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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Ruth Meinzen-Dick

Ruth Meinzen-Dick is a Senior Research Fellow in the Natural Resources and Resilience Unit. She has extensive transdisciplinary research experience in using qualitative and quantitative research methods. Her work focuses on two broad (and sometimes interrelated) areas: how institutions affect how people manage natural resources, and the role of gender in development processes. 

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Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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TOPIC

Agriculture Production

Sustainable food production is critical to meeting growing global food needs amid climate change and natural resource scarcity. It is also the starting point for a shift toward sustainable, equitable food systems. But in many developing countries, underinvestment in agricultural production means that productivity and farmer incomes remain low, with negative impacts on rural development. Lack of knowledge, capital, labor, or other resources can lead to degradation of the natural resources that support agricultural production. As a result, food production is vulnerable to natural and socioeconomic shocks.

Evidence shows that sound and sustained investment in agriculture, especially in research and development, is key to increasing agricultural productivity, reducing poverty, and fostering economywide growth. Yet many developing countries give little consideration to agricultural science and technology in their national development plans.

… read more

IFPRI’s research examines emerging technologies and policy innovations designed to meet global food needs sustainably and equitably. Our researchers consider innovations in natural resource management, climate and energy policies, mechanization and digital options, biosafety systems for biotechnology, agricultural diversity, property rights, and collective action that can lead to improved food production and sustainability.

With proven innovations in hand, improvements in agricultural extension can lead to greater adoption of productivity-enhancing technologies. Work on nutrition and value chain development can help to build demand for diverse agricultural products. IFPRI’s foresight research helps to identify future threats to food production and security and ensure that scarce budgetary resources are directed toward sustainable development investments that achieve the greatest impact.

IFPRI’s agriculture production research is closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 1, SDG 2, SDG 7, SDG 8, SDG 10, SDG 13, and SDG 15. It also aligns with the CGIAR Impact Areas on Climate Adaptation and Mitigation; Environmental Health and Biodiversity; Nutrition, Health, and Food Security; and Poverty Reduction, Livelihoods, and Jobs.

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Publications

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Journal Article

The technopolitics of agronomic knowledge and tropical(izing) vegetables in Brazil

2024Nehring, Ryan
Details

The technopolitics of agronomic knowledge and tropical(izing) vegetables in Brazil

This article critically analyzes the social and political factors behind the advancement of technoscientific development in modern Brazilian agriculture. In the second half of the 20th century, Brazil underwent a rapid industrialization in the agricultural sector by more than doubling productivity in key global commodities and a widespread migration of people from rural to urban areas. Most observers point to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) as the technological engine that drove the industrialization of Brazilian agriculture. Existing approaches to analyze technoscientific development tend to overlook the role of the environment and individual scientists in enacting change. I argue that, especially in the case of agriculture, technoscientific development hinges on the extent to which the environment is disregarded or embraced by those who have the institutional support and capacity to innovate. To support my argument, I draw on two contrasting cases of crop development spearheaded by Embrapa scientists: the tropicalization of the carrot and participatory research on non-conventional vegetables. Through those two cases, the article demonstrates how the general and specific, the transnational and local, and the industrial and agroecological are all key contrasting factors for understanding technoscientific development in agriculture. This research is based on extensive interviews and participant observation at Embrapa’s vegetable research center near Brasilia, Brazil.

Year published

2024

Authors

Nehring, Ryan

Citation

Nehring, Ryan. 2024. The technopolitics of agronomic knowledge and tropical(izing) vegetables in Brazil. Environmental Science and Policy 162(December 2024): 103911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103911

Country/Region

Brazil

Keywords

Americas; South America; Agricultural Research; Carrots; Food Systems; Politics; Technology; Tropical Zones; Vegetables

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103911 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Working Paper

How have foreign exchange market distortions and conflict affected agricultural production incentives in Myanmar?

2024Myanmar Agrifood Program for Strategy and Analysis
Details

How have foreign exchange market distortions and conflict affected agricultural production incentives in Myanmar?

Fluctuations in agricultural prices pose significant challenges for fragile and conflict-affected economies due to their critical role in ensuring food security. This study examines changes in agricultural prices at the export, wholesale, and farm level in the case of Myanmar, which experienced a surge in conflicts from 2021 onward, following a military coup. The major findings are as follows: • Regarding macroeconomic impacts, the military government implemented a dual exchange rate system, maintaining a fixed exchange rate significantly below the market rate and effectively imposing an across-the-board export tax on all export commodities of approximately 24 percent between August 2022 and August 2024. This policy particularly affects rice, Myanmar’s main staple and a key export crop. • The scarcity of foreign exchange due to this dual exchange rate system increased the costs of imported inputs. It is estimated that prices of inorganic fertilizers – farmers’ most important commercial input – saw an increase of 10 percent compared to the price in Thailand since the start of the dual exchange rate system. • Regarding domestic trade effects, regions with the highest insecurity exhibited similar agricultural output prices but higher input costs, resulting in reduced farm profitability compared to more secure regions. However, the magnitude of these effects is relatively small, with estimated increases in input prices due to insecurity ranging from one to six percent. Insecure areas also show more often a lack of input availability. • Farmers who reside in insecure areas reported between one and six percentage points higher lack of access to agricultural inputs – fertilizer, agrochemicals, mechanization, and seed – in their communities. The relatively small effects of insecurity on input and output markets suggest a degree of resilience in the private sector’s ability to maintain trade under conflict conditions. • The biggest effect on input markets is seen in the case of agricultural labor. Depending on the measure used, farmers in the most insecure areas had a 7 to 15 percentage points higher likelihood of reporting lack of access to agricultural laborers compared to the most secure areas. • The exchange rate policies are found to have been much more harmful for farmers’ incentives than the domestic trade effects, even for the most conflict-affected areas, indicating the importance of considering macroeconomic effects for agricultural incentives in Myanmar. • Despite the significant disincentives brought about by conflict, the agricultural sector has shown surprising resilience over the recent conflict period, seemingly linked to advantageous international price developments for farmers: international rice prices increased by 27 percent while urea prices decreased by 52 percent between August 2022 and May 2024. • While these international evolutions have partly mitigated the impact of the conflict on farmers’ profitability, the impacts of these price developments on consumers in Myanmar have, however, been severe. An analysis of rice retail prices in Myanmar over the last two and half years show that they have more than tripled and that the overall costs of the common diet more than doubled. A failure of nominal income to keep pace with this food price inflation led to an increase in poverty by 10 percent from the end of 2022 to the end of 2023.

Year published

2024

Authors

Myanmar Agrifood Program for Strategy and Analysis

Citation

Myanmar Agrifood Program for Strategy and Analysis (MAPSA). 2024. How have foreign exchange market distortions and conflict affected agricultural production incentives in Myanmar? Myanmar SSP Working Paper 60. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

South-eastern Asia; Agricultural Prices; Economic Systems; Food Security; Markets; Exports; Taxes; Imports; Farmers; Inputs

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Book Chapter

Agricultural mechanization: Drivers and characteristics

2024Belton, Ben; Win, Myat Thida; Zhang, Xiaobo; Filipski, Mateusz; Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Masias, Ian
Details

Agricultural mechanization: Drivers and characteristics

Widespread agricultural mechanization is a very recent phenomenon in Myanmar. In 2010, just 0.5 percent of farm households in the Delta used combine harvesters, and only 6 percent used threshers. A study of farm production economics in the country’s main agricultural zones in 2013/14 found that only 1 percent of paddy-cultivating households used combine harvesters. This was attributed to a combination of low wages and surplus labor in rural areas, poor infrastructure, a poor regulatory environment, and a lack of access to long-term capital among farmers. However, Myanmar’s policy reforms and reintegration into regional and global markets between 2011 and 2020 contributed to increasingly dynamic conditions, including economic growth averaging 7 percent per year (ADB 2018), accelerating out-migration from rural areas, and rapid rural transformation. This context gave rise to rapid and widespread agricultural mechanization. This chapter compares data from two pairs of complementary surveys to assess the effects of these economic changes on the uptake of agricultural mechanization. We combine demand-side (farm household) and supply-side (agricultural machinery retailer) surveys implemented between 2016 and 2018 across two major agroecological zones—a deltaic rice-growing environment (the Delta) and a rainfed semiarid zone (the Dry Zone). This approach allows for triangulation of results and captures variations in mechanization across geographies. In addition, we use data from multiple rounds of rapid assessments to evaluate the impacts of COVID-19 and other recent shocks.

Year published

2024

Authors

Belton, Ben; Win, Myat Thida; Zhang, Xiaobo; Filipski, Mateusz; Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Masias, Ian

Citation

Belton, Ben; Win, Myat Thida; Zhang, Xiaobo; Filipski, Mateusz; Takeshima, Hiroyuki; and Masias, Ian. 2024. Agricultural mechanization: Drivers and characteristics. In Myanmar’s agrifood system: Historical development, recent shocks, future opportunities, Duncan Boughton, Ben Belton, Isabel Lambrecht, and Bart Minten, eds. Chapter 7, Pp. 171-200. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155170

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Agricultural Mechanization; Agrifood Systems; Development; Economic Shock; Governance

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

Blogs

Mercosur Outlook launch: Charting a course for sustainable agricultural growth amid uncertainty
IFPRI Blog
 | 
October 16, 2024

Mercosur Outlook launch: Charting a course for sustainable agricultural growth amid uncertainty

By Juan Pablo Gianatiempo and Brian McNamara

Meeting challenges of the coming growing season and beyond in South America.

Does conflict-driven internal displacement influence demand for agricultural inputs? Evidence from Nigeria
IFPRI Blog
 | 
September 26, 2024

Does conflict-driven internal displacement influence demand for agricultural inputs? Evidence from Nigeria

By Mulubrhan Amare, Kate Ambler, Temilolu Bamiwuye, Jeffrey Bloem, Rewa Misra, and Julia Wagner

Examining the effectiveness of vouchers and marketing information.

How much does take-up timing for agricultural inputs depend on price? Evidence from an experiment in Nigeria
IFPRI Blog
 | 
September 18, 2024

How much does take-up timing for agricultural inputs depend on price? Evidence from an experiment in Nigeria

By Mulubrhan Amare, Kate Ambler, Temilolu Bamiwuye, Jeffrey Bloem, Rewa Misra, and Julia Wagner

Insights into buying behavior.

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Events

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Connecting the Dots Across Systems
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

December 3 to 5, 2024

Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia: Connecting the Dots Across Systems

South Asia grapples with escalating levels of malnutrition in various forms, including undernutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies, alongside increasing incidence of diet-related non-communicable diseases. Malnutrition results from a complex interplay of factors incorporating household and individual decision-making, agriculture and food systems, healthcare services, education, and socio-ecological systems that determine access to services and […]

Supporting and shaping the global nutrition agenda with evidence: A three-decade journey of research and partnerships for impact
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

October 30, 2024, 10:00 – 11:30 am

Supporting and shaping the global nutrition agenda with evidence: A three-decade journey of research and partnerships for impact

Also streaming on Please type your questions into the chat box with name, affiliation, and country. The event video, presenter slides, and podcast will be available in the days following the event. Presentation: 10:00am–11:30 am EDT | light lunch reception to follow This year’s Forman Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Marie Ruel, Senior Research […]

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

 | 

October 22, 2024, 8:30 – 10:00 am

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

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

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News

February 11, 2024 | In the News

Agricultural growth key to accelerated poverty reduction in Bangladesh (Financial Express)

Senior research fellow and country representative, Akhter Ahmed writes in an op-ed for the Financial Express (Bangladesh) that the country “has witnessed substantial economic growth over the past decade, with an average annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.6 per cent between 2016 and 2022. Notably, the country experienced a 3.4 per cent increase in GDP in 2020, making Bangladesh one […]

November 26, 2023 | In the News

Scientists are racing to protect grass from climate change. Your cheap burger is at stake (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal (Australia) quotes Keith Wiebe, IFPRI senior research fellow, in an article analyzing how heat waves and drought are threatening pasture on farms worldwide.  “If pasture becomes less productive, prices would be expected to rise, not just for meat, wool and dairy products but also for cereals and other food commodities that would […]

September 05, 2023 | In the News

Russia upends global grain trade (RFI) 

The Black Sea Grain Initiative enabled Ukraine to export more than 30 million tonnes of grain from three Black Sea ports, but Russia withdrew from the initiative in July,” writes RFI (an outlet of Agence France Presse). The corridor “didn’t help Ukraine rebound in terms of their agricultural production” as the invasion deprived it of a […]

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Our experts

Samuel Benin

Samuel Benin

Acting, Director for Africa, Development
Strategies and Governance, Africa

Claudia Ringler

Claudia Ringler

Director, Natural Resources and Resilience (NRR), Natural
Resources and Resilience

David Spielman

David Spielman

Director, Innovation Policy and Scaling (IPS), Innovation
Policy and Scaling

Gashaw Abate

Gashaw Abate

Research Fellow, Markets,
Trade, and Institutions

Thomas Assefa

Thomas Assefa

Associate Research Fellow, Innovation
Policy and Scaling

Francisco Ceballos

Francisco Ceballos

Research Fellow, Markets,
Trade, and Institutions, Latin America and the Caribbean

Avinash Kishore

Avinash Kishore

Senior Research Fellow, Development
Strategies and Governance

Amit Burman

Amit Burman

Project Coordinator, Development
Strategies and Governance

Mariam Dawoud

Mariam Dawoud

Program Manager, Development
Strategies and Governance

Ian Masias

Ian Masias

Program Head, Development
Strategies and Governance

Patrick Ward

Patrick Ward

Nonresident Fellow, Development
Strategies and Governance

Shweta Gupta

Shweta Gupta

Senior Research Analyst, Natural
Resources and Resilience

Cynthia Kazembe

Cynthia Kazembe

Communications Manager, Development
Strategies and Governance

William Ndeko

William Ndeko

Research Associate – Demand Creation, Innovation
Policy and Scaling