Subscribe

Back

Who we are

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.

Ahmed Akhter

researcher spotlight

Akhter Ahmed

Akhter Ahmed is a Senior Research Fellow in the IFPRI’s Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit and Country Representative for IFPRI Bangladesh. He has worked on strategies for agricultural and rural development, social protection, and women’s empowerment to reduce poverty, food insecurity, and undernutrition in developing countries including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Malawi, the Philippines, and Turkey.

Back

What we do

Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

Research topics

Projects and impact

Modeling tools

Project microsites

What’s new

Where we work

Back

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.

IFPRI Regional Programs

IFPRI Country Programs

Research by country and region

Subscribe
TOPIC

Food Systems

Food systems are the sum of actors and interactions along the food value chain—from input supply and production of crops, livestock, fish, and other agricultural commodities to transportation, processing, retailing, wholesaling, and preparation of foods to consumption and disposal. Food systems also include the enabling policy environments and cultural norms around food. Ideal food systems would be nutrition-, health-, and safety-driven, productive and efficient (and thus able to deliver affordable food), environmentally sustainable and climate-smart, and inclusive. To realize this vision, continued investments must be made in agricultural research and development and technological innovations, paving the way for programs and policies that are based on sound evidence.

IFPRI conducts research and offers policy support on a range of food system issues from farm-level productivity to development of inclusive food value chains to nutrition education—providing evidence for design of food systems that provide people with equitable access to nutritious, sustainable diets and contribute to more broadly to development and well-being.

IFPRI’s research on this topic is closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 1, SDG 2, SDG 12, SDG 14, and SDG 15.

food_systems

topics

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Potential decarbonization for balancing local and non-local perishable food supply in megacities

2025Lin, Xintao; Qian, Jianping; Chen, Jian; Yu, Qiangyi; You, Liangzhi; Chen, Qian; Li, Jiali; Xiao, Pengnan; Jiang, Jingyi
Details

Potential decarbonization for balancing local and non-local perishable food supply in megacities

Ensuring urban food security while reducing carbon emissions from food systems is a key challenge. Food localization can reduce transport emissions; however, its role in agricultural production emissions reductions is unclear. Here, we explored the effects of localization of seven perishables, incorporating emissions from production and cold-chain logistics, in Beijing and Shanghai, China; determined decarbonization under different scenarios by increasing or decreasing the localization, with or without constrains, of each food category (balancing strategy). The results show that every 1% increase in the localization of vegetables, poultry, and aquatic products decreased 2020 emissions by 0.4–1.9 tCO2e, but for beef and lamb, it increased emissions by 0.2–2.9 tCO2e. Localization decreased cold-chain emission shares for all foods. The balancing strategy with constraints reduced emissions by 0.76 MtCO2e (5%) and 0.44 MtCO2e (2%) in 2020 in Beijing and Shanghai, respectively. Utilizing urban agriculture at all costs (i.e., without constraints) further reduced emissions by a factor of 3–4. Over 90% of Beijing’s emissions added by 2035 under the business-as-usual scenario were projected to be offset by the strategy. In Shanghai, the strategy could reduce emissions by an additional 0.44 MtCO2e. The results indicate that expanding imports of carbon-intensive ruminant meat to replace local production and reallocating urban resources to vegetables, poultry, and aquatic products could lead to more sustainable food supplies in megacities. Further development of cold-chain logistics is expected to reduce emissions in synergy with the balancing strategy. Our results could help inform better food system planning in megacities.

Year published

2025

Authors

Lin, Xintao; Qian, Jianping; Chen, Jian; Yu, Qiangyi; You, Liangzhi; Chen, Qian; Li, Jiali; Xiao, Pengnan; Jiang, Jingyi

Citation

Lin, Xintao; Qian, Jianping; Chen, Jian; Yu, Qiangyi; You, Liangzhi; Chen, Qian; et al. 2025. Potential decarbonization for balancing local and non-local perishable food supply in megacities. Resources, Environment and Sustainability 20(June 2025): 100206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resenv.2025.100206

Country/Region

China

Keywords

Asia; Eastern Asia; Food Security; Urban Areas; Agricultural Production; Emission; Carbon; Cold Chains

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resenv.2025.100206 Source record

Project

Climate Resilience

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Khatlon region’s agriculture sector development trends

2025Khakimov, Parviz; Ashurov, Timur
Details

Khatlon region’s agriculture sector development trends

This study examines recent agriculture sector development trends in Khatlon region of Tajikistan and its contribution to development of the sector between 2010 and 2021. The findings of the study show that the development of the crops sector in the region was strongly intensive, except sluggish intensive growth for cotton and extensive growth for potato. Further deep dive is needed to figure out the source of growth, however, lack of disaggregated data prevents us from doing so in this analysis. To understand the drivers of recent growth the farmers survey needs to be conducted. Unlike the crop sector, the livestock sector in Khatlon region has experienced mainly extensive growth, with surge up in cattle and small ruminants’ population rather than productivity increase. The livestock sector faces several challenges such as severe degradation of pastures due to poor pasture management system, and increased pressure on pasture due to rapidly growing livestock numbers. In addition, the sector is affected by climate change and at the same time accelerates the ongoing process of climate change due to greenhouse gases, especially methane emissions. In sum, the region now plays a vital role in meeting Tajikistan’s food security needs and income generation for rural households, however, further sustainable growth of the sector requires addressing challenges, increasing investments into the sector and promoting CSA practices (Table 1A in Appendix).

Year published

2025

Authors

Khakimov, Parviz; Ashurov, Timur

Citation

Khakimov, Parviz; and Ashurov, Timur. 2025. Khatlon region’s agriculture sector development trends. Central Asia Working Paper 6. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174596

Country/Region

Tajikistan

Keywords

Middle East; Agriculture; Crops; Development; Food Security

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

The political economy of large-scale food fortification in West Africa: Pathways toward harmonization

2025Resnick, Danielle
Details

The political economy of large-scale food fortification in West Africa: Pathways toward harmonization

For two decades, there have been ongoing efforts at harmonizing large-scale food fortification (LSFF) policies and procedures in West Africa. Despite some notable successes, micronutrient deficiencies in the region remain elevated. To identify which bottlenecks exist towards greater harmonization on LSFF, this study adopted a political economy perspective to consider areas of contention over interests, ideas, and institutions between domestic stakeholders, across countries, and within regional bodies. The study finds that West African governments have made impressive strides with harmonizing their LSFF standards and committing to the importance of fortification as one of several instruments for improving micronutrient deficiencies. Likewise, the donor and technical community have worked closely with the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), as well as specialized institutions of ECOWAS, such as the West African Health Organization (WAHO), to advance the LSFF agenda, support the private sector and national fortification alliances, and identify new food vehicles for fortification. At the same time, incoherent trade, tax, and macroeconomic policies in a context of multiple shocks and crises, protectionist impulses aimed at building up domestic agro-industries, lack of financial commitment to LSFF structures in the absence of donor support, and uneven financial contributions to ECOWAS and WAHO remain barriers to progress. Learning from these lessons and considering how to address LSFF from a holistic perspective that accounts for West Africa’s unique demographic, economic, and political characteristics will not only benefit extant harmonization efforts in ECOWAS but also help with broader continental alignment on fortification under the African Union’s 2025-2036 food and nutrition security strategy.

Year published

2025

Authors

Resnick, Danielle

Citation

Resnick, Danielle. 2025. The political economy of large-scale food fortification in West Africa: Pathways toward harmonization. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2337. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174593

Keywords

Africa; Western Africa; Food Fortification; Nutrition; Nutrition Policies; Micronutrient Deficiencies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Blogs

A key decade of food system change and looking forward: Per Pinstrup Andersen on his time as IFPRI Director General
IFPRI Blog
 | 
May 20, 2025

A key decade of food system change and looking forward: Per Pinstrup Andersen on his time as IFPRI Director General

Insights from a World Food Prize laureate.

Agrifood science in transition: Building a sustainable architecture in the face of declining development aid
IFPRI Blog
 | 
May 16, 2025

Agrifood science in transition: Building a sustainable architecture in the face of declining development aid

By Steven Were Omamo and David Spielman

Navigating a challenging new environment.

Beyond the hype: Centering humans in CGIAR’s genAI research
IFPRI Blog
 | 
May 14, 2025

Beyond the hype: Centering humans in CGIAR’s genAI research

By Eliot Jones-Garcia

Realizing the potential and minimizing the risks of a promising new technology.

View all Blogs

Events

Africa Food Systems Forum 2025 Summit
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

August 31 to September 5, 2025

Africa Food Systems Forum 2025 Summit

The Africa Food Systems Forum will host its annual summit in Dakar, Senegal, from August 31 to September 5, 2025. Africa’s Food Systems Forum, formerly AGRF, is the world’s premier forum for African agriculture and food systems, bringing together stakeholders to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African food systems forward. Africa […]

4th International Conference on Financing for Development
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

June 30 to July 3, 2025

4th International Conference on Financing for Development

IFPRI is pleased to participate in the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4). This conference provides a unique opportunity to reform financing at all levels, including to support reform of the international financial architecture and addressing financing challenges preventing the urgently needed investment push for the SDGs. FFD4 Conference will be held in […]

Fertilizer, soil health, and economic shocks: Policy lessons learned from recent events
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

June 11, 2025, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Fertilizer, soil health, and economic shocks: Policy lessons learned from recent events

Join us for a discussion of key findings from a recent special issue of Food Policy exploring the complex interactions between fertilizer use, soil health management, and economic shocks in various agricultural systems. Governments around the world have long implemented policies to enhance agricultural productivity through inorganic fertilizer application and soil management, yet recent global […]

View all Events

News

October 24, 2024 | In the News

At high level dialogue, Stakeholders Rally Support for Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture (National Update/Punch)

This article published by National Update (Nigeria) wrote about a recent high-level dialogue on the CGIAR HER+ initiative in Abuja held on October 9, 2024, that aimed to address barriers women face in Nigeria’s agrifood sector.

October 07, 2024 | Press Release

Steven Were Omamo joins IFPRI as the new Director of the Development Strategies and Governance Unit

IFPRI is pleased to announce that Steven Were Omamo joins IFPRI as the new Director of the DSG Unit.

July 02, 2024 | Press Release

Global crisis: 1.7 billion people in urban and peri-urban areas face food insecurity

New UN report highlights urgent need to strengthen urban and peri-urban food systems for global food security and nutrition.

View all News

Our experts

Deanna Olney

Deanna Olney

Director, Nutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH), Nutrition,
Diets, and Health

David Spielman

David Spielman

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

James Thurlow

James Thurlow

Director, Foresight and Policy Modeling (FPM), Foresight
and Policy Modeling

Thomas Assefa

Thomas Assefa

Associate Research Fellow, Innovation
Policy and Scaling

Thomas Falk

Thomas Falk

Research Fellow, Natural
Resources and Resilience

Shima Mohamed

Shima Mohamed

Research Analyst, Development
Strategies and Governance

Razin Kabir

Razin Kabir

Senior Program Manager, Poverty,
Gender, and Inclusion

Jenny Smart

Jenny Smart

Senior Program Manager, Poverty,
Gender, and Inclusion

Cynthia Kazembe

Cynthia Kazembe

Communications Manager, Development
Strategies and Governance

Charlotte Hebebrand

Charlotte Hebebrand

Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Communications
and Public Affairs (CPA)