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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.

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.

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

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

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TOPIC

Water and Irrigation Policy and Institutions

Globally, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of all water withdrawals, and water pollution poses a significant threat to human health and the environment. Growing water scarcity due to rapidly increasing demands on the resource as well as climate change require urgent improvements in water governance and more sustainable management practices that ensure water and food security for smallholder farmers and vulnerable communities. Our work provides policymakers with options to address growing water scarcity and water quality challenges by more efficiently allocating and managing water across sectors and within the agriculture sector.

IFPRI’s water research is unique because it jointly assesses water supply and demand together with food and nutrition outcomes, nonagricultural water demands, and environmental health at the local, basin, national, and global levels; and because of its interdisciplinary focus bringing together hydrological, economic, and institutional analysis tools to assess topics ranging from the financial and economic potential for sustainable expansion of irrigation to entry points to increase women’s agency in water management.

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IFPRI’s work includes a strong focus on water governance, to support the identification of appropriate roles for the state, private sector, and community organizations to improve the efficiency and equity of water use. Work at the community and river basin levels aims to build institutions and consensus around equitable, sustainable mechanisms for better managing water and protecting its vital ecosystem services and interlinkages with biodiversity and other natural resources. Through the CGIAR Research Initiative on NEXUS Gains, IFPRI researchers are working at the intersection of food, energy, and water security in five transboundary river basins to boost sustainable water resource management, protect biodiversity, and provide clean and inclusive access to energy for agrifood systems.IFPRI’s water research is closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 6, and 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.

water

topics

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Integrating surface water games into community water management toolkits: A reflection from practitioners in Odisha, India

2024Melesse, Mequanint B.; Duche, Vishwambhar; Guvvalavenkata, Anupama; Kumar, Dron; Sanil, Richu; Falk, Thomas; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.
Details

Integrating surface water games into community water management toolkits: A reflection from practitioners in Odisha, India

Water is a vital resource for agricultural production, sustaining ecosystem services, and supporting livelihoods of communities. However, population growth and climate change coupled with unsustainable water use and management are increasingly pushing the limits of water resources. In many parts of India, water scarcity is already posing a threat to agricultural systems and livelihoods due to prolonged droughts and climate variability. Water scarcity is more pronounced in semi-arid and arid dryland regions of India, where the majority of these regions are characterized as high to extreme water stress areas. Effective management and governance of water resources is crucial to sustain productivity of dryland agricultural systems and livelihoods in these regions.

Year published

2024

Authors

Melesse, Mequanint B.; Duche, Vishwambhar; Guvvalavenkata, Anupama; Kumar, Dron; Sanil, Richu; Falk, Thomas; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.

Citation

Melesse, Mequanint B.; Duche, Vishwambhar; Guvvalavenkata, Anupama; Kumar, Dron; Sanil, Richu; Falk, Thomas; and Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S. 2024. Integrating surface water games into community water management toolkits: A reflection from practitioners in Odisha, India. Scaling Up Experiential Learning Tools Project Note 4. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168925

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Capacity Building; Water; Water Management; Surface Water

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Evaluating hydropower and irrigation development in Sudan under climate change uncertainties

2024Basheer, Mohammed; Elnour, Zuhal; Pérez, Cristo Facundo; Liao, Wenxi; Siddig, Khalid; Ringler, Claudia
Details

Evaluating hydropower and irrigation development in Sudan under climate change uncertainties

Hydropower and irrigation development on the Nile in Sudan can help meet growing food and energy needs. However, these potential infrastructures must be evaluated considering climate change uncertainties and multisector socioeconomic trade-offs. Increased streamflow combined with the recently constructed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam would provide reliable irrigation water supplies in Sudan under most climate change scenarios but there are distributional impacts.

Year published

2024

Authors

Basheer, Mohammed; Elnour, Zuhal; Pérez, Cristo Facundo; Liao, Wenxi; Siddig, Khalid; Ringler, Claudia

Citation

Basheer, Mohammed; Elnour, Zuhal; Pérez, Cristo Facundo; Liao, Wenxi; Siddig, Khalid; and Ringler, Claudia. 2024. Evaluating hydropower and irrigation development in Sudan under climate change uncertainties. IFPRI Policy Note December 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168426

Country/Region

Sudan

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Water Power; Irrigation; Infrastructure; Climate Change; Food; Energy Consumption

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Determinants of household water and energy access and their impacts on food security and health outcomes in Sudan

2024Kirui, Oliver K.; Ahmed, Mosab O. M.; Raouf, Mariam; Abushama, Hala; Siddig, Khalid
Details

Determinants of household water and energy access and their impacts on food security and health outcomes in Sudan

This study investigates the determinants of access to safe water and reliable energy for households in Sudan using nationally representative data from a recent labor market survey. The results show that urbanization, education, and wealth significantly enhance the access households have to these essential services, while rural areas and less developed regions, particularly in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, face substantial challenges. Access to reliable energy correlates with better food security and health outcomes within households, and improved access to safe water significantly enhances the health of household members. Policy recommendations supported by these research results include targeted rural infrastructure investments, educational improvements, and regional interventions to address disparities in household access to safe water and reliable energy across Sudan.

Year published

2024

Authors

Kirui, Oliver K.; Ahmed, Mosab O. M.; Raouf, Mariam; Abushama, Hala; Siddig, Khalid

Citation

Kirui, Oliver K.; Ahmed, Mosab; Raouf, Mariam; Abushama, Hala; and Siddig, Khalid. 2024. Determinants of household water and energy access and their impacts on food security and health outcomes in Sudan. SSSP Working Paper 22. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168162

Country/Region

Sudan

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Capacity Development; Households; Water; Energy; Food Security; Health; Socioeconomic Environment; Rural Urban Relations

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

NEXUS Gains

Record type

Working Paper

Blogs

Reinventing payment for environmental services (PES) from the ground up: An alternative, community-driven model in China
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 30, 2025

Reinventing payment for environmental services (PES) from the ground up: An alternative, community-driven model in China

By Yunyi Zhou, Wei Zhang, and Kevin Chen

Lessons from Qingshan village.

Overcoming policy, finance, and technology supply constraints to unleash small-scale irrigation in Nigeria
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 14, 2025

Overcoming policy, finance, and technology supply constraints to unleash small-scale irrigation in Nigeria

By Bedru Balana, Musa T. Yakasai, Nuruddeen M. Musa, Augustine Iraoya, and Claudia Ringler

Bringing human-centered design to smallholder agriculture.

Policy change and farmer feedback: Does anonymity matter? Evidence from Uzbekistan
IFPRI Blog
 | 
January 28, 2025

Policy change and farmer feedback: Does anonymity matter? Evidence from Uzbekistan

By Anton Liutin, Paul Castañeda Dower, and Muzna Alvi

Gauging efforts to build water security.

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Events

Tropentag 2023
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

September 20 to 22, 2023

Tropentag 2023

Event: September 20, 2023 – 8:30 AM to September 22, 2023 – 6:10 PM CEST. IFPRI is participating and will be featured in this years’ annual interdisciplinary conference on research in tropical and subtropical agriculture, natural resource management and rural development (TROPENTAG).

Irrigation sensible à la nutrition au Mali : un guide pour progresser en matière de sécurité hydrique, alimentaire et nutritionnelle au Mali
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

August 2, 2023, 9:00 – 10:30 am

Irrigation sensible à la nutrition au Mali : un guide pour progresser en matière de sécurité hydrique, alimentaire et nutritionnelle au Mali

Virtual Event: August 2, 2023 – 9:00 AM- 10:30 AM EDT. Irrigation contributes to agricultural intensification and farm profitability, helps farm households extend the growing season, and is increasingly important for farmers’ resilience to climate shocks and stressors. Please join us for a webinar to discuss this important topic on August 2 at 9:00 EST and 13:00 GMT (Bamako time).

Middle East and North Africa Discussion of IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses
Series/Special Event

 | 

May 24, 2023, 8:30 – 11:10 am

Middle East and North Africa Discussion of IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses

Event: May 24, 2023 – 8:30 AM to 11:10 AM EEST. Please join the Middle East and North Africa Discussion of IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Report and the FCM Initiative on May 24 in Amman, Jordan, in person or virtually.

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News

May 07, 2025 | In the News

Experts stress importance of irrigation to nutrition, health outcomes (Nebraska Today)

Claudia Ringler delivered the keynote speech at the Heuermann Lecture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

June 14, 2024 | Press Release

New study emphasizes tradeoffs between arresting groundwater depletion and food security

A new study published today in Nature Sustainability, reaffirms the world’s growing dependence on depleting groundwater systems.

July 19, 2023 | In the News

Indonesia’s cassava push leaves bitter taste in Borneo rainforest (Context/Reuters) 

Although Indonesia has enough food to feed its people, it lacks variety beyond rice and tastes are changing as the country becomes wealthier, writes Context (by Thompson Reuters Foundation) in a piece on agricultural production of cassava in light of environmental needs and climate change.  About half the world’s population depends on rice as a […]

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Our experts

Claudia Ringler

Claudia Ringler

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

Hagar ElDidi

Hagar ElDidi

Senior Research Analyst, Natural
Resources and Resilience

Thomas Falk

Thomas Falk

Research Fellow, Natural
Resources and Resilience

Khalid Siddig

Khalid Siddig

Senior Research Fellow, Development
Strategies and Governance