogens (Chauhan et al. 2018; Mutua et al., 2020). Diagnostic methods for mastitis are often expensive, time-consuming, and generally used for retrospective herd-level testing, limiting their effectiveness for preventing economic losses.

Year published

2025

Authors

Hiremath, Arpita; Hoffmann, Vivian; Rao, Manaswini; Shenoy, Ashish

Citation

Hiremath, Arpita; Hoffmann, Vivian; Rao, Manaswini; and Shenoy, Ashish. 2025. Mastitis treatment in Karnataka: Results from a qualitative scoping survey. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178947

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Capacity Building; Bovine Mastitis; Mastitis; Qualitative Analysis; Screening; Animal Health; Udder Health; Veterinary Services; Dairy Farming

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Lessons from the Digital Agricultural Advisory Services (DAAS) project in Ethiopia: Wheat use case

2025Abate, Gashaw T.; McNamara, Brian; Bonilla, Juan; Asrat, Daniel T.; Spielman, David J.
Details

Lessons from the Digital Agricultural Advisory Services (DAAS) project in Ethiopia: Wheat use case

Agricultural extension services are a cornerstone of rural development and a vital instrument for policymakers to directly shape economic, social, and environmental outcomes in rural areas. These services aim to enhance farm productivity by promoting the adoption of agricultural technologies, inputs, and management practices. Through outreach, training, knowledge sharing, and learning, extension activities help bridge the gap between research and practice, potentially supporting more resilient and productive farming systems (Davis 2008; Jack 2013).

Year published

2025

Authors

Abate, Gashaw T.; McNamara, Brian; Bonilla, Juan; Asrat, Daniel T.; Spielman, David J.

Citation

Abate, Gashaw T.; McNamara, Brian; Bonilla, Juan; Asrat, Daniel T.; and Spielman, David J. 2025. Lessons from the Digital Agricultural Advisory Services (DAAS) project in Ethiopia: Wheat use case. IFPRI Policy Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178949

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Advisory Services; Agricultural Extension; Wheat

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

MSMEs and their role in encouraging sustainable healthy diets in Viet Nam

2025de Brauw, Alan; Huynh, Tuyen; Dao The Anh; Pham Thi Hanh Tho; Truong Tuyet Mai
Details

MSMEs and their role in encouraging sustainable healthy diets in Viet Nam

In this brief, we explore diet quality gaps in survey data collected in a transect of locations in Vietnam, including an urban district, a peri-urban district, and a rural district. We find that healthy foods are relatively underconsumed, at least among adolescents. We find that when households report purchasing most types of healthy foods, they buy them from MSMEs. Among types of healthy foods that are underconsumed, we find they are most commonly available at small groceries. Therefore, as Vietnam begins to implement policies to guide food systems transformation at the subnational level, it would seem worthwhile to target small groceries as a conduit for selling more components of healthy diets. De Brauw, Anh and Pham (2024) find that some business skills are particularly lacking among small groceries; for example, they find that very few small groceries have financial records, record sales, or have a written budget. Small groceries also lack access to finance. However, many of them also sell less healthy foods, such as refined grains (such as white rice), sweets, and sugar sweetened beverages. Therefore it is important to combine any business skills with nutrition education, to try to ensure that business owners do not use newfound skills to promote the sale of additional unhealthy products. There are several policy levers, existing at both the national and provincial levels, that could be used to help MSMEs sell more healthy products. However, it is important to monitor these policies to ensure that they are catalyzing food systems transformation towards healthy diets. With appropriate training and potentially additional finance, MSMEs selling healthier foods can be encouraged to grow and improve the accessibility of healthy foods.

Year published

2025

Authors

de Brauw, Alan; Huynh, Tuyen; Dao The Anh; Pham Thi Hanh Tho; Truong Tuyet Mai

Citation

de Brauw, Alan; Huynh Tuyen; Dao The Anh; Pham Thi Hanh Tho; Truong Tuyet Mai; and Huong Pham. 2025. MSMEs and their role in encouraging sustainable healthy diets in Viet Nam. Better Diets and Nutrition Policy Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178933

Country/Region

Vietnam

Keywords

South-eastern Asia; Asia; Diet; Small and Medium Enterprises; Microenterprises; Healthy Diets; Food Consumption

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Odisha’s agricultural export footprint

2025Kamar, Abul; Kumar Padhee, Arabinda; Pradhan, Mamata; Roy, Devesh
Details

Odisha’s agricultural export footprint

Odisha’s agricultural exports are rising steadily, yet they remain highly concentrated in a few products and districts. Shrimp continues to dominate, while cotton and rice are gradually emerging as important contributors. Notably, the share of agriculture in Odisha’s total merchandise exports has nearly doubled from 4% in 2021–22 to 7% in 2024–25,.

Year published

2025

Authors

Kamar, Abul; Kumar Padhee, Arabinda; Pradhan, Mamata; Roy, Devesh

Citation

Kamar, Abul; Kumar Padhee, Arabinda; Pradhan, Mamata; and Roy, Devesh. 2025. Odisha’s agricultural export footprint. Food and Agricultural System Transformation Research Factsheet 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178931

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Southern Asia; Asia; Trade; Exports; Shrimp Fisheries; Cotton; Rice; Agricultural Trade

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Cold storage networks powered with renewable energy

2025Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; McNamara, Brian
Details

Cold storage networks powered with renewable energy

Cold-storage networks are a key technology that can address the nutritional and environmental costs of food loss and waste within many low- and middle-income countries. In addition to coordination challenges and network externalities that complicate efforts to scale these networks, they require large amounts of energy, carrying the potential of environmental damage via carbon emissions. Thus, using renewable energy sources to power cold-storage networks holds the potential to reduce the environmental damage associated with food loss and meet the increased demand for energy.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; McNamara, Brian

Citation

Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; and McNamara, Brian. 2025. Cold storage networks powered with renewable energy. Climate Finance Brief 3. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178966

Keywords

Cold Storage; Renewable Energy; Renewable Resources; Costs; Return on Investment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Soil testing

2025Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; McNamara, Brian
Details

Soil testing

Soil tests provide farmers with information about the nutrient needs of the soil on their agricultural plots and can help farmers apply the optimal amount and type of fertilizer. Too little fertilizer can stunt plant growth and degrade the quality of soil. Conversely, too much fertilizer can become toxic to plants and generate environmental damage via chemicals leaching into nearby water sources or dissipating into the atmosphere. Applying the wrong type of fertilizer will fail to meet the nutrient needs of crops. Plot-specific soil tests are needed because soil characteristics vary, even within local geographies. For this reason, several studies find that blanket recommendations and untargeted fertilizer subsidies are largely ineffective at meeting soil nutrient needs and improving yields.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; McNamara, Brian

Citation

Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; and McNamara, Brian. 2025. Soil testing. Climate Finance Brief 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178964

Keywords

Soil Quality; Soil Analysis; Costs; Return on Investment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Urea super granules with deep placement

2025Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; McNamara, Brian
Details

Urea super granules with deep placement

Urea deep placement, an alternative to traditional broadcast methods, consists of applying urea super granules (USG) directly into the soil next to the root of the plant and beyond the roots of weeds. Traditionally, farmers broadcast prilled urea fertilizer on top of their plots, which is associated with high rates of nitrogen loss, leading to reduced crop yields and environmental damage, especially among rice farmers. In contrast, the use of USG deep placement better contains nitrogen in the soil, facilitating its absorption into crops and improving nitrogen use efficiency. In this way, USG can reduce nitrogen losses along with the associated economic and environmental consequences.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; McNamara, Brian

Citation

Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; and McNamara, Brian. 2025. Urea super granules with deep placement. Climate Finance Brief 2. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178965

Keywords

Urea; Granules; Fertilizers; Deep Placement; Costs; Return on Investment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Economic aspects of wildlife farming: Analysis of household surveys from two Vietnamese provinces

2025Murphy, Mike; Hoffmann, Vivian; Ambler, Kate; Ha Thi Thanh Nguyen; Sinh Dang-Xuan; Hung Nguyen-Viet; Unger, Fred; Bett, Bernard K.
Details

Economic aspects of wildlife farming: Analysis of household surveys from two Vietnamese provinces

Vietnam is a global hotspot for wildlife trade and farming, with thousands of licensed operations raising species such as civets, porcupines, bamboo rats, snakes, and wild boar for meat, traditional medicine, and the exotic pet trade (Van Thu et al., 2023). The sector poses significant public health risks due to the potential for transmission of novel zoonotic diseases (Latinne & Padungtod, 2025). Understanding the economics of this sector is critical to developing effective policy for managing and de-risking wildlife sup-ply chains but data is scarce, typically based on small sample sizes and limited study sites (Thuy et al., 2021). This note provides descriptive statistics regarding the economics of wildlife farming in two provinces of Vietnam, based on a survey of wildlife farming households.

Year published

2025

Authors

Murphy, Mike; Hoffmann, Vivian; Ambler, Kate; Ha Thi Thanh Nguyen; Sinh Dang-Xuan; Hung Nguyen-Viet; Unger, Fred; Bett, Bernard K.

Citation

Murphy, Mike; Hoffmann, Vivian; Ambler, Kate; Ha Thi Thanh Nguyen; Sinh Dang-Xuan; et al. 2025. Economic aspects of wildlife farming: Analysis of household surveys from two Vietnamese provinces. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178945

Country/Region

Vietnam

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Economic Aspects; Wildlife; Wild Animals; Trade in Species; Useful Animals; Zoonoses; Supply Chains

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

How can community grants promote gender-inclusive development in fragile settings? Insights from rural Nigeria

2025Kyle, Jordan; Adeyanju, Dolapo; Adida, Claire; Arriola, Leonardo; Carrillo, Lucia; Fisher, Rachel; Iraoya, Augustine Okhale; Kosec, Katrina; Matanock, Aila; Mo, Cecilia H.
Details

How can community grants promote gender-inclusive development in fragile settings? Insights from rural Nigeria

Community-driven development (CDD) programs aim to shift decision-making to the local level by empowering communities to prioritize, design, and implement projects that address their most pressing needs. These programs have gained global traction as vehicles for service delivery and empowerment, especially in fragile contexts with weak state capacity. These programs leverage communities’ understanding of local needs and their unique ability to deploy resources in conflict-affected, unstable, or highly remote areas that are operationally hard to reach for traditional development programs. However, evidence remains limited on how to structure CDD programs to ensure inclusive participation from a wide range of community members, particularly women, who tend to participate in community and public affairs at lower levels than men in these settings (Takeshima et al., 2024).

Year published

2025

Authors

Kyle, Jordan; Adeyanju, Dolapo; Adida, Claire; Arriola, Leonardo; Carrillo, Lucia; Fisher, Rachel; Iraoya, Augustine Okhale; Kosec, Katrina; Matanock, Aila; Mo, Cecilia H.

Citation

Kyle, Jordan; Adeyanju, Dolapo; Adida, Claire; Arriola, Leonardo; Carrillo, Lucia; et al. 2025. How can community grants promote gender-inclusive development in fragile settings? Insights from rural Nigeria. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178881

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Western Africa; Grants; Community Organizations; Gender; Development; Rural Areas; Fragility; Programmes

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Combine harvester subsidies and agricultural mechanization in Bangladesh: Recommendations for reform

2025Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mahzab, Moogdho; Karim, Md. Aminul; Shamma, Raisa; Belton, Ben; Talukder, Md. Ruhul Amin; Kabir, Razin; Aravindakshan, Sreejith; Krupnik, Timothy J.; Ahmed, Akhter
Details

Combine harvester subsidies and agricultural mechanization in Bangladesh: Recommendations for reform

This brief summarizes findings from a recent report1 on Bangladesh’s Phase III agricultural mechanization support program (2020–2024). The program distributed over 35,000 subsidized machines worth BDT 1,595 crore (USD 163 million). Combine harvesters (CHs) accounted for 84% of program value, making them the focus of this analysis. Drawing on administrative data, a survey of 979 Machinery Service Providers (including 400 CH MSPs), panel data from over 2,000 Boro rice-producing households, and 128 qualitative interviews, the report examines program impacts and identifies critical implementation gaps.

Year published

2025

Authors

Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mahzab, Moogdho; Karim, Md. Aminul; Shamma, Raisa; Belton, Ben; Talukder, Md. Ruhul Amin; Kabir, Razin; Aravindakshan, Sreejith; Krupnik, Timothy J.; Ahmed, Akhter

Citation

Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Mahzab, Moogdho; Karim, Md. Aminul; Shamma, Raisa; Belton, Ben; et al. 2025. Combine harvester subsidies and agricultural mechanization in Bangladesh: Recommendations for reform. Climate Change X Agriculture Policy Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178863

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Subsidies; Agricultural Mechanization; Combine Harvesters; Reforms; Harvesters

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Realistic options for repurposing fertilizer subsidy spending

2025Hill, Ruth Vargas; Resnick, Danielle
Details

Realistic options for repurposing fertilizer subsidy spending

Worldwide, government spending on subsidies in agriculture, fishing, and fossil fuels amounts to a staggering $1.25 trillion annually. Subsidies play a significant role in every country’s fiscal policies, regardless of income level or spending patterns. Spending on energy and agricultural subsidies consistently accounts for 2%-3% of GDP on average across income levels and make the production and transportation of food cheaper. Spending on these subsidies is coming under increasing scrutiny as governments struggle to mobilize additional revenue to meet important development targets amid rising debt distress, dwindling aid resources, and citizen protests against unpopular tax increases. One solution proposed by a growing consensus of voices is to repurpose expensive subsidies towards expenditures that generate higher development benefits. While these subsidies aim to address low agricultural productivity, high food prices, and other critical challenges, their continuing predominance in food system investments raises important questions: Is this an effective way to spend public funds on such a large scale? If not, can some of the money currently going to subsidies be used to finance other needed investments (that may in turn make subsidies themselves more effective) and if yes, what type of investments can they fund? This note explores these questions, focusing specifically on fertilizer subsidies, a major source of government support for farmers, especially in low-income countries, where they comprise a quarter of all subsidy spending (as well as one-tenth of such spending on in high income countries).

Year published

2025

Authors

Hill, Ruth Vargas; Resnick, Danielle

Citation

Hill, Ruth Vargas; and Resnick, Danielle. 2025. Realistic options for repurposing fertilizer subsidy spending. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178861

Keywords

Fertilizers; Prices; Subsidies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Bridging the information gap: How Munda Makeover is transforming agricultural learning in Zambia

2025Owuor, Antonate Akinyi; Kramer, Berber; Ceballos, Francisco; Sambo, Kingsley
Details

Bridging the information gap: How Munda Makeover is transforming agricultural learning in Zambia

This project note presents midline findings regarding the effects of Munda Makeover (MMO), a farm makeover TV show designed to disseminate agricultural knowledge to Zambian farmers in an entertaining way. IFPRI and partners designed and implemented a cluster randomized trial across 160 villages involving two main interventions: village screenings of MMO episodes, combined with weekly SMS reminders to watch the show; and agricultural roadshows or input fairs. Results from a phone survey with 976 farmers show that community screenings and SMS reminders significantly increased viewership and knowledge around innovations promoted in the TV show. However, the uptake of agricultural inputs sold during the roadshows remains limited, largely due to liquidity constraints. These findings offer critical insights for optimizing the delivery of agricultural extension content through mass media and improving farmers’ access to agricultural inputs.

Year published

2025

Authors

Owuor, Antonate Akinyi; Kramer, Berber; Ceballos, Francisco; Sambo, Kingsley

Citation

Owuor, Antonate Akinyi; Kramer, Berber; Ceballos, Francisco; and Sambo, Kingsley. 2025. Bridging the information gap: How Munda Makeover is transforming agricultural learning in Zambia. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178817

Country/Region

Zambia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Southern Africa; Capacity Building; Information; Agricultural Extension

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Diversification in East and Southern Africa

Record type

Brief

Brief

Digital tool integration, biodiversity, and the potato value chain in Kenya: Results from a baseline survey

2025Boukaka, Sedi Anne; Geoffrey, Baragu; Azzarri, Carlo
Details

Digital tool integration, biodiversity, and the potato value chain in Kenya: Results from a baseline survey

Potato farmers in Kenya grapple with various challenges along the value chain, including limited access to quality planting materials such as seeds and fertilizers, insufficient storage and postharvest handling facilities, fluctuating market prices, and unreliable market information systems. For women and youth, these challenges are further exacerbated by persistent social gaps in the agriculture sector. Digital tools can play a vital role in addressing these challenges by providing access to valuable agricultural information, weather forecasts, and best practices that help farmers make informed decisions and improve crop management. However, challenges persist in digital tool adoption within agricultural value chains in sub-Saharan Africa. This study assesses the impact of digital tool adoption and support on socioeconomic and agriculture-related outcomes in Kenya’s potato value chain. It piggybacks on an ongoing digital tool integration program, Business Development and Coaching (BDEC), conducted by the Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA), which targets agripreneurs in Farmer Service Centers (FSCs). By comparing a treatment group that receives this training with a control group continuing business as usual, the study evaluates the effects of agripreneurs’ adoption and expanded use of digital tools on farmers’ agriculture based livelihoods, income generation, and job creation metrics, with a focus on youth employment and gender disparities.

Year published

2025

Authors

Boukaka, Sedi Anne; Geoffrey, Baragu; Azzarri, Carlo

Citation

Boukaka, Sedi Anne; Geoffrey, Baragu; and Azzarri, Carlo. 2025. Digital tool integration, biodiversity, and the potato value chain in Kenya: Results from a baseline survey. SFS4Youth Research Note 3. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178814

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Biodiversity; Digital Technology; Potatoes; Agricultural Value Chains; Farmers

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Digital Innovation

Record type

Brief

Brief

Synopsis: Quantifying food losses in the beans value chain in Rwanda – Results from a baseline survey

2025Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Delgado, Luciana; Niyonsingiza, Josue
Details

Synopsis: Quantifying food losses in the beans value chain in Rwanda – Results from a baseline survey

Reducing food loss has become important, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, due to its direct impact on food security. Food loss also reduces producer incomes, increases food prices, and wastes natural resources, resulting in unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions. Most estimates of food loss have been heavily criticized for lacking sound methodological basis. This study uses a novel methodology to measure food loss and identify where it occurs along the beans value chain in Rwanda.

Year published

2025

Authors

Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Delgado, Luciana; Niyonsingiza, Josue

Citation

Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Delgado, Luciana; and Niyonsingiza, Josue. 2025. Synopsis: Quantifying food losses in the beans value chain in Rwanda – Results from a baseline survey. SFS4Youth Research Note 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178796

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Food Losses; Beans; Agricultural Value Chains; Value Chains; Youth

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Synopsis: The changing demographics in food systems and implications for future youth engagement in Rwanda

2025Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Mawia, Harriet; Niyonsingiza, Josue
Details

Synopsis: The changing demographics in food systems and implications for future youth engagement in Rwanda

Food systems (FS) are critically important in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA), where they account for a significant share of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. Employment and job creation are strongly influenced by FS transformation, and they also help drive that transformation. This study documents the trends in FS employment in the past two decades observed in Rwanda, focusing on changes in the demographic structure and inclusiveness of FS employment.

Year published

2025

Authors

Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Mawia, Harriet; Niyonsingiza, Josue

Citation

Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Mawia, Harriet; and Niyonsingiza, Josue. 2025. Synopsis: The changing demographics in food systems and implications for future youth engagement in Rwanda. SFS4Youth Research Note 2. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178797

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Demographic Transition; Food Systems; Youth; Rural Areas

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Kenya: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

2025Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; Jones, Eleanor
Details

Kenya: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

In this policy brief, we present findings of a systematic evaluation and ranking of investment options for Kenya’s agrifood system based on their cost-effectiveness in achieving multiple development outcomes, including agrifood gross domestic product (GDP) growth, agrifood job creation, poverty reduction, declining undernourishment, and lowering diet deprivation. Additionally, the study assesses their environmental footprint, focusing on water consumption, land use, and emissions. Investments in small and medium enterprise (SME) processors, irrigation, and seed subsidy are shown to be the most cost-effective at driving improvements in social outcomes, like poverty and undernourishment. They are also highly ranked in terms of expanding agrifood GDP and employment. Expansion in extension and advisory services for seeds and agronomy as well as improvements in seed systems also rank high. However, many cost-effective investments have relatively high environmental footprints, which highlights potential tradeoffs. The study further reveals shifts in the cost-effectiveness ranking of investment options overtime and when extreme production shocks occur.

Year published

2025

Authors

Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; Jones, Eleanor

Citation

Aragie, Emerta A.; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; and Jones, Eleanor. 2025. Kenya: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development. Agrifood Investment Prioritization Country Series Brief 7. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178746

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Agrifood Sector; Sustainable Development; Poverty; Nutrition; Environmental Impact; Agrifood Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Biofuels in India: Trading off climate mitigation with water security goals

2025Singh, Vartika; Mishra, Abhijeet; Alam, Mohammad Faiz; Sulser, Timothy B.; Ringler, Claudia
Details

Biofuels in India: Trading off climate mitigation with water security goals

Biofuels are recognized as a renewable alternative to fossil sources of energy like petroleum or gas. Liquid biofuels, such as bioethanol and biodiesel are blended with petrol or diesel and used for road, aviation and marine transport; they are expected to account for 6% of total renewable transportation fuel use by 2030. Biofuels can not only support a country’s mitigation goals; but also reduce the need for foreign exchange and support agricultural growth. In India, 22% of total energy supply is provided by renewables, most of it from biomass for heating; while biofuels account for less than 1% of transportation energy. Over 90% of bioethanol and biodiesel are produced from food crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybeans, and vegetable oils, with sugarcane serving as the primary feedstock. As a signatory to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), India submitted its Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy (LT-LEDS) to the UNFCCC in 2022, emphasizing the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transport sector. Achieving this goal is supported, among others, by India’s biofuel policy of 2018 (modified from the original policy of 2009), which aims to achieve blending targets of 20% for ethanol and 5% for biodiesel by 2025.

Year published

2025

Authors

Singh, Vartika; Mishra, Abhijeet; Alam, Mohammad Faiz; Sulser, Timothy B.; Ringler, Claudia

Citation

Singh, Vartika; Mishra, Abhijeet; Alam, Mohammad Faiz; Sulser, Timothy B.; and Ringler, Claudia. 2025. Biofuels in India: Trading off climate mitigation with water security goals. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178762

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Biofuels; Climate Change Mitigation; Climate Change; Water Security; Natural Resources

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: October 2025

2025International Food Policy Research Institute; Hayoge, Glen; Kedir Jemal, Mekamu
Details

Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: October 2025

This report provides analysis of food price trends for the third quarter (Q3) of 2025, from July to September. The Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA) continues to collect prices from major markets despite recurrent logistical challenges to maintain consistent data for capturing, analyzing and informing relevant stakeholders. Due to insufficient data being collected from April to June (collected only for May across all markets and for April in Banz and Kokopo), no second quarter bulletin was published. This report compares prices in Q3 2025 with Q1, Q2 (with the available limited data) of 2025, and Q3 2024 to identify quarterly and year-on-year trends of prices. Prices are reported in PGK per kilogram and represent real prices adjusted for inflation using FAO Consumer Food Price Index (PCI) and price gaps (April to September 2025) filled using a growth rate calculated from the PNG National Statistical Office (NSO) – June quarterly PCI data. This bulletin focuses on selected important staples (sweet potato, taro, cassava, cooking banana and rice), vegetables (aibika, English cabbage, capsicum, carrot, and choko-tips) and fruits (lemon, orange, pawpaw and pineapple). For longer time series data and interactive tools, visit the IFPRI website and download food price data here.

Year published

2025

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute; Hayoge, Glen; Kedir Jemal, Mekamu

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute. 2025. Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: October 2025. Papua New Guinea Food Price Bulletin October 2025. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178716

Country/Region

Papua New Guinea

Keywords

Oceania; Food Prices; Legumes; Markets; Staple Foods; Rice; Fruits; Food Security; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

From commitment to delivery: Implementation as the frontier for CAADP 3.0

2025Ingabire, Chantal; Mkandawire, Richard; Nsimadala, Elizabeth; Omamo, Steven Were; Ulimwengu, John M.
Details

From commitment to delivery: Implementation as the frontier for CAADP 3.0

Africa enters the third phase of CAADP under the Kampala Declaration—CAADP 3.0—at a moment of profound possibility and significant stress. A young population, urban growth, technological adoption, and vibrant entrepreneurial systems are powerful drivers of agrifood innovation and transformation. Simultaneously, the continent’s agrifood systems are being shaped by intensifying climate shocks, constrained fiscal positions, fragile macroeconomic conditions, political volatility, and persistent conflict and displacement. These pressures are deepening hunger and undermining livelihoods across large regions. Importantly, Africa has accumulated considerable institutional knowledge and practical experience in policy formulation, planning, and cross-sector coordination. Governments, farmer organizations, regional bodies, and development partners understand the challenges facing the agrifood sector with far greater precision than in earlier CAADP cycles. The Kampala Declaration reflects this maturity. It is not simply another policy statement; it is a political signal that Africa intends to convert aspirations into meaningful, sustained action. The challenge is no longer conceptual clarity. The challenge is implementation. For CAADP 3.0 to fulfill its promise, countries must strengthen their ability to deliver consistently, at scale, and under difficult and rapidly changing conditions. This brief outlines the nature of that challenge and proposes a structured way to approach it, drawing from the November 2025 IFPRI webinar on strategic priorities for CAADP implementation.

Year published

2025

Authors

Ingabire, Chantal; Mkandawire, Richard; Nsimadala, Elizabeth; Omamo, Steven Were; Ulimwengu, John M.

Citation

Ingabire, Chantal; Mkandawire, Richard; Nsimadala, Elizabeth; Omamo, Steven Were; and Ulimwengu, John M. 2025. From commitment to delivery: Implementation as the frontier for CAADP 3.0. IFPRI CAADP Kampala Declaration Series 3. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178747

Keywords

Africa; Caadp; Food Systems; International Organizations; Implementation; Agricultural Research

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Energy and macronutrient intake among women of reproductive age: Baseline findings from the FRESH End-to-End Evaluation

2025Bliznashka, Lilia; Azupogo, Fusta; Arnold, Charles D.; Djuazon, Nelly; Jeremiah, Kidola; Malindisa, Evangelista; Kinabo, Joyce; Cunningham, Kenda; Hess, Sonja; Olney, Deanna K.
Details

Energy and macronutrient intake among women of reproductive age: Baseline findings from the FRESH End-to-End Evaluation

In Tanzania, unhealthy diets are a major contributor to non-communicable diseases such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. Tanzanian diets are generally cereal-based and low in fruit and vegetables (F&V) and animal sourced foods. With rising incomes, consumption of energy-dense processed and ultra-processed foods has increased, reaching 694 kg/year per adult in 2019. Among women of reproductive age (WRA), daily energy intake is also increasing. Although nationally representative data are lacking, individual studies indicate an increase over time from 1,347 kcal/day in 2014 to 1,631 kcal/day in 2015/16 and 2,174 kcal/day in 2022. The CGIAR Research Initiative on Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets (FRESH), now under the CGIAR Science Program on Better Diets and Nutrition (BDN), uses an end-to-end approach, described in more detail in Research Brief 1, that combines demand, food environment, and supply interventions to increase desirability, affordability, accessibility, and availability of F&V. In Tanzania, an ongoing impact evaluation is testing the effectiveness of this end-to-end approach in improving F&V intake and vegetable production across 33 villages in the Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions. In this research brief, we describe baseline findings on the energy and macronutrient intake among WRA in the study area.

Year published

2025

Authors

Bliznashka, Lilia; Azupogo, Fusta; Arnold, Charles D.; Djuazon, Nelly; Jeremiah, Kidola; Malindisa, Evangelista; Kinabo, Joyce; Cunningham, Kenda; Hess, Sonja; Olney, Deanna K.

Citation

Bliznashka, Lilia; Azupogo, Fusta; Arnold, Charles D.; Djuazon, Nelly; Jeremiah, Kidola; et al. 2025. Energy and macronutrient intake among women of reproductive age: Baseline findings from the FRESH End-to-End Evaluation. Tanzania Evaluation Research Brief 4. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178621

Keywords

Tanzania; Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Nutrient Intake; Macronutrients; Women; Reproductive Performance; Capacity Building

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Brief

Brief

Bridging Nigeria’s fertilizer supply-demand gap for agricultural transformation

2025Fasoranti, Adetunji; Kirui, Oliver K.; Popoola, Olufemi; Ali, Samuel; Olanrewaju, Opeyemi
Details

Bridging Nigeria’s fertilizer supply-demand gap for agricultural transformation

Nigeria’s fertilizer sector exhibits a persistent disconnect between national supply and farm-level use. Despite rapid growth in domestic production and increased private-sector participation, fertilizer adoption among smallholder farmers remains among the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper examines the key drivers of Nigeria’s fertilizer supply–demand imbalance and its implications for agricultural transformation. Using national statistics, market data, and policy reviews, it identifies persistent barriers – including high distribution costs, inconsistent government policies, weak extension systems, limited credit access, and poor product quality – that constrain effective fertilizer use. It also assesses how export-oriented incentives and underdeveloped domestic markets influence local availability and pricing. The findings show that expanding production alone is insufficient to achieve meaningful agricultural change. Coordinated market reforms, stronger regulatory enforcement, improved delivery mechanisms, and targeted support to smallholder farmers are needed to improve affordability, access, and agronomic efficiency. The paper concludes with policy recommendations aimed at better aligning the fertilizer sector with Nigeria’s long-term goals for productivity growth and food system resilience.

Year published

2025

Authors

Fasoranti, Adetunji; Kirui, Oliver K.; Popoola, Olufemi; Ali, Samuel; Olanrewaju, Opeyemi

Citation

Fasoranti, Adetunji; Kirui, Oliver K.; Popoola, Olufemi; Ali, Samuel; and Olanrewaju, Opeyemi. 2025. Bridging Nigeria’s fertilizer supply-demand gap for agricultural transformation. IFPRI Policy Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178596

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Western Africa; Fertilizers; Supply Balance; Demand; Agricultural Transformation; Nitrogen Fertilizers; Trade; Prices

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Digital agricultural technology in Egypt: Insights from app developers

2025Tarek, Abdallah; Abdelhadi, Ali; Karachiwalla, Naureen
Details

Digital agricultural technology in Egypt: Insights from app developers

Digital technologies have rapidly reshaped agricultural systems worldwide, and Egypt is no exception. Over the past decade, the proliferation of smartphones, mobile internet, and low-cost digital tools has opened new channels through which farmers, traders, processors, and aggregators access information and services. Smartphone applications, websites, call centers, and SMS-based platforms now offer advice on crop management, weather and climate alerts, input and output price information, traceability tools, and digital marketplaces. For smallholder farmers—who make up the backbone of Egypt`s agricultural sector—these tools have the potential to reduce information frictions, improve decision-making, and increase productivity and profitability. For larger firms engaged in aggregation, processing, or export, digital platforms can streamline supply chains, enhance coordination, and improve quality assurance.

Year published

2025

Authors

Tarek, Abdallah; Abdelhadi, Ali; Karachiwalla, Naureen

Citation

Tarek, Abdallah; Abdelhadi, Ali; and Karachiwalla, Naureen. 2025. Digital agricultural technology in Egypt: Insights from app developers. IFPRI Policy Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178598

Country/Region

Egypt

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Middle East; Digital Agriculture; Digital Technology; Software Development; Computer Applications

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Gendered work norms in Egypt: Evidence on preferences and social perceptions

2025Allen IV, James; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kurdi, Sikandra; Shokry, Nada; Yassa, Basma
Details

Gendered work norms in Egypt: Evidence on preferences and social perceptions

We examine the nature and scope of gendered work norms in Egypt using new experimental evidence from a household survey. Societal norms around work, care responsibilities and the types of jobs women and men can hold can have a profound effect on gender differences in employment, earnings and life satisfaction. Indeed, while lack of childcare and secure transportation remain widely cited constraints to women’s employment in low-income settings, descriptive and experimental evidence also suggest that deeply rooted social norms about gender roles play a prominent role in driving the persistence of such barriers and in how households evaluate women’s work. Norms emphasizing men as primary breadwinners and women as primary caregivers shape both economic decisions and perceptions of behavior in ways that may limit women’s labor force participation even when opportunities exist. We implement three survey-based experiments among economically disadvantaged households to elucidate these norms and measure their salience. A wage‐comparison choice experiment shows that households strongly prefer that men—not women—take on additional paid work, even when this preference entails substantial forgone income for the household. When offered identical wages for equal hours of work, only 12.4 percent of respondents select the wife to take it as a first part-time job versus the husband taking it as a second part-time job. Even when her wage is double that of her husband, a clear majority still prefer that the husband works instead. These results indicate a large implicit cost that households place on women working outside the household. Two randomized vignette experiments further demonstrate that identical actions are interpreted differently depending on whether they are performed by men or women. Men who take on a second job to support their financially struggling household are widely viewed as more competent and more moral, whereas perceptions of women making the same choice are far more divided. Perceptions of workplace effort are broadly similar across genders, with small differences appearing only in perceptions of morality. Together, these findings emphasize the strength of gendered work norms in Egypt and reveal nuance in how they shape behavior. The findings also underscore the relevance of gender norms for designing programs affecting household work decisions and testing new approaches to promote women’s economic inclusion.

Year published

2025

Authors

Allen IV, James; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kurdi, Sikandra; Shokry, Nada; Yassa, Basma

Citation

Allen IV, James; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Kurdi, Sikandra; Shokry, Nada; and Yassa, Basma. 2025. Gendered work norms in Egypt: Evidence on preferences and social perceptions. IFPRI Project Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178587

Country/Region

Egypt

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Middle East; Gender Norms; Women; Social Structure; Labour

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises and their role in sustainable healthy diets in Ethiopia

2025de Brauw, Alan; Mengesha, Belay Terefe
Details

Micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises and their role in sustainable healthy diets in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is working to transform its food system through a set of game changers that strive to change Ethiopia’s agricultural production patterns and to help improve consumption of under-consumed foods. The goal is to improve diet quality for Ethiopian consumers and households, which can only take place if consumers are more aware of what types of food to eat and if production of certain types of food can expand. In collaboration with national partners, CGIAR collected and analyzed data collected in Ethiopia on consumers and businesses selling food to consumers within the same food environments. The goal of this exercise was to learn about what dietary gaps exist, the type of businesses selling those foods, and factors constraining MSMEs from selling more healthy foods. There were three aspects to the data collection that are pertinent to this note, all collected in Kolfe Keranyo and Butajira: a consumer survey, which included information about households, adolescents, and their caregivers (typically mothers); a food environment survey, which collected some basic information about all businesses that sold food, including the foods they sold; and a survey covering micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that work in the food environment. The latter survey included detailed information about MSMEs to understand their role in providing food to consumers. In this brief, we describe highlights from that analysis, with an eye towards ways the analysis can inform actions taken to implement specific game changers that catalyze food systems transformation from a consumer perspective.

Year published

2025

Authors

de Brauw, Alan; Mengesha, Belay Terefe

Citation

de Brauw, Alan; and Mengesha, Belay Terefe. 2025. Micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises and their role in sustainable healthy diets in Ethiopia. CGIAR Better Diets and Nutrition Policy Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178554

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Small and Medium Enterprises; Microenterprises; Sustainability; Healthy Diets; Food Consumption; Consumer Behaviour; Food Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Mozambique: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

2025Aragie, Emerta A.; Benfica, Rui; Thurlow, James; Xu, Valencia Wenqian; Jones, Eleanor
Details

Mozambique: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development

In this policy brief, we present findings of a systematic evaluation and ranking of investment options for Mozambique’s agrifood system based on their cost-effectiveness in achieving multiple development outcomes, including agrifood gross domestic product (GDP) growth, agrifood job creation, poverty reduction, declining undernourishment, and lowering diet deprivation. Additionally, the study assesses their environmental footprint, focusing on water consumption, land use, and emissions. In Mozambique, investments in small and medium enterprise (SME) processors and traders are identified as the most cost-effective means of enhancing social outcomes, such as poverty reduction and addressing undernourishment. They are also highly ranked in accelerating agrifood GDP and employment. Moreover, extension services for livestock and agronomy, rural road infrastructure, and post-harvest losses reduction are also highly ranked. However, many of these cost-effective investments come with relatively high environmental footprints, which highlight potential tradeoffs. The study further reveals shifts in the cost-effectiveness ranking of investment options over time and marginally so in the presence of extreme production shocks.

Year published

2025

Authors

Aragie, Emerta A.; Benfica, Rui; Thurlow, James; Xu, Valencia Wenqian; Jones, Eleanor

Citation

Aragie, Emerta A.; Benfica, Rui; Thurlow, James; Xu, Valencia Wenqian; and Jones, Eleanor. 2025. Mozambique: Cost effective options for inclusive and sustainable development. Agrifood Investment Prioritization Country Series Brief 8. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178505

Country/Region

Mozambique

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Agricultural Sector; Sustainable Development; Poverty; Nutrition; Environmental Impact; Investment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

The development potential of anchor enterprise models in Malawi

2025Benson, Todd; Cockx, Lara; De Weerdt, Joachim
Details

The development potential of anchor enterprise models in Malawi

Smallholder-centered agricultural development strategies have had limited success in Malawi over the past several decades. Policy makers are now increasingly looking for alternative ways to accelerate agricultural and rural development. One emerging approach involves larger farms or agri-business firms partnering with smallholder farming households, in what we will refer to as an anchor enterprise model. Support for such partnerships is growing, but there is still little clarity on what they involve, what they aim to achieve and the conditions they need for success. Summarizing findings from a detailed report (Benson, Cockx, and De Weerdt, forthcoming). This policy note seeks to address these questions and provide guidance for future action. We structure our discussion around five questions: what the model is, when it can make sense, for whom it can work, how it can be implemented, and whether it can contribute to inclusive rural development.

Year published

2025

Authors

Benson, Todd; Cockx, Lara; De Weerdt, Joachim

Citation

Benson, Todd; Cockx, Lara; and De Weerdt, Joachim. 2025. The development potential of anchor enterprise models in Malawi. MaSSP Policy Note 54. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178508

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Development; Enterprises; Contract Farming; Farming Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Internal displacement and the measurement of women’s empowerment: Evidence from a test-retest survey experiment

2025Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Misra, Rewa S.
Details

Internal displacement and the measurement of women’s empowerment: Evidence from a test-retest survey experiment

Women’s empowerment includes the ability to participate in existing market activities, access and control the use of productive resources, obtain opportunities for decent work, control the use of time, and voice and participate in decision making within households and communities (United Nations 2018). Increasing women’s economic empowerment is relevant to several sustainable development goals (i.e., to achieve gender equality, promoting full and productive employment and decent work for all, and reducing existing inequalities). Given all of this, accurately measuring women’s empowerment systematically across a variety of settings is imperative. As such, studying innovations in measuring women’s agency, empowerment, or decision-making power is an active area of research (Malapit et al. 2019; Donald et al. 2020; Laszlo et al. 2020; Buvinic et al. 2020; Quisumbing et al. 2023; Jayachandran et al. 2023).

Year published

2025

Authors

Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Misra, Rewa S.

Citation

Ambler, Kate; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; and Misra, Rewa S. 2025. Internal displacement and the measurement of women’s empowerment: Evidence from a test-retest survey experiment. FCA Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178449

Keywords

Gender; Women’s Empowerment; Surveys; Decision-making; Displacement

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Synopsis: Unlocking agricultural efficiency: A stochastic frontier analysis of smallholder farmers in Rwanda

2025Benimana, Gilberthe Uwera; Warner, James; Missiame, Arnold Kwesi
Details

Synopsis: Unlocking agricultural efficiency: A stochastic frontier analysis of smallholder farmers in Rwanda

This study assesses the technical efficiency of smallholder farmers in Rwanda, with a focus on maximizing crop output value and identifying the socioeconomic drivers that shape technical efficiency.

Year published

2025

Authors

Benimana, Gilberthe Uwera; Warner, James; Missiame, Arnold Kwesi

Citation

Benimana, Gilberthe Uwera; Warner, James; and Missiame, Arnold Kwesi. 2025. Synopsis: Unlocking agricultural efficiency: A stochastic frontier analysis of smallholder farmers in Rwanda. Rwanda SSP Policy Note 23. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178420

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Agriculture; Smallholders; Productivity; Crop Yield; Efficiency

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Harvesting change: The impact of climate change on Africa’s agriFood systems

2025Piñeiro, Valeria; Gianatiempo, Juan Pablo; McNamara, Brian; Thomas, Timothy S.; Traoré, Fousseini
Details

Harvesting change: The impact of climate change on Africa’s agriFood systems

Africa is one of the most exposed continents to climate change. While global temperature has risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991, in Africa the rate is faster, reaching 0.3°C (WMO 2022). Yet Africa contributes only modestly to climate change. Indeed, the continent emits 7 times less greenhouse gas compared to Europe and 15 times compared to North America (IPCC, 2023). In addition to rising temperatures, climate change affects Africa through several channels, including an increase in ocean levels, variations in precipitations (droughts and heavy rains), plant pests and animal diseases. Climate change is also expected to contribute to a significant reduction in arable land in the continent (IPCC, 2023). The new CAADP strategy and action plan for 2026-2035 recognizes that Africa is the hardest hit by climate change and that the phenomenon is one of the major threats to Africa’s agricultural systems and food security in the coming years. All of these changes will affect agricultural production, a major challenge for Africa, as African economies and livelihoods remain heavily dependent on agriculture. Agriculture still represents 16% of Africa GDP with contributions ranging from 3% in Southern Africa to 25% in the eastern part of the continent. Due to the low level of labor productivity in agriculture, the sector’s contributions to total employment are higher than those of other sectors. By inducing structural changes in agricultural production, climate change will also affect trade flows by shifting comparative advantages between and within continents. Prices will also be affected. This Policy Brief i shows how Africa’s agricultural production and trade patterns are altered by climate change. It highlights the large impacts of climate change on agricultural production, reinforcing results from other work. It shows that the impacts on prices compound the production impacts on African economies and people given many countries in the region are net importers. However, the work also shows that there are substantial differences across the region in the size of the impacts.

Year published

2025

Authors

Piñeiro, Valeria; Gianatiempo, Juan Pablo; McNamara, Brian; Thomas, Timothy S.; Traoré, Fousseini

Citation

Piñeiro, Valeria; Gianatiempo, Juan Pablo; McNamara, Brian; Thomas, Timothy S.; and Traoré, Fousseini. 2025. Harvesting change: The impact of climate change on Africa’s agriFood systems. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178415

Keywords

Africa; Climate Change; Impact Assessment; Agrifood Systems; Computable General Equilibrium Models; Modelling

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

The future of food and agriculture: Scenarios of increased public investments and policy reforms for Asia and the Pacific

2025Rosegrant, Mark W.; Wiebe, Keith D.; Sulser, Timothy B.; Mishra, Abhijeet; Cenacchi, Nicola; Willenbockel, Dirk; Dunston, Shahnila; Kimura, Shingo; Yao, Xianbin
Details

The future of food and agriculture: Scenarios of increased public investments and policy reforms for Asia and the Pacific

This brief shares key findings from an updated assessment of priority investment and policy scenarios for agriculture and food systems across Asia and the Pacific, considering projected demographic changes and economic growth. The assessment emphasizes that boosting investments in agricultural research and development, irrigation, and rural infrastructure, combined with repurposing subsidies toward productive investments, could significantly advance key food system goals by 2050. These strategies would bolster critical aspects of the region’s food system, including agricultural production, infrastructure, market access, value chains, and resource efficiency.

Year published

2025

Authors

Rosegrant, Mark W.; Wiebe, Keith D.; Sulser, Timothy B.; Mishra, Abhijeet; Cenacchi, Nicola; Willenbockel, Dirk; Dunston, Shahnila; Kimura, Shingo; Yao, Xianbin

Citation

Rosegrant, Mark W.; Wiebe, Keith D.; Sulser, Timothy B.; Mishra, Abhijeet; Cenacchi, Nicola; et al. The future of food and agriculture: Scenarios of increased public investments and policy reforms for Asia and the Pacific. ADB Brief 364. Manila, Philippines: Asian Development Bank. https://doi.org/10.22617/BRF250480-2

Keywords

Asia; Acp; Oceania; Agriculture; Public Investment; Reforms; Policies; Food Systems; Forecasting

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-3.0-IGO

Links

https://doi.org/10.22617/brf250480-2 Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Mapping evidence of national-nutrition-relevant policies and programmes in Ethiopia to address multiple burdens of malnutrition

2025Pradeilles, Rebecca; Worku, Meron; Holdsworth, Michelle; Baye, Kaleab; Tessema, Masresha; Samuel, Aregash; Bricas, Nicolas; Ruel, Marie T.
Details

Mapping evidence of national-nutrition-relevant policies and programmes in Ethiopia to address multiple burdens of malnutrition

Despite remarkable progress in reducing undernutrition, Ethiopia still has one of the highest rates of undernutrition amongst children under five years of age (U5) and women of reproductive age (WRA) globally. The country’s stubborn problem of undernutrition coexists with a rising challenge of overweight/obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), particularly amongst WRA in urban areas. Both undernutrition and overweight/obesity share common causes, including poor diet quality. Yet, undernutrition and overweight/obesity have traditionally been considered as distinct problems requiring different solutions. The need to reshape public health nutrition to address multiple forms of malnutrition simultaneously through double-duty actions (DDA) has been recently highlighted. Shifting policies and programmes to address multiple forms of malnutrition requires a deep understanding of the problem and of stakeholders’ views, a conducive policy/programme environment, and a careful analysis of the problems and potential ways of addressing them. The study aimed to: i. assess whether existing national nutrition-relevant policies and programmes align with recommended DDAs, and if they do not, explore how they could be reshaped to tackle multiple burdens of malnutrition, and ii. determine how the enabling environment could be strengthened to enhance implementation of the recommended DDAs.

Year published

2025

Authors

Pradeilles, Rebecca; Worku, Meron; Holdsworth, Michelle; Baye, Kaleab; Tessema, Masresha; Samuel, Aregash; Bricas, Nicolas; Ruel, Marie T.

Citation

Pradeilles, Rebecca; Worku, Meron; Holdsworth, Michelle; Baye, Kaleab; Tessema, Masresha; et al. 2025. Mapping evidence of national-nutrition-relevant policies and programmes in Ethiopia to address multiple burdens of malnutrition. Evidence Brief. Institut de Recherche pour le Développement. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17788723

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Nutrition Policies; Programmes; Malnutrition; Triple Burden of Malnutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17788723 Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

PROBES snapshot: Longa, automated speech recognition for Bantu languages

2025Jones-Garcia, Eliot; Benavente, Grecia; Jimenez, Daniel Ricardo
Details

PROBES snapshot: Longa, automated speech recognition for Bantu languages

This one-page brief, developed by the Digital Transformation Accelerator (DTA) team at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, is based on the Longa probe led by Eliot Jones-Garcia, Senior Research Analyst at IFPRI. The probe explores the use of automatic speech recognition (ASR) for Bantu languages to enable voice-based interaction with digital agricultural services. Longa tests whether low-resource ASR models can accurately capture farmers’ spoken input in real-world conditions and convert it into usable data for digital extension and advisory systems. Implemented as a safe-to-fail, early-stage experiment, the probe focuses on learning how voice-first technologies can reduce literacy and language barriers, improve inclusivity, and strengthen farmer engagement. The brief synthesizes key insights on accuracy, usability, and scalability to inform future development and potential integration of speech-based tools within CGIAR digital pathways.

Year published

2025

Authors

Jones-Garcia, Eliot; Benavente, Grecia; Jimenez, Daniel Ricardo

Citation

Jones-Garcia, E.; Benavente, G.; Jimenez, D.R. (2025) PROBES snapshot: Longa, automated speech recognition for Bantu languages. 1 p.

Keywords

Information and Communication Technologies; Artificial Intelligence; Digital Inclusion; Speech Recognition; Decision Support Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Rice productivity in Myanmar: Assessment of the 2025 dry season and outlook for the 2025 monsoon

2025Aung, Zin Wai; Minten, Bart
Details

Rice productivity in Myanmar: Assessment of the 2025 dry season and outlook for the 2025 monsoon

We analyze paddy rice productivity and profitability for the 2024 and 2025 dry seasons, using data from the Myanmar Agriculture Performance Survey (MAPS), conducted between August 11 to October 26, 2025. The survey covered plots managed by 872 paddy producers.

Year published

2025

Authors

Aung, Zin Wai; Minten, Bart

Citation

Aung, Zin Wai; and Minten, Bart. 2025. Rice productivity in Myanmar: Assessment of the 2025 dry season and outlook for the 2025 monsoon. Myanmar SSP Research Note 127. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178419

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Productivity; Extreme Weather Events; Dry Season; Monsoon Climate; Rice

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Reforming agrifood system subsidies: Synthesis of political economy findings from fish, fertilizer, and animal inputs

2025Chugh, Aditi; Ouma, Emily A.; Resnick, Danielle; Schutter, Marleen
Details

Reforming agrifood system subsidies: Synthesis of political economy findings from fish, fertilizer, and animal inputs

Subsidies are price distortions aimed at shifting incentives to generate a desired behavioral response. Agrifood system input subsidies aim to reduce the cost of components—such as fertilizer, fuel, animal feeds, vessels, and machinery—needed by farmers, fisherfolk, ranchers, and pastoralists to improve productivity. Such subsidies may occur in multiple forms, including vouchers that enable beneficiaries to receive a discount, a direct reduction in input retail prices borne by the state or distributors, or through tax reductions and exemptions. The cost of agricultural subsidies, inclusive of fertilizer subsidies, are estimated at USD 635 billion a year (Damania et al. 2023) while fisheries subsidies, including for fuel, fisheries management, and non-fuel tax exemptions, are estimated to total approximately USD 35 billion (Sumaila et al. 2019). While they can support poorer constituencies in the agrifood system who could not otherwise afford such inputs, subsidies can be prone to corruption and leakage to elites, generate negative environmental externalities, and place undue pressure on public sector finances (Amaglobeli, Benson, and Mogues 2024; Damania et al. 2023; Jayne et al. 2018). In addition, they can generate distributional conflicts among different constituencies—both within countries and across countries—and these conflicts can undermine program implementation as well as hinder needed reforms.

Year published

2025

Authors

Chugh, Aditi; Ouma, Emily A.; Resnick, Danielle; Schutter, Marleen

Citation

Chugh, Aditi; Ouma, Emily A.; Resnick, Danielle; and Schutter, Marleen. 2026. Reforming agrifood system subsidies: Synthesis of political economy findings from fish, fertilizer, and animal inputs. CGIAR Policy Innovations Science Program Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181537

Keywords

Agrifood Systems; Subsidies; Political Ecology; Fish; Fertilizers; Farm Inputs

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

When trade saves natural resources: Evidence from cereals trade in SADC

2025Traoré, Fousseini; Matchaya, Greenwell C.; Garcia, Roberto J.
Details

When trade saves natural resources: Evidence from cereals trade in SADC

Africa is one of the continents most vulnerable to climate change. While global temperatures have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991, Africa has registered a 0.3°C increase (WMO, 2022). Beyond rising temperatures, Africa faces various related challenges, including rising sea levels, unpredictable rainfall leading to both droughts and severe storms, and increased threats from plant pests and animal diseases. As a result, the continent is expected to see a significant decline in arable land, further compromising its agricultural future. Specifically, southern Africa is highly climate vulnerable. Water scarcity is critical for food security, yet trade can help reallocate cereals from water-rich to water-scarce areas. Indeed one often-overlooked aspect in the discussion about trade and climate change is how trade can actually help combat climate change. Indeed, when production is shifted from places that have limited environmental resources to those that are rich in them, the ecological footprint of economic activities can be lessened. For instance, international and regional trade have the potential to conserve water on both global and regional scales by exporting water-intensive goods from regions that have high water efficiency or abundant water resources to those with less availability (Fracasso 2014), yielding a much more efficient allocation of water resources around the world. SADC’s own regional water policy recognizes comparative advantage in water as a basis for trade integration (SADC 2005). This policy note reviews virtual water trade in the SADC region and tests whether trade flows reflect countries’ comparative advantage in water endowment, with a focus on cereals. It first presents an overview of virtual water trade flows in the region and uses an econometric model to test the link between water endowments and the water content of trade flows. We conclude with a discussion and some policy implications.

Year published

2025

Authors

Traoré, Fousseini; Matchaya, Greenwell C.; Garcia, Roberto J.

Citation

Traoré, Fousseini; Matchaya, Greenwell C.; and Garcia, Roberto J. 2025. When trade saves natural resources: Evidence from cereals trade in SADC. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178416

Keywords

Trade; Natural Resources; Cereals; Water

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

From pledges to action: NDC 3.0 for poverty reduction and climate justice in Nepal

2025Chaudhary, Arbind; Babu, Suresh Chandra; Chaudhary, Bibek
Details

From pledges to action: NDC 3.0 for poverty reduction and climate justice in Nepal

Located in the heart of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, Nepal plays a vital geopolitical and ecological role in South Asia’s climate landscape. Although the country contributes less than 0.03 percent to global greenhouse gas emissions (MoFE 2020) and has extensive forest cover of 46 percent (MoFE 2025), it faces disproportionate risks from climate-induced disasters, such as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), erratic monsoons, and prolonged droughts. The HKH region spans eight countries and hosts 10 major river basins and more than 87,000 square kilometers of glaciers, delivering water and ecosystem services to more than 1.9 billion people downstream (ICIMOD 2025a). Within this complex hydrological system, Nepal’s rivers—including the Koshi, Gandaki, and Karnali—not only sustain local livelihoods but also feed millions in India’s Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, and even parts of China. Climate justice is imperative in this context: Nepal’s low emissions profile stands in stark contrast to its high vulnerability (CVF 2024), requiring urgent attention to equity, adaptation finance, and inclusive development pathways. This policy note discusses Nepal’s role in climate justice diplomacy, examines the regional and country-level context of climate risk, and assesses Nepal’s third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) to reframe climate action through a justice-centered lens.

Year published

2025

Authors

Chaudhary, Arbind; Babu, Suresh Chandra; Chaudhary, Bibek

Citation

Chaudhary, Arbind; Babu, Suresh Chandra; and Chaudhary, Bibek. 2025. From pledges to action: NDC 3.0 for poverty reduction and climate justice in Nepal. IFPRI Policy Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178267

Country/Region

Nepal

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Capacity Building; Poverty Reduction; Climate Change; Natural Resources

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey

2025
Tinneberg, Pia; Headey, Derek D.; Comstock, Andrew; Ecker, Olivier; Marshall, Quinn; Sitisekara, Hasara; Silva, Renuka; Hülsen, Vivien; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata
…more Sabai, Moe; Stifel, Elizabeth; van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani
Details

Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey

Key findings and policy implications • Dietary quality in Sri Lanka – defined in terms of consumption levels of different healthy food groups – falls well short of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health’s 2021 Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) targets, with clear imbalances across food groups. • Heavy dependence on starchy staples. Starchy foods dense in calories but sparse in nutrients provide over 60% of total energy consumption, highlighting a strong over-consumption of rice. • Low consumption of nutrient-rich foods. Intakes of fruits, dark green leafy vegetables (DGLVs), and legumes are at only about one-third of the recommended levels. • Some households report zero consumption of healthy food groups. More than 30% of households report zero consumption of dairy foods in the past 7 days, while 15% report zero consumption of dark green leafy vegetables, and 5% zero fruit, indicating that important foods are absent from many household diets. • Multidimensional dietary deprivation. Nearly all Sri Lankan households are deprived in at least one food group. A typical deprived household falls below the reference threshold in six to seven of eight food groups and consumes only about 37% of the recommended amounts for the foods in which consumption is lower than recommended. • Significant dietary inequality across sectors. Dietary deprivation is most acute in the estate sector, while rural and urban areas fare moderately better. • There is a clear need to promote healthy dietary diversification, especially higher consumption of fruits, legumes, vegetables and dairy, while moderating excess consumption of starchy staples. • Institutionalize regular monitoring of diet deprivation, using the Reference Diet Deprivation (ReDD) index and other dietary indicators to guide targeted nutrition interventions. • Support further research on the drivers of dietary patterns in Sri Lanka to better understand its determinants and differences between sectors.

Year published

2025

Authors

Tinneberg, Pia; Headey, Derek D.; Comstock, Andrew; Ecker, Olivier; Marshall, Quinn; Sitisekara, Hasara; Silva, Renuka; Hülsen, Vivien; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata; Sabai, Moe; Stifel, Elizabeth; van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani

Citation

Tinneberg, Pia; Headey, Derek D.; Comstock, Andrew; Ecker, Olivier; Marshall, Quinn; et al. 2025. Nutrition and dietary quality in Sri Lanka: Insights from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey. BRIGHT Sri Lanka Project Note 7. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178184

Country/Region

Sri Lanka

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Nutrition; Diet Quality; Nutrient Intake; Health Diets; Nutritive Value; Surveys

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Accessing Aswesuma: Key findings on Sri Lanka’s new social protection program from the bright 2024-25 national survey

2025Hülsen, Vivien; Klas, Nicolas; Headey, Derek D.; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata; Sabai, Moe; van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani
Details

Accessing Aswesuma: Key findings on Sri Lanka’s new social protection program from the bright 2024-25 national survey

• We use the nationally representative BRIGHT 2024-25 survey to document Aswesuma access at the national and subnational level, and among poor and food-insecure households • At the time of the BRIGHT 2024-2025 survey, the Aswesuma program covered 29.1% of the Sri Lankan population compared to just 18.8% of the population under Samurdhi in 2016: a 10.3 percentage point improvement. However, at the time of the survey, the Aswesuma program has still not reached its target of 35% national population coverage. • Encouragingly, the largest expansion of cash transfer access was in upland (Estate) districts, who had limited access to cash transfers under the previous Samurdhi program • Aswesuma access among poor populations was highest in the Estate sector (56%), followed by the rural (46%) and urban populations (44%) • Aswesuma transfers are unlikely to reduce employment or other income-generating activities among the poor, as Aswesuma cash transfers only represent 19% of the expenditures of the poorest 20% of households, and just 10% for the next poorest group. • While Aswesuma transfers may protect households against low calorie intake (hunger), Aswesuma households still have low-quality diets, under-consuming fruits, vegetables, dairy, and legumes in particular • Nutritional knowledge is also much poorer among Aswesuma beneficiaries than the rest of the Sri Lankan population, particularly knowledge of key micronutrient-rich foods • These results imply the need for a wide range of policy-oriented research and follow-up surveys on drivers of access to Aswesuma, but also impacts of Aswesuma on key welfare indicators • There is also a need to explore and improve multisectoral coordination between Aswesuma and other programs on child nutrition and development, as well as women’s empowerment.

Year published

2025

Authors

Hülsen, Vivien; Klas, Nicolas; Headey, Derek D.; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata; Sabai, Moe; van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani

Citation

Hülsen, Vivien; Klas, Nicolas; Headey, Derek D.; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata; et al. 2025. Accessing Aswesuma: Key findings on Sri Lanka’s new social protection program from the bright 2024-25 national survey. BRIGHT Sri Lanka Project Note 6. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178136

Country/Region

Sri Lanka

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Social Protection; Social Safety Nets; Welfare; Food Assistance; Households

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

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Record type

Brief

Brief

The effects of a secondary school scholarship on youth outcomes: Evidence from a randomized trial

2025Leight, Jessica
Details

The effects of a secondary school scholarship on youth outcomes: Evidence from a randomized trial

Although primary school enrollment has steadily increased in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, enrollment in secondary school remains generally low in comparison with other regions (Evans and Mendez Acosta 2021). In Ethiopia, enrollment in lower secondary school roughly doubled over the past decade to reach an estimated 46 percent in 2021–2022, but substantial heterogeneity exists across rural and urban areas and across poorer and richer households (Tiruneh and Molla 2024). In rural areas, long distances from home to school often pose a substantial barrier to secondary school enrollment, especially for poor households. In addition to the real or perceived risks of insecurity linked to attendance – encountering insecure conditions along the route, or risks for youth who reside away from home to attend – these lengthy distances imply substantial out-of-pocket costs for transportation or accommodation, and households may struggle to manage these costs (Leight et al. 2022). Limited post-primary educational attainment can have substantial adverse effects for youth, limiting their opportunities for future employment and income generation and increasing the likelihood of early marriage for girls (Giacobino et al. 2024). This project note reports the main findings from a randomized trial conducted in rural Ethiopia, which assessed the effects of a scholarship for lower secondary school students (ninth and tenth grade) targeting extremely poor youth. We find that the provision of a scholarship led to a 12-percentage-point increase in the probability of secondary school enrollment two years later compared to youth who did not receive a scholarship, an effect that was greatest among students who received early notification about the scholarship (one year before eligibility). There was no change in attendance or academic performance, suggesting that students in the treatment arm performed as well as those in the control arm. Some evidence also indicated a small decline in the likelihood of child marriage and an enhancement in youth well-being. Overall, the findings suggest that the scholarship may be a valuable intervention to increase secondary school attainment, particularly if announced earlier; however, a third of youth who passed the primary school exam and were offered a scholarship still did not enroll. This suggests there are other important barriers to secondary school progression in this sample.

Year published

2025

Authors

Leight, Jessica

Citation

Leight, Jessica. 2025. The effects of a secondary school scholarship on youth outcomes: Evidence from a randomized trial. SPIR Learning Brief 9. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178139

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Scholarship; Secondary Education; Randomized Controlled Trials; Rural Areas; Poverty; Education; Youth

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Climate shocks and climate smart agricultural adoption in Sri Lanka, 2024-2025

2025van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Hemachandra, Dilini
Details

Climate shocks and climate smart agricultural adoption in Sri Lanka, 2024-2025

We assess the adoption of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices and the role of climate shocks using the BRIGHT Integrated Household Survey data for 2024–2025. • Twenty percent of farmers faced severe climatic shocks, while 40 percent faced more moderate negative shocks. • The largest share of farmers reporting natural shocks lived in the dry zone. • Forty-four percent of farmers were negatively affected by pests and diseases, including 72 .per-cent of oilseed and tuber farmers. • Seventy-four percent of farmers reported that changing weather patterns affect their income. • Forty-one percent of farmers reported that they were currently using at least one climate smart agricultural practice (CSA). • Crop type strongly predicts CSA adoption. Vegetable, pulse, and maize farmers are significantly more likely to adopt CSA practices, with marginal effects indicating increases of roughly 16–17 percentage points. In contrast, rice cultivation is not significantly associated with adoption—im-portant given rice’s dominance in the country. • Adoption levels of CSA practices vary sharply across provinces. Eastern Province shows the highest adoption (66 percent), while Sabaragamuwa records the lowest adoption at just 14 per-cent. • Exposure to climate shocks increases CSA adoption. Experiencing a moderate or severe climate shock in the previous year is associated with a 6–7 percentage point increase in CSA adoption, suggesting that shocks are prompting adaptive responses. Policy Implications for Sri Lanka • Strengthen CSA adoption in lagging provinces. Sabaragamuwa, North Western, and Western show consistently low adoption despite exposure to climate risks. • Expand and tailor extension services to promote CSA for the most climate vulnerable farmers.

Year published

2025

Authors

van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Hemachandra, Dilini

Citation

van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani; Munasinghe, Dilusha; and Hemachandra, Dilini. 2025. Climate shocks and climate smart agricultural adoption in Sri Lanka, 2024-2025. BRIGHT Sri Lanka Project Note 3. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178095

Country/Region

Sri Lanka

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Climate; Shock; Climate-smart Agriculture; Farmers

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

The state of agricultural extension services in Sri Lanka, 2024-2025

2025van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani; Hemachandra, Dilini; Ariyawanse, Kumudu; Munasinghe, Dilusha
Details

The state of agricultural extension services in Sri Lanka, 2024-2025

We assess the state of Sri Lanka’s agricultural extension services using the BRIGHT 2024-2025 national survey. We examine use of or access to extension by land size and wealth, farmers’ trust in different providers, and farmers use of innovative sources of extension, including digital channels.. • Fifty-five percent of Sri Lankan farmers accessed some form of extension in 2024/2025 • Public extension agents remain the most trusted source of advice, yet their reach differs sharply by region—from as high as 75% in North-Western Province to as low as 30% in Northern Province. • Access to agricultural extension varies widely across provinces, with the highest access in Northern Province (84%) and the lowest in Central and Western Provinces (around 44%). • In the Northern Province, despite low public provision, farmers compensate through strong reliance on input retailers (64%) and Farmers’ Organizations (71%), indicating robust informal ex-tension networks. • Extension access is strongly related to cultivated area and asset ownership. Only 40% of farmers cultivating less than 0.5 acres received any form of extension, compared to 71% among those with more than 3 acres. Similarly, only 39% of households in the lowest wealth quintile accessed extension, compared to 62% in the highest quintile. • Wealthier farmers and those with more cultivated acres not only access extension more frequently but also from a wider range of sources, underscoring inequality in information access and opportunity. • Digital channels, such as Facebook and other online groups, play a growing but still limited role, concentrated mainly in the Western Province where internet access is strongest. Policy Implications for Sri Lanka • Targeted efforts are needed to expand extension access in lagging regions—particularly Central, Western, and Uva Provinces—by strengthening reach of both public and non-public agents. • Dedicated actions are needed to expand extension services across a wider range of crops—particularly beyond rice and the traditional plantation sector—as well as across sub-sectors • Given the high trust and engagement within farmer associations, these organizations should be leveraged as key partners for training delivery, group learning, and scaling up new practices. • More research is needed on the effectiveness of different extension modalities, including digital

Year published

2025

Authors

van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani; Hemachandra, Dilini; Ariyawanse, Kumudu; Munasinghe, Dilusha

Citation

van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani; Hemachandra, Dilini; Ariyawanse, Kumudu; and Munasinghe, Dilusha. 2025. The state of agricultural extension services in Sri Lanka, 2024-2025. BRIGHT Sri Lanka Project Note 2. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178096

Country/Region

Sri Lanka

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Agricultural Extension; Extension Programmes; Farmers; Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Water insecurity in Sri Lanka, 2024-2025: Evidence from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey

2025Stifel, Elizabeth; Headey, Derek D.; Hülsen, Vivien; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata; Sabai, Moe; van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani
Details

Water insecurity in Sri Lanka, 2024-2025: Evidence from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey

We assess water insecurity in Sri Lanka using the BRIGHT Integrated Household Survey data for 2024-2025. Key Findings • Compared to the 2016 DHS data, the 2024 BRIGHT results show moderate improvements in access to improved drinking water sources. Estate sector households show the greatest relative improvement, with the share using improved water sources increasing by approximately five percentage points. This shift is driven primarily by a 15-percentage-point rise in the use of protected wells, although nearly half (49%) of estate households continue to rely on rivers, springs, or tank water. • Most households in Sri Lanka report few insecurity experiences, and are therefore mostly water secure, with 90% not experiencing water insecurity. • Differences between groups are subtle and occur mainly between marginal and low levels of water security, rather than between fully secure and insecure households. • 68% of estate households (households on plantations), experienced at least water insecurity experience compared to only 28% of urban households and 33% of rural households. • Households in dry agroecological zones face slightly higher risks water insecurity (11%) com-pared to 9% of in both intermediate and wet zones. • Poverty is a key predictor of water insecurity. The poorest households are 6.8 times more likely to experience extreme water insecurity than the richest households. • Sri Lanka has lower levels of water insecurity than most other lower-middle income countries but needs to address poor water security in populations left behind. Improving water security in estate areas and in the dry zone should be national water security priorities

Year published

2025

Authors

Stifel, Elizabeth; Headey, Derek D.; Hülsen, Vivien; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata; Sabai, Moe; van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani

Citation

Stifel, Elizabeth; Headey, Derek D.; Hülsen, Vivien; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata; et al. 2025. Water insecurity in Sri Lanka, 2024-2025: Evidence from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey. BRIGHT Sri Lanka Project Note 5. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178097

Country/Region

Sri Lanka

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Water Insecurity; Water Management; Households; Poverty; Water Security

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Food insecurity in post-crisis Sri Lanka: Evidence from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey

2025Headey, Derek D.; Stifel, Elizabeth; Hülsen, Vivien; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata; Sabai, Moe; van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani
Details

Food insecurity in post-crisis Sri Lanka: Evidence from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey

We assess food insecurity in Sri Lanka using the BRIGHT National Household Survey data for 2024-2025, which collected data on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) developed by the FAO. • 32.8% of households in Sri Lanka experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in the 12 months prior to the survey, with 29.6% classified as moderately and 3.2% classified as severely food insecure. In contrast, food insecurity was just 12% in the 2019 Household Income and Expenditure survey (HIES), such that food insecurity has almost tripled since the 2022 economic crisis. • A very high 54.5% of Estate households (households that reside in housing on an estate/plantation) experienced food insecurity (43.2% moderate, and 11.4% severe), compared to 35.3% of urban and 31.8% of rural households. Eastern (39.1%), Uva (38.5%), and Southern (38.1%) provinces recorded the highest food insecurity rates. • Dry-zone households show slightly higher moderate and severe insecurity (34.6%) than inter-mediate (31.1%) and wet zones (24.6%). • Households dependent on informal employment are more than twice as likely to report food in-security (41% moderate, 5% severe) compared to formal employment households (18% moderate, 1% severe). • Fishing households are the most food insecure across all livelihoods with 58% experiencing moderate or severe insecurity, including 10% reporting severe food insecurity. Households de-pendent on construction (41%), agriculture (38%), textiles/artisans (35%), manufacturing (29%), food and beverage preparation (27%) and services (23%) also reported high food insecurity. • Splitting by wealth quintiles, the poorest 20% of households in Sri Lanka have a food insecurity prevalence of 45% including 10% who are severely food insecure. Food insecurity declines as wealth increases but is still high for the second (34%) and middle quintiles (25%). • The FIES-based indicator reports much higher food insecurity in 2024 (32.8%) than the WFP’s alternative CARI method of estimating food insecurity (16%). • FIES-based measures can support more frequent monitoring of food insecurity in Sri Lanka via phone surveys and help assess the impacts of programs such as Aswesuma.

Year published

2025

Authors

Headey, Derek D.; Stifel, Elizabeth; Hülsen, Vivien; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata; Sabai, Moe; van Asselt, Joanna; Weerasinghe, Krishani

Citation

Headey, Derek D.; Stifel, Elizabeth; Hülsen, Vivien; Munasinghe, Dilusha; Ranucci, Immacolata; et al. 2025. Food insecurity in post-crisis Sri Lanka: Evidence from the 2024-2025 BRIGHT survey. BRIGHT Sri Lanka Project Note 4. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178098

Country/Region

Sri Lanka

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Food Insecurity; Food Security; Households; Climate

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Vendors outside of markets in Viet Nam

2025de Brauw, Alan; Anh, Dao The; Tho, Pham
Details

Vendors outside of markets in Viet Nam

The food environment represents the place in which demand for food meets supply: consumers purchase foods in the food environment, and food retailers market and sell their products. In many countries, the food environment is undergoing rapid changes as economies grow and populations urbanize, with the consequence that a larger share of food consumed is purchased by the end consumer, rather than being self produced (de Bruin and Holleman 2023). Viet Nam is no different: over time, the country’s growing and urbanizing economy has led to shifts in its food environment. This note focuses on one type of retailer in Viet Nam’s food environment: food vendors that exist outside of formal markets. These vendors typically sell their goods in a fixed location, unlike mobile vendors, and do business on a daily or near-daily basis from that location. This definition includes vendors in “toad markets,” which are vendors who set up right outside of official markets, and other vendors who work in a fixed location but lack a storefront. All such vendors are clearly part of the informal sector. These vendors play a small but important role in Viet Nam’s food environment, and almost all of them sell at least one component of a sustainable healthy diet. As a result, these vendors can help to improve the diets of Viet Nam’s population. This note uses two data sets to examine small vendors outside markets. The first is a listing exercise that enumerates all businesses selling food in the sampled wards of three districts: Dong Da, in urban Hanoi; Dong Anh, in peri-urban Hanoi; and Moc Chau, a rural district northwest of Hanoi. This survey was used as a sample frame for the second survey; the second one was designed to examine the constraints and opportunities faced by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as they consider selling more healthy foods (Ceballos et al. 2023). Vendors outside of markets are one type of MSME in the food environment.

Year published

2025

Authors

de Brauw, Alan; Anh, Dao The; Tho, Pham

Citation

de Brauw, Alan; Anh, Dao The; and Tho, Pham. 2025. Vendors outside of markets in Viet Nam. CGIAR Better Diets and Nutrition Program Research Note. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178054

Country/Region

Vietnam

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Markets; Food Environment; Agro-industrial Sector; Healthy Diets; Credit

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Brief

Understanding recent prices increases of animal-source foods in Myanmar

2025Minten, Bart; Aung, Nilar; Aung, Zin Wai; Htar, May Thet
Details

Understanding recent prices increases of animal-source foods in Myanmar

The livestock sector in Myanmar represents a significant component of the national economy, contributing approximately 6 percent to the country’s GDP. Beyond its economic role, the sector provides critical livelihood opportunities for rural households and underpins the supply of animal-source foods (ASF), which are essential for enhancing dietary diversity and nutritional outcomes. A resilient and efficiently functioning livestock sector also generates important multiplier effects, contributing to poverty reduction, employment creation, and overall economic growth (Diao et al. 2024). This note summarizes recent structural and market developments in Myanmar’s livestock industry and examines their implications for ASF price dynamics.

Year published

2025

Authors

Minten, Bart; Aung, Nilar; Aung, Zin Wai; Htar, May Thet

Citation

Minten, Bart; Aung, Nilar; Aung, Zin Wai; and Htar, May Thet. 2025. Understanding recent prices increases of animal-source foods in Myanmar. Myanmar SSP Research Note 126. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institution. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178051

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Prices; Animal Source Foods; Price Volatility; Livestock Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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