Integrated Food Policy Research Program (IFPRP)

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.

Empowerment unveiled: Gender dynamics and the impact of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions among ethnic minority groups in northern Vietnam

Gender equality and women's empowerment are key global agendas, yet women often face marginalization compared to men. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions (NSAs) often aim to benefit women but their impacts on women's empowerment remain unclear. This study focuses on: 1) assessing the empowerment levels of women and men from three ethnic minorities in rural northern Vietnam (Thai, H'Mong and Dao) with the Project-level women's empowerment in agriculture index (Pro-WEAI); 2) examining the potential of NSA to improve women's empowerment during COVID-19 pandemic; and 3) applying an intersectional lens by analyzing how empowerment and treatment effects vary by ethnic subgroups. We conducted a Randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving around 600 rural households from 36 clusters that were randomly assigned to one of the following three treatment arms: receiving agriculture and nutrition training; receiving seed provision on top of the training; and a control group. We found that both men and women experienced disempowerment, due to ethnicity and systemic ethnical marginalization. While no significant gender discrimination in resource access was found, women faced limited mobility, overburdened workload and diminished agencies. Empowerment experiences varied across ethnicities. The NSAs improved women's mobility and group membership, yet carried different implications across ethnicities, potentially due to the interaction between the intervention, initial contextual conditions and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, NSAs alone cannot achieve structural empowerment. Meaningful and lasting empowerment requires integrated approaches that address interconnected social, political, and cultural factors.

Tracing the economic impacts of the 2025 US tariff increases and evaluating possible responses: An analysis for Papua New Guinea

Restrictions on global trade can contribute to adverse economic outcomes in developing countries. Perverse outcomes include reduced export opportunities and higher input costs for essential goods. Policymakers in Papua New Guinea (PNG), as in other developing countries across the world, have therefore been concerned about global trade uncertainty as geopolitical tensions and protectionist policies have escalated throughout 2025. In April 2025, the United States (US) implemented a new tariff policy that included a baseline 10% tariff on goods from all countries, including PNG, along with higher "reciprocal tariffs" on countries with large trade deficits. The PNG government confirmed it would not retaliate but would instead pivot trade toward Asia-Pacific partners such as China, Indonesia, and Japan. In July 2025 PNG’s exports to the US were subjected to a 15% reciprocal tariff under an updated U.S. tariff schedule. In the ensuing months, some countries managed to finalize bilateral trade deals with US and reduced the tariff rates, while others are still under negotiations. According to the US trade policy 2025, the increment in reciprocal tariff on PNG is a result of the country’s failure to take sufficient steps to align with the US (The White House, 2025).

In this note, we provide a rapid assessment of the potential impacts of US tariff hikes on PNG’s economy, specifically on trade, GDP, and household income. We consider the two following scenarios:
Scenario 1—only US imposes additional tariffs (10 percent, 15 percent, and 30 percent), and PNG does not reciprocate.
Scenario 2—PNG reciprocates with equivalent tariffs on the commodity import from the US.

This note provides a rapid assessment of impact of US tariff policy on key macroeconomic indicators of PNG. This also helps derive quick policy insights into whether it would be advantageous for PNG to respond with higher tariffs or to accept the US’s higher tariff. Though US has imposed a 15% tariff on PNG’s export to US, due to uncertainty regarding the level of protectionism among the countries, this analysis also considers multiple tariff rates to understand the extent of economic losses in PNG due to relatively higher US tariff in the future.

Myanmar Monthly Food Price Report – December 2025

Rice prices declined sharply in December 2025 nationally, falling by 20 percent year-on-year and 5 percent month-on-month. These declines were driven by falling international prices and increased market supply from the monsoon harvest. All states and regions saw stable or declining prices month-on-month, with the largest drops observed in major rice-producing regions such as Ayeyarwady (30 percent) and Sagaing (19 percent). While these trends benefit consumers, they raise concerns for paddy producers, especially in light of rising agricultural input costs. Prices of pulses diverged. Green gram prices rose sharply year-on-year (21 percent), supported by export demand following China’s decision to ease its temporary suspension. In contrast, black gram, chickpea, and pigeon pea prices remained well below last year’s levels, reflecting weak demand from India. Maize prices also declined year-on-year (6.5 percent). Animal-sourced food prices surged over the past year, led by mutton (up 58 percent), due to lower production, while fish prices rose amid strong export demand. Multiple risks lie ahead, including weak international agricultural commodity prices, ongoing conflict, export quality concerns, import restrictions affecting livestock production, border trade and regional policy changes, and policy uncertainty, all of which may undermine agricultural incentives, farm incomes, and food security.

Proceedings of the IFPRI-AERA policy dialogue on “Transforming Agri-Value Chains: Emerging Frontiers for Agribusiness”

Transforming agri-value chains has emerged as a central policy challenge for India as agriculture shifts from a primary production-oriented sector to one that is increasingly shaped by markets, value additions and consumer demand. Moreover, as agriculture becomes increasingly integrated with markets, technology, finance and services, the role of agribusiness and value-chain institutions in shaping development outcomes has grown both in scale and complexity.

Against this backdrop, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and CGIAR Program on Policy Innovations in collaboration with the Agricultural Economics Research Association (AERA) and its co-organizers, convened a policy dialogue on “Transforming AgriValue Chains: Emerging Frontiers for Agribusiness” on 3 December 2025 at ICAR–NAARM, Hyderabad. The policy dialogue brought together policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and development partners to examine how agri-value chains (AVCs) and agribusiness can drive inclusive, productive, and resilient agri-food system transformation in India.

A novel approach to agricultural policy analysis applied to crop diversification in Bangladesh

Traditional approaches to policy analysis often provide only a partial understanding of the complexities of agricultural policies and their outcomes. This study addresses the important problem of how to evaluate such policies in a manner that captures their effects across historical, political, socio- economics and environmental dimensions and operational challenges. To do so, the paper develops and applies a new analytical framework that combines elements of policy and program analysis with validation through the views of experts and intended beneficiaries. The framework integrates multiple dimensions into a cohesive structure and specifically applied to the case of crop diversification policies in Bangladesh (1971–2023), combining a PRISMA-guided systematic review of 1223 projects, trend analysis of crop production and qualitative insights from 12 key informants. The findings show that the framework uncovers critical gaps in policy design, highlights institutional and operational constraints, and brings out the perspectives of diverse stakeholders, thereby providing a more grounded account of agricultural policy outcomes of Bangladesh. The study contributes by offering a practical and adaptable method that improves transparency, deepens understanding of institutional dynamics, and supports the formulation of context-specific and effective interventions. The insights from Bangladesh demonstrate the broader relevance of the approach for low- and middle-income countries seeking to strengthen agricultural policy and promote sustainable development.

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.

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.

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.

Sudan prices and availability monitoring survey (SPAMS): Methodology, coverage, and value addition

Sudan is facing profound economic and market disruptions driven by prolonged conflict, political instability, and severe macroeconomic deterioration. These shocks have substantially undermined agricultural production, disrupted supply chains, and weakened market functioning across the country. Agriculture, which remains central to livelihoods, food security, and economic activity in Sudan, has been particularly affected by infrastructure damage, population displacement, rising input and transport costs, and increasing fragmentation of markets. In this context, food availability and affordability have become highly volatile, with wide spatial disparities across states and localities.

School meals in the 21st century: Key evidence gaps and future directions

School meal programs are a widely implemented safety net with documented impacts across social protection, education, health and nutrition and high estimated returns to investment (Alderman et al., 2024). Globally, in 2022, these programs reached over 400 million children for a total investment of $70 billion a year(Global Child Nutrition Foundation, 2024).

The School Meals Coalition (SMC) created in 2021 and involving 106 member countries, has brought momentum and new opportunities for school meals. Collaborative research activities by development partners from the SMC have included evidence generation, review and synthesis, and the identification of key research gaps on school meal programs.

This article provides the basis for a common research agenda to support evidence generation aimed at improving action on sustainable school meal programs. These evidence gaps were generated through a series of activities including evidence reviews, expert consultations and stakeholder workshops undertaken by SMC partners.

Using best-worst scaling to inform agroecological interventions in Western Kenya

Both the demand for food and the environmental impacts of food production are estimated to significantly increase by 2050. Agroecological interventions have proven effective in facilitating the transition from current food production systems to more sustainable ones. These interventions can not only ensure more equitable food and nutritional security but also address poverty and reduce environmental impacts. As such, agroecological interventions can generate both private and public ecosystem services. Farmers play a key role in how food is produced, as the practices they use are linked with their preferences and expertise, as well as the constraints they face. Understanding farmers’ preferences for the adoption of different agroecological practices and their perceptions of the associated costs and benefits is critical to informing policies that can effectively support farmers in transitioning to more sustainable practices, including those that contribute to the generation of ecosystem services highly valued by broader society. To assess such preferences, we conducted a survey among farmers in Western Kenya which included a best-worst scaling experiment augmented by qualitative questions about the reasons for farmers’ views about the importance of the benefits arising from agroecological practices. Results show that farmers have strong preferences for adopting agroecological practices that generate private goods and are directly related to increasing productivity and food security, including improving health of household members. These may also include practices that have some public good elements as well, such as increasing agrobiodiversity. However, practices that generate broader public good benefits, including improved forest quality/coverage, reduced off-farm environmental impacts, greater community-level resilience to shocks, and improved landscape and wildlife management, were less important to farmers. Such findings can be used to inform policies that support farmer adoption of agroecological interventions best suited to different farming communities, as well as indicating the need for additional types of market-based incentives, such as through Payments for Ecosystem Service mechanisms.

Capacity development needs and roadmap

This report integrates an assessment of institutional readiness for Earth observation (EO)-based crop monitoring in Mozambique with a roadmap for sustaining and scaling an EO and digital workflow for agricultural statistics. The aim is to:
Baseline current capacity by systematically evaluating the institutional readiness and willingness within key government organizations to adopt and sustain EO-based systems.
Identify gaps and risks by pinpointing specific challenges, from technical shortages to policy misalignments, that could prevent the sustained adoption of EO technology beyond a project's life cycle.
Document actions to maintain or raise the institutional readiness level to ensure the project's desired impact is feasible.

The narrative focuses on what would be required to move from project demonstration to routine production and use, with the Ministério da Agricultura, Ambiente e Pescas (MAAP, formerly the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, MADER) and the Regional Centre of Excellence in Agrifood Systems and Nutrition (CE-AFSN) at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM, formerly the Centro de Estudo de Políticas e Programas Agroalimentares, CEPPAG) as the main national counterparts and with due recognition of the role of the Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE).

The readiness assessment highlights that Mozambique has strong potential for EO-enabled agricultural data, but that this potential is constrained by fragmented technical capacity, limited government resourcing for software and computing, a reliance on short-term projects and external consultants, and weak institutional arrangements for data ownership, openness, and inter-agency collaboration. It also identifies governance risks created by outdated foundational baselines that continue to shape policy and sampling design.

The roadmap therefore centres on a staged transition. In the near term, priority lies in formalising mandates, custodianship, documentation, and integration pathways with existing survey and census processes. In the medium term, priority lies in building repeatable operational capability and reducing dependence on a small number of individuals. In the longer term, priority lies in embedding stewardship and financing, updating national baselines on a defined cycle, and using the donor-led Development Partners Group for Agriculture and Rural Development (AgRED) group as a coordination mechanism to align partner support and reduce duplication.

Youth in relation to agroecology: practices, promises, and perceptions in five countries

In the context of rising youth populations in many low- and middle-income countries, coupled with high youth unemployment and aging farmer populations, this paper asks in what ways agroecology, as a sustainable alternative to the conventional agricultural practices and paradigm, attracts youth to farming and rural-based livelihoods. We draw on empirical data from semi-structured interviews and photovoice conducted with young women and men in five countries: Kenya, India, Peru, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe. In our discussion, we highlight which dimensions and aspects of agroecology resonate with youth and why.

Moving the technology frontiers in African agrifood systems: An analytical framework

The transformation of African agrifood systems stands as one of the most urgent and complex development challenges of the 21st century. With over 60 percent of the continent’s population relying on agriculture for their livelihoods, the sector holds tremendous potential to serve as a catalyst for broad-based economic growth, poverty alleviation, and food and nutrition security. This potential, however, remains largely untapped. Agricultural productivity across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to stagnate; despite decades of reform efforts and policy commitments, it lags significantly behind other regions of the world (Ulimwengu et al. 2025).

Moving the technology frontiers in African agrifood systems: Lessons from Latin America

Africa’s agrifood systems face a complex set of structural challenges. Low productivity, high vulnerability to climate shocks, fragmented markets, and weak integration into global value chains continue to constrain development. Yet these challenges coexist with significant opportunities. The region’s demographic profile—with more than 50 percent of the population under the age of 25 years—and a projected population growth rate of 2.3 percent in 2025 offer the potential for a demographic dividend that could help drive transformation in agri-food systems.

Advancing mechanization in African agrifood systems: Unlocking productivity and resilience

This chapter examines the role of mechanization in transforming African agrifood systems within the broader discourse on technological change, structural transformation, and sustainable development. The motivation is to address the persistent challenges of low productivity, rural poverty, labor shortages, and vulnerability to climate change that continue to constrain the agricultural sector across the continent.

War and resilience: The multifaceted impacts of Sudan's conflict and pathways to recovery

The synopsis is being made available in advance of an anticipated 2026 launch of the full book.

Rural livelihoods under prolonged conflict: Evidence from a panel household survey in Sudan

This report presents evidence from the Sudan Rural Household Survey of 2023 and 2024, a two-wave panel survey that assesses how rural households are navigating prolonged conflict. By tracking the same households over time, the survey provides longitudinal insights into livelihoods, food security, access to markets and productive resources, and exposure to shocks across an insecure and rapidly evolving context. The findings from the survey data analysis point to an uneven pattern of economic adjustment by households rather than sustained recovery. Rural households are actively adapting through changes in livelihood strategies, income diversification, and increased participation of household members in income-generating activities. Compared to 2023, fewer households reported in 2024 having no employment. Engagement in salaried work and agriculture also rose. Despite these shifts, income losses remain widespread. Only a small share of households reported improved earnings in 2024, indicating that adaptation is largely driven by necessity rather than durable recovery. Food consumption outcomes improved markedly between survey waves, with substantial declines in the share of households in 2024 reporting poor or borderline diets. At the same time, experience-based measures show that food insecurity remains pervasive, with more than half of rural households facing moderate or severe food insecurity. There has been little change in the prevalence of severe food insecurity. The continuing food insecurity challenges underscore the fragility of recent gains and the continued vulnerability of many households.

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.

Alineando el financiamiento verde con la política agropecuaria: De los compromisos globales a las soluciones locales

El documento analiza cómo el financiamiento verde puede alinearse con la política agropecuaria para apoyar sistemas agroalimentarios sostenibles frente a presiones ambientales globales como la degradación del suelo, la pérdida de biodiversidad y la variabilidad climática; enfatiza el papel de marcos internacionales como el Acuerdo de París y la necesidad de aumentar el financiamiento climático que llega al sector agrícola; destaca los avances de América Latina y el Caribe en taxonomías verdes y programas como el ABC+ de Brasil, subraya la importancia de sistemas sólidos de monitoreo, reporte y verificación, y revisa la evidencia que muestra que el crédito agropecuario condicionado puede impulsar prácticas sostenibles cuando existen instituciones fuertes y bajos costos de transacción, aunque persisten barreras, especialmente para pequeños productores; para Colombia, identifica tensiones ambientales significativas, desafíos estructurales rurales y avances en políticas como crecimiento verde, agroecología y finanzas climáticas, concluyendo que una mayor coordinación intersectorial, mecanismos financieros adaptativos, enfoques territoriales y estrategias centradas en los productores son esenciales para facilitar una transición justa hacia una productividad agropecuaria sostenible.

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South Asia Nutrition Knowledge Initiative: Abstract digest December 2025

The seventh edition of the Abstract Digest highlights a nutrition landscape in South Asia—and globally— marked by persistent anemia, poor dietary quality, and uneven progress in delivering effective interventions at scale. Several studies focus on anemia reduction, including a series published by The Lancet, showing that despite long-standing global commitments, most countries remain off track to meet current targets. New modelling evidence suggests that the existing Sustainable Development Goal of halving anemia prevalence among women of reproductive age by 2030 is unlikely to be achieved with current approaches, underscoring the need to prioritize more realistic and cost-effective strategies. Across maternal, child, and adolescent nutrition, featured studies examine trends and determinants of anemia among mother–child dyads in India, the effectiveness of multiple micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy in Bangladesh, and the strong link between maternal and child dietary diversity across low- and middle-income countries. Other articles draw attention to the growing influence of food environments and modern food systems in South Asia, including high consumption of ultra-processed foods and emerging links between climate change, food systems, and inflammation-related health outcomes. This edition also highlights evidence from Nepal on adolescent nutrition challenges and implementation research, alongside reviews pointing to gaps in evaluation methods and the need for better-aligned measurement tools. Together, the articles in this edition reinforce the importance of aligning evidence, policy, and delivery systems, and call for more rigorous evaluation of scalable nutrition interventions in real-world settings. A blog from the recent annual Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia conference, held in Kathmandu, Nepal and online from December 2–4, highlights key lessons on what it takes to achieve nutrition impact at scale. Please scroll down to explore these articles. If you were forwarded this Abstract Digest, we invite you to subscribe. Happy reading!

Importance of tenure and governance for multifunctional landscapes

Agricultural production occurs within landscapes that combine crop fields along with other types of land uses such as animal grazing areas, forests, agroforestry areas, wetlands, and water bodies, each influencing and being influenced by the others (Altieri et al., 2018). While these are often considered separately, there are complex flows of resources—including nutrients, water, energy, and labor—among these different components. What is done on one area will affect others. For example, use of pesticides to increase production of certain crops can kill pollinators that are needed for other crops, or pollute waters that affect fish downstream. Positive externalities are also possible: afforestation can reduce soil erosion and affect the timing and volumes of water flows.

IMPACT model training for Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI): Feedback survey report

A four-day training program (24-27 November 2025) on the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT), organized by the Division of Agricultural Economics, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) - Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), was designed to strengthen participants’ capacity in global agricultural modeling and scenario-based policy analysis. Through a comprehensive curriculum developed by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the workshop provided both conceptual grounding and hands-on experience in using the IMPACT model and its network of linked modules, including climate, water, crop, and welfare models. Participants learned to design and run scenarios in GAMS and the IMPACT Excel Interface, interpret model results, and apply them to real-world questions in agricultural policy, climate change, and trade. The program emphasized the integration of biophysical and economic data for ex-ante policy analysis and equipped researchers to conduct multidimensional assessments of food security, technology adoption, and environmental sustainability.

Women’s empowerment and conflict in Burkina Faso: Learning from a randomized trial and non-random conflict

Armed conflict has myriad negative consequences on the wellbeing of women and men, and its non-random nature makes it difficult to study its impacts. We examine the changes in empowerment during the period of 2017-2020 in western Burkina Faso as armed conflict moved closer. We combined data from the randomized-controlled trial of Soutenir l’Exploitation Familiale pour Lancer l’Elevage des Volailles et Valoriser l’Economie Rural (SELEVER) a gender- and nutrition-sensitive poultry production intervention, which collected the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index with geospatial- and date-specific data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project database. To evaluate the effect of conflict on empowerment, we estimated a continuous difference-in-difference model, separately for women and men, across multiple empowerment indicators, in which the primary explanatory variable describes the change in distance to conflict during this time period. Then, to determine if the SELEVER program had a protective effect when there was increased proximity to conflict, we estimated these models separately for the treatment and control groups and compare the difference in the coefficients. As conflict encroached, there was a shift in intrahousehold decision making that suggests less coordination between spouses and fewer decisions made jointly, along with a greater acceptance of intimate partner violence among women. We also found increases in other outcomes, such as men’s group membership, and women’s and men’s access to credit. These changes may be attributable to how communities responded and how humanitarian aid was delivered. We found that the SELEVER program had a protective effect on men’s work balance and the amount of time that both women and men spent working. Notably, however, women spent more time on childcare activities as conflict become closer.

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.

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.

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.

See it grow: A randomized evaluation of a digital innovation to improve crop insurance contract design

Insurance has great potential to increase productive investments, but agricultural insurance markets remain thin, in part because asymmetric information limits the viability of indemnity-based contracts. This paper evaluates a digital innovation—picture-based insurance (PBI)—that uses smartphone images of insured crops to indemnify crop damage. Through a cluster randomized trial in seven counties in Kenya, we compare subsidized PBI to subsidized weather index-based insurance (WBI) and to a control group offered unsubsidized WBI. We find that moving from index-based to indemnity-based insurance substantially increases take-up, particularly among women and farmers in drought-prone areas, indicating that innovations in contract design can broaden coverage in inclusive ways. Insurance coverage significantly increases fertilizer use in both treatments, confirming that uninsured risk constrains agricultural investment. However, despite higher take-up, PBI increases total fertilizer use as much as WBI. Using a Heckman selection model to correct for endogenous adoption, we show that this is not only due to incentive effects but also to multidimensional selection: PBI attracts farmers who, in the absence of insurance, would have invested less in fertilizer. After adjusting for this compositional change, differences in fertilizer use per farmer enrolled in WBI and PBI are not statistically significant. We conclude that higher take-up rates of digital indemnity-based insurance may not automatically translate into proportionally larger farm investments, but since increased coverage is concentrated among the relatively more vulnerable, it may contribute to complementary objectives such as inclusivity, equity, and resilience. Contract design and targeting, therefore, remain central to effective insurance product development.

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.

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.

Bridging gender gaps in political participation: Experimental evidence on group-based trainings from Nigeria

Women’s political participation remains persistently lower than men’s worldwide. While barriers to women’s civic engagement are well documented, there is limited causal evidence on how to effectively close gender gaps in participation. This study evaluates whether a group-based training intervention can enhance women’s engagement in local governance. In a randomized controlled trial across 300 communities in rural southwest Nigeria, we recruited 3,900 politically unaffiliated women into newly formed women’s action committees (WACs). Control WACs received a single civic education training, while treatment WACs received five additional trainings aimed at strengthening women’s collective efficacy over the course of six months. Leveraging baseline (May–July 2023) and endline (January—February 2024) surveys alongside behavioral data from a community grants competition, we find that the intervention significantly increased both the level and quality of women’s political participation. Treated communities also exhibited greater responsiveness by local leaders to women’s needs and priorities. These findings show that group-based interventions can meaningfully and scalably narrow gender gaps in civic participation.

Unpacking the political economy of fertilizer subsidy reforms

Global calls to repurpose agricultural support toward more sustainable and equitable food systems have intensified scrutiny of fertilizer subsidies. While political economy constraints often hinder reform, the exact manifestation of these constraints is rarely examined. To clarify the specific mechanisms at play, this paper systematically reviews peer-reviewed studies from 2000 to 2025 and identifies 38 fertilizer subsidy reform cases across 15 countries. We code political economy factors influencing outcomes at different stages of subsidy adoption and redesign. The analysis shows that ideational factors around self-sufficiency, the private sector, and the social contract, as well as the institutional structures impacting policymaking, are central to successful subsidy introduction. Electoral incentives play a role at both the policy introduction and redesign phases. Yet, political economy factors are not the only prominent drivers. In fact, technocratic considerations about underperformance or corruption became more prominent during redesign efforts but were also present in more than 80 percent of failed cases. This reaffirms that while technocratic factors, including the availability of research and evidence are necessary for subsidy design improvements, they are not sufficient on their own. By distinguishing which political economy factors matter and how they interact with broader policy process dynamics, this study provides a more actionable foundation for anticipating and managing challenges to fertilizer subsidy reforms and repurposing more broadly.

Breadwinner role and economic decision-making: Experimental evidence from Kenya

In several countries and settings, especially in low- and middle-income countries, men are expected to act as primary economic providers for their households, bearing the psychological and social burdens associated with this role. Despite its potential consequences, the effects of the breadwinner role on economic decision-making are understudied, particularly among poor households. This study investigates how gendered breadwinner expectations shape economic behavior in rural Kenya. Using a lab-in-the-field experiment among 400 smallholder farmers in Vihiga County, we test how psychological and social pressures associated with being the breadwinner of the family influence decision-making in both individual work choices and collective decisions. Participants completed a real-effort task choosing either a high-effort, high-reward option or a low-effort, low-reward alternative, followed by a public goods game framed around communal seed bank contributions. Results reveal that the heightened strain of the main breadwinner led male participants to reduce contributions to the communal seed bank by 0.2 standard deviations, while it did not affect their productivity in the real-effort task. These behavioral shifts suggest that the psychological consequences of breadwinner strain can undermine cooperation and the adoption of sustainable agriculture practices. Addressing the pressures of breadwinning can foster both economic resilience and social cohesion.

Impact assessments of gender transformative interventions in Tanzania: Pre-analysis plan

Transforming gender norms improves women’s wellbeing and may help close the agricultural productivity gap, yet evidence on pairing them with agriculture interventions is limited. We will test an innovative approach to developing and delivering gender transformative interventions with cassava producers in Tanzania. Using a cluster-randomized controlled trial, we examine the impact of these gender transformative interventions paired with standard agricultural service, compared to agricultural services alone, on the primary (gender norms, decision making, and women’s leadership) and secondary (agricultural productivity, women’s savings, and women’s access to land) outcomes. Qualitative methods will examine changes in intra-couple dynamics (communication, decision making, and division of labor).

Inflation and diets among poor mothers in Egypt

Global food price increases and widespread inflationary shocks negatively affect poor households’ diets, particularly those of women who are more likely to be food insecure compared to men. This study evaluates the relationship between changes in food prices triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022 and poor mothers’ diets in Egypt, a country that heavily relies on imports of staple foods and is highly vulnerable to increases in international food prices. We combine food group specific governorate-level consumer price index (CPI) data with data on diets of 2,868 poor mothers in Egypt collected before and after the onset of the war. Additionally, we examine the potential protective effect of Egypt’s large-scale food subsidy program, Tamween, whereby specific foods are sold at subsidized prices at specific retailers. Using two-way fixed effects models, we find that changes in food prices are significantly associated with changes in the composition of mothers’ diets. Mothers were less likely to consume dairy and fish and more likely to consume pulses and sweetened beverages after the war began. Poor mothers decreased consumption of unsubsidized foods, suggesting a protective role of the Egyptian food subsidy program. This paper also provides suggestive evidence that poor mothers from households engaged in agricultural production could be slightly less responsive to changes in food prices compared to mothers from households that do not engage in agricultural production.

Targeting of food aid programs: Evidence from Egypt

In-kind food aid programs remain prominent world-wide. Targeting in these programs is complex due to potential distortions in consumption. This paper advances the literature by moving beyond poverty-based targeting to address nutritional objectives. Using data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT), we apply machine learning (ML) techniques to analyze heterogeneity in impacts across nutritional outcomes, aiming to inform targeting based on observable characteristics. We find that such characteristics significantly predict heterogeneity in treatment effects, though relevant predictors differ by outcome and treatment type. Building on recent literature advocating for balancing of deprivation and expected impact, we show that, in our context, the trade-off between targeting the most impacted versus the most deprived households is limited. Instead, the main challenge is prioritizing among competing nutritional objectives. Our findings indicate that ML methods can inform outcome-specific targeting criteria, though these criteria vary across outcomes and are imperfectly correlated.

Small and medium enterprise development for climate adaptation and an inclusive food system in Egypt

Rural households in many low- and middle-income countries remain highly dependent on agriculture and related value chain activities, making them particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. As rising temperatures and increasing climate variability reduce agricultural productivity and income stability, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly promoted as a path toward rural development and the transformation of the agrifood systems (AFS). Yet, little is known about whether climate change influences rural households’ decision to start an enterprise to diversify or switch their income sources away from agriculture-related activities in order to adapt to weather risks. We address this research gap by drawing from nationally representative data from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey 2023 and estimating a dynamic duration model to explore how heat stress is linked to households’ likelihood to start a (nonfarm) SME. Our findings offer new evidence for climate-responsive rural policy and SME support strategies in vulnerable regions.

Threshold effects of extreme heat on schooling and child labor in rural Bangladesh

Identifying threshold effects of extreme heat is key to understanding the true scale of climate-related risks to human capital development. This paper investigates how extreme heat shapes adolescent schooling and labor outcomes in rural Bangladesh, combining household survey data on adolescents with high-resolution temperature records to estimate the effects of prior-year, cumulative, and early-life heat exposure. We identify a precise temperature threshold at 36°C, above which each additional day reduces school attendance by 3.1 percentage points and increases child labor by 2.5 percentage points. Below this threshold, moderate heat (30-36°C) shows minimal single-year effects, though cumulative exposure over three years reveals significant negative impacts, indicating limited household adaptation. Effects are disproportionately concentrated among girls, who shift primarily toward household work rather than wage labor. Three interconnected channels drive these effects: heat-induced income shocks (11% reduction in household income), increased domestic labor demands from heat-related illness, and restrictive gender norms that amplify these impacts by magnifying girls’ household responsibilities. Extending the analysis to early-life conditions, exposure during the first 1,000 days also reduces adolescent schooling probability by 3.4-3.8 percentage points, with strongest effects at ages one and two. Boys show slightly larger early-life effects, contrasting with girls’ greater vulnerability to contemporaneous exposure, suggesting distinct mechanisms operating through biological development versus gendered household labor allocation. The findings point to both immediate income-mediated responses and long-term developmental pathways, with implications for temperature-triggered social protection, school infrastructure investments, and early-life health interventions.

Report on visioning workshop of the Banspal Bikas Mancha (Living Lab) supporting locally led climate action, Odisha, India

This report documents a one-day Vision to Action workshop organized by Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) with support of International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), held on August 18, 2025, in Banspal village, Keonjhar, Odisha. The workshop is convened as a foundation step towards establishing a Living Lab in Banspal and situated within the broader framework of the CGIAR Climate Action Science Program.

Effects of brick kiln industry on agricultural productivity: A natural experiment in Bangladesh

Agriculture remains central to Bangladesh’s economy and food security, yet it is increasingly threatened by the rapid expansion of informal brick manufacturing that extracts fertile topsoil from cropland and generates heavy local pollution. This paper provides national-scale causal evidence on how brick kiln expansion affects vegetation health and agricultural productivity by combining long-run satellite observations with geolocated kiln data. We construct a spatiotemporal panel of unions and municipalities using annual the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer normalized difference vegetation index (MODIS NDVI) from 2002–2024 and a high-resolution inventory of 9,187 brick kilns detected through satellite imagery and machine learning. Using a continuous and staggered difference-in-differences design, we find no evidence of differential pre-trends, but we do find a clear and persistent deterioration in vegetation health following kiln establishment. The magnitude is economically meaningful: a marginal increase in kiln presence is associated with roughly a 1 percent annual decline in local vegetation productivity, with effects that persist and accumulate over time. These results are consistent with long-run soil degradation and chronic environmental exposure around kiln sites, and they imply substantial hidden costs of informal industrial growth in densely cultivated landscapes. The findings highlight the urgency of stronger enforcement of siting rules, of incentives for cleaner production technologies, and of land-use planning that protects high-productivity agricultural zones.

Pakistan agri-food system: Assessment report

Despite agriculture’s central role in Pakistan’s economic growth, the sector continues to struggle with decades old structural issues and its performance is weak. Spending on subsidies for water, fertilizer, electricity, and wheat procurement reached US$1.25 billion in Punjab alone, far more than the funding provided for research and development. Inefficient and fragmented value chains, high post-harvest losses and transport costs, limited access to formal markets, dependence on subsidies, and underdeveloped storage and processing infrastructure are among the significant problems affecting agriculture. The deep-rooted traditional system, characterized by reliance on commission agents and the weak implementation of market reforms both restrict farmers’ bargaining power, especially for smallholder farmers. Moreover, although on average the country’s population is food secure in terms of caloric sufficiency, limited dietary diversity and inadequate access to nutritious foods cause widespread malnutrition.

Regardless of these issues, some positive changes have been introduced. The recent rollback of wheat procurement and the minimum support price policy presents both challenges and opportunities as long-sought reconsideration of crop choices and promotion of higher value or climate-resilient alternative crops now seems possible. Market reform under the Punjab Agriculture Marketing Regulatory Authority (PAMRA), created as an initiative of the World Bank’s SMART program, presents another opportunity, particularly as the notified areas for central markets have been dropped, creating an opening for more competition. Although implementation remains slow, the Authority has begun paving the way for market modernization. However, this transition must be supported by improvements in market access, development of an improved and well-managed storage network, and well-functioning price mechanisms to protect food security and farmer incomes.

In addition to the marketing, value addition, and productivity challenges identified above, climate change will also create constraints and challenges for agri-food development and transformation in Pakistan. The sector faces likely increases in extreme events, particularly flooding, as well as longer-run chronic effects of heat on yields and labor productivity in agriculture, rising salinity and land drying, and increasing crop water requirements even as other demands for water increase.

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.

2020-21 Social Accounting Matrix for Pakistan

The Pakistan Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) 2020-21 provides a comprehensive, economy-wide dataset linking production, factor incomes, institutions, and external accounts at the national level, with an integrated hydrological component. Developed by IFPRI and IWMI, the dataset extends the standard SAM framework to capture interlinkages between water, agriculture, and the broader economy, supporting policy analysis and modeling of water-food-economy interactions.

The 2020-21 Pakistan SAM is developed based on existing SAM frameworks to update the Pakistan national SAM from 201314, tying often to the structure of Nexus SAMs developed by IFPRI under its NEXUS Program (see https://www.ifpri.org/project/nexus-project/). It incorporates revised estimates across production, factor, and institutional accounts to better represent Pakistans water use, agricultural systems, and economic flows.

The hydrology data is updated using data compiled from sources which include the recent tube-well census in Punjab, surface water flow data, meteorological data, water storage levels and capacity, water efficiency and climate data. The hydrology data is mainly used to update IFPRIs Computable General Equilibrium- Water (CGE-W) model.

The SAM is structured to include:

1. Activities and commodities disaggregated by major sectors (agriculture, industry, services)
2. Factors of production, including labor (by skill and sector), land, and capital

3. Institutions, including rural and urban households, enterprises, and government

4. Accounts for taxes, savings-investment, and rest of the world, allowing macroeconomic closure and inter-institutional flow analysis

Workshop on applied policy research for scaling innovations in Uzbekistan’s agri-food sector

Uzbekistan’s agri-food sector is undergoing rapid transformation driven by structural reforms, growing water scarcity, and the need to build climate resilience across farms of all sizes. Some progress has been made in introducing water-saving irrigation technologies, digital agriculture tools, improved seed systems, mechanization solutions, and cluster-based value chains. These initiatives demonstrate strong potential, yet their scale and impact remain uneven. Fragmented policy implementation, overlapping institutional mandates, and weak coordination between ministries and agencies continue to limit the nationwide adoption of innovative technologies.

Scaling effective solutions requires more than the introduction of new practices or tools. It depends on a clear understanding of which innovations work, in which agro-ecological and socio-economic contexts, and what policy or market conditions enable their uptake. Applied policy research is therefore essential for identifying scaling pathways, diagnosing bottlenecks, and quantifying the expected and actual effects of reforms and programs. Without this evidence, policy decisions risk being disconnected from on-the-ground realities and may fail to generate the intended outcomes.

This workshop brought together policymakers, researchers, and development partners to strengthen the role of applied policy research in scaling agri-food innovations in Uzbekistan. Discussions emphasized the importance of embedding dynamic Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Impact Assessment (MELIA) systems into policy and program cycles to enable adaptive decision-making, accountability, and timely course correction. Embedding dynamic evaluation and adaptive MELIA into policymaking processes strengthens the evidence base. A system that continuously generates, verifies, and updates information allows government institutions to adjust policies and correct implementation gaps. Such an adaptive MELIA approach is critical for maintaining the relevance of scaling strategies in the face of climate variability, resource constraints, and rapidly evolving market conditions.

Key messages emerging from the workshop include: (i) the need for harmonized and accessible data systems across value chains; (ii) systematic use of feasibility and socio-economic analysis before scaling innovations; (iii) stronger coordination of institutional roles and mandates; and (iv) targeted capacity development for both institutions and farmers. Participants also highlighted the importance of equity and inclusion, ensuring that women, youth, small farms, and vulnerable groups benefit from innovation scaling.

The workshop concluded with agreement on priority areas for joint applied policy research and a forward agenda for 2026 and beyond. These priorities include strengthening data quality and harmonization, evaluating subsidy effectiveness, developing region-specific water-use methodologies, and institutionalizing MELIA as a core element of agricultural governance. Collectively, these actions aim to support evidence-informed policymaking and accelerate the scaling of inclusive, resilient, and sustainable innovations across Uzbekistan’s agri-food sector.

By combining applied policy research, adaptive MELIA, and stronger coordination across institutions, Uzbekistan can accelerate the scaling of agricultural innovations and deliver more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable outcomes for its agri-food sector.

Are food policies empowering women? Framework, measurement, and empirical evidence from India and Nigeria

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize equal participation and empowerment of women in all levels of decisionmaking, yet frameworks and tools to measure and strengthen women's empowerment in policy spaces remain limited. Focusing on agrifood systems, this paper introduces a framework, metrics, and scoring method to track women’s empowerment in policy processes (WEAGov) and presents findings from pilot applications in India and Nigeria. The pilots draw on novel surveys with more than 200 agrifood organizations and policy experts across the public sector, private sector, civil society, and research communities in both countries. Across both countries, we find that agrifood policy documents incorporate gender priorities on paper but fall short in budgeting, implementation, and evaluation. Prevailing social attitudes and limited awareness of policies, regulations, and legal rights remain major constraints on women’s ability to engage meaningfully in policy processes. Women participate as staff and mid-level managers in agrifood organizations, but their representation at higher decision-making levels are limited. Expert assessments also highlight disconnects between formal roles and the actual influence women can exert over policy decisions. Gender-responsive budgeting processes are absent in Nigeria and weakly-institutionalized in India, where compliance has become procedural rather than transformative. These patterns reveal persistent bottlenecks in translating gender commitments into practice. By systematically tracking barriers and identifying entry points for reform, the WEAGov framework offers governments, researchers, and civil society organizations a practical tool to diagnose gaps in women’s empowerment in agrifood policy processes and to strengthen their inclusiveness and accountability.

Field visit and workshop report: Defining the problem domain and identifying possible entry point for experiential learning intervention to support lantana management and landscape restoration in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, India

The management of Lantana camara, an invasive plant species, is a major challenge across India. Its rapid spread across forests and adjoining agricultural lands has negatively affected biodiversity, reduced the availability of nontimber forest products (NTFPs), and rendered areas of agricultural land uncultivable. Invasive species management has become a national priority, and is reflected in goals in India’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, as the unchecked growth of Lantana affects landscapes across the country. In the Mandla District, in Madhya Pradesh, Lantana has decreased wildlife habitats and reduced fodder availability by replacing native grasses. This affects food security and livelihoods in the area, with disproportionate impacts on women who are responsible for collecting NTFPs, fuelwood and fodder from forests. As Lantana encroaches further, women must travel longer distances and spend more time gathering forest resources, which increases risk of human or wildlife attacks. Current by-laws in place promote collective action for eradication of Lantana and evidence shows that community-based management of Lantana can lead to positive social and ecological outcomes.

Improving the documentation and classification of gender-research tools: insights from eight thematic reviews

This synthesis paper analyses the landscape of gender-research tools and methods in agrifood systems by bringing together insights from eight thematic reviews developed under the CGIAR Gender Equality and Inclusion (GENDER Accelerator). The analysis highlights the wide range of tools and methods available for gender research in agrifood systems, while also identifying gaps in documentation, classification and dissemination. Drawing on lessons from the synthesis process, as well as a review of metadata best practices, this work underscores the need for clearer terminology, harmonized metadata and more consistent approaches to organizing gender-research tools. It also highlights the importance of adopting standard tagging practices and improving metadata quality and completeness to strengthen the visibility, interoperability and reuse of gender research resources across repositories and platforms. The paper discusses the challenges encountered in curating and categorizing diverse resources and emphasizes the importance of collaboration between researchers and knowledge management specialists to improve discoverability and reuse. The paper concludes with recommendations to strengthen future tool development, tagging and documentation practices to support more coherent, visible and methodologically robust gender research.

The science of agriculture-driven nature loss (part 1): mapping drivers and impact of agricultural water management

This report positions water as a critical entry point for understanding how modern agriculture drives biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Agriculture accounts for nearly 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, making the way water is captured, stored, and applied central to the health of rivers, wetlands, soils, and aquifers. Through a structured DPSI framework, the report maps how poor irrigation practices, groundwater over-abstraction, wetland drainage, and declining water quality generate cascading pressures on ecosystems. These pressures alter hydrological flows, intensify salinization and waterlogging, reduce soil microbial diversity, fragment habitats, and undermine ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, water purification, climate regulation, and habitat provisioning. By synthesizing cross-scale scientific evidence, the report highlights agricultural water management not only as a driver of nature loss but also as a strategic leverage point for enabling nature-positive, climate-resilient food systems.

Economic Inclusion Program Cohort 2 in Kenya: Baseline Household Survey

This dataset consists of household-level data collected through a baseline survey conducted between April and May 2024 for the Impact Evaluation of the Economic Inclusion Programme (EIP), Cohort 2, in Kenya. The survey covers 3,251 households across four counties, Kisumu, Makueni, Muranga, and Taita Taveta, and was implemented by the Kenyan survey firm REMIT.

The EIP intervention package comprises four components: (i) monthly consumption support, (ii) asset grants to support income-generating activities, (iii) skills training paired with weekly mentoring, and (iv) the establishment of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs). The evaluation follows a cluster-randomized controlled trial (cRCT) design, in which villages were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups in a 2:1 ratio, with randomization stratified at the sub-county level.

The baseline household survey captures data on demographics, consumption and income, assets, financial inclusion, enterprise activities, food security, mental health, gender equity, social cohesion, and exposure to social protection programs. These data provide a detailed snapshot of household conditions prior to program implementation and enable rigorous impact evaluation, replication, and secondary research on economic inclusion, social protection, and poverty reduction in Kenya.

Incentives, administrative capture and preference aggregation in community-based targeting

Community-based targeting (CBT), which leverages community leaders to identify eligible beneficiaries, is widely used in social protection programs and development interventions, especially in data-scarce settings. Yet, little is known about how these leaders respond to opportunities for potential resource leakages and elite capture, and whether such behavior is moderated by budget constraints or the level of discretion given to leaders. Similarly, how community leaders involved in CBT aggregate individual preferences into collective decisions remains understudied. We conduct a cluster-randomized experiment in 180 Ethiopian villages to study the effects of incentive structures and discretion on administrative capture—defined as funds retained under the disguise of covering “administrative” costs. Local leaders were tasked with allocating real or hypothetical transfer budgets, with discretion to retain up to 10 percent as “administrative costs”. To uncover decision-making and preference aggregation within CBT committees, we elicited these decisions (proposals to retain a portion of the budget) individually as well as collectively. We find that financial incentives significantly increase administrative (elite) capture, and that capture increases with budget size. Group decisions yield higher appropriation than individual proposals, suggesting implicit collusion rather than prosocial restraint in group-based decisions. Moreover, when real stakes are at play, group outcomes are disproportionately shaped by extreme (outlier) preferences, whereas in hypothetical settings without actual transfers, popular preferences dominate. These findings highlight behavioral mechanisms underlying collective decision-making and administrative capture in CBT, which can inform the design of more accountable CBT systems.

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.

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.

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.

The impact of a nutrition-sensitive graduation model program on child nutrition: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia

Multifaceted graduation models are a promising strategy to sustainably reduce poverty, yet evidence on their effects on child undernutrition remains limited. This randomized controlled trial evaluated a nutrition-sensitive graduation model combining village economic and savings associations, peer-led behavior change communication, and maternal cash transfers (and for a subset, lump-sum livelihoods transfers) implemented among ultra-poor households in rural Ethiopia. The model without maternal cash transfers improved maternal nutrition knowledge and financial inclusion but did not generate meaningful changes in children’s diets or growth. Supplementing the pro-gram with maternal cash transfers produced at least moderate improvements in child diet quality, early childhood development, household consumption, and assets. The largest improvements in child growth occurred among households receiving both the livelihoods grant and maternal cash transfers. Overall, the results suggest that coupling behavior change communication and livelihoods support with sufficient financial support is critical for achieving meaningful progress in both economic well-being and child nutrition.

Digital twins applications: Linking earth observation, models, and decision-making for multifunctional landscapes

Digital twins (DTs) are virtual replicas of physical systems that stay synchronized with real-world. In agriculture, water, and environmental management, DTs range from hybrid, periodically synchronized bio-physical models used for planning and forecasting, to full, continuously updated virtual systems supporting real-time operational decisions. This document presents empirical evidence of DTs applications to characterize where they are already creating value, why hybrid DTs dominate over full real-time twins, and how we can design fit-for-purpose implementations of DTs). It also summarizes recent evidence from operational deployments and reviews across water resources, agriculture, biodiversity, and climate services, serving as a starting point for exploring how the concept of DTs can be integrated into the science and practice of the Multifunctional Landscapes Science Program (MFL SP). We analyze enabling data infrastructures (e.g., Digital Earth Africa), emerging basin-scale twins (e.g., the Limpopo River Basin), and the combination with high-resolution climate twins (Destination Earth). It also proposes a practical taxonomy tailored to different characteristics, clarifies the distinction between hybrid and full DTs, and provides ready-to-use typologies by function, scale, data intensity, and decision context. We emphasize that hybrid DTs often deliver most of the value at lower cost where data are sparse and decisions are not time-critical, while full DTs add operational value when minutes-to-hours decisions change outcomes (e.g., pressurized water networks, floods, controlled environments). The taxonomy aligns with recent reviews and case studies and is intended for researchers and implementers in LMICs. We integrate findings from sectoral reviews, African community-scale pilots, water-utility cases, and digital foundations policy analyses. We outline priority use cases for MFL—transboundary allocation and drought management, smart irrigation, flood early warning, and biodiversity management—. The paper concludes with a research and learning agenda for development partners and policy makers

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.

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.

Africa's agrifood trade: The state of play

The objective of this report is to establish a state of play of African trade by giving the most accurate picture possible and propose a typology of countries in terms of their degree of openness. It is preliminary work, the first in a series of documents, to pave the way for an in-depth analysis of the role of trade and trade policies in achieving food security and improved diets in Africa. The analysis is based on the rigorous exploitation of the best available data on trade in Africa (formal and informal), the use of the best analytical tools (gravity models) as well as recent indicators for measuring regional integration. The report is organized as follows. In the next section we set the scene by presenting an overview of the complex (positive and negative) links between trade, food security and nutrition. We then analyze Africa agrifood trade, examining first international flows, then regional patterns. In the following section we formally test whether Africa is “undertrading” or not. We next establish a typology of countries according to their degree of self-sufficiency and openness. The fifth - and final- section of the report provides some conclusions and recommendations.

When the cure is worse than the disease: Acaricide use, tick resistance, and systemic constraints in Uganda’s dairy sector

The Ugandan dairy sector has expanded rapidly in recent years. However, ticks and tick-borne diseases pose increasing challenges to this progress, exacerbated by the rise in resistance to acaricides, the primary method for tick control. This paper examines the systemic constraints that undermine effective, safe, and sustainable tick control in Uganda’s liberalized dairy system. Drawing on multiple complementary data sources—including household surveys, exit interviews, list experiments, and covert audit methods—we show that the de facto farmer-led model of tick control is characterized by failures in information, coordination challenges, imperfect input markets, and weak regulation. Farmers operate with limited technical knowledge and minimal advisory support, and under extensive grazing systems and frequent inter-herd contact that require coordinated approaches to tick control. Input markets provide access to acaricides, but little guidance on proper use. As a result, misuse and overuse of chemicals are widespread, generating risks for animal and human well-being, food safety, and environmental integrity. Addressing these constraints will require integrated interventions that strengthen extension and regulatory capacity, improve accountability in veterinary input markets, and foster community-level coordination to ensure safe and sustainable tick control.

Closing the regulatory gap: Experimental evidence on oversight and worker incentives

Weak enforcement of regulatory standards is widespread in low- and middle-income countries. Low firm capacity and standards inappropriate to local contexts imply that traditional punitive enforcement approaches may be counterproductive. We test the impact of a regulatory oversight intervention leveraging the soft power of meat inspectors in the context of 140 rural slaughterhouses in western Kenya. The intervention focused meat inspector attention on hygiene practices and was combined with training of workers and provision of basic equipment and supplies. Practices improved significantly relative to control facilities, but microbial contamination of meat did not. Outcomes were similar in a subset of treatment facilities where workers were additionally given a hygiene performance incentive. Higher volume of business in treatment facilities, which customers perceived as cleaner, suggests that retailers value less contaminated meat, but may counteract the effects of improved practices through cross-contamination and crowding.

Myanmar Monthly Food Price Report – November 2025

Rice prices in November 2025 declined nationally, falling by 13 percent year-on-year and remaining broadly stable compared to the previous month. The decline continues to be driven by international market trends and downward pressure from the incoming monsoon harvest.

Export crop prices diverged. Green gram prices increased sharply year-on-year (34 percent), supported by export demand and a modest month-to-month increase following China’s decision to ease its temporary suspension. In contrast, black gram, chickpea, and pigeon pea prices remained well below last year’s levels, reflecting weak demand from India, despite modest month-to-month increases.

Animal-sourced food prices remained substantially higher than last year. Mutton recorded the largest increase, while pork, chicken, and fish also rose sharply year-on-year, reflecting high production costs, disease outbreaks, and constrained supply, although month-to-month changes were more modest.

Multiple risks lie ahead, including weak international rice prices, ongoing conflict, export quality concerns, import restrictions affecting livestock production, border trade and regional policy changes, and policy uncertainty around upcoming elections, all of which may undermine agricultural incentives, farm incomes, and food security.

A 2020-21 Social Accounting Matrix for Pakistan with a Related Water Resources Module

This paper presents the methodological framework and data sources for a national-level Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for Pakistan, with an associated hydrological data set. The aim of the paper is to provide a systematic guide to the data requirements necessary to construct a national SAM for Pakistan, and to present the main results from this exercise. We base the development of this SAM on existing SAM frameworks to update the Pakistan national SAM from 2013–14, tying often to the structure of Nexus SAMs developed by IFPRI under its NEXUS Program (see https://www.ifpri.org/project/nexus-project/). However, the estimation of accounts differs in many cases, and the balancing techniques vary as well. The hydrology data is updated using data compiled from sources which include the recent tube-well census in Punjab, surface water flow data, meteorological data, water storage levels and capacity, water efficiency and climate data. The hydrology data is mainly used to update IFPRI’s Computable General Equilibrium- Water (CGE-W) model.

Insecticide use, farmers’ self-reported health status, and genetically modified cowpea in Nigeria: Findings from a clustered randomized controlled trial with causal

Excessive insecticide use in smallholder agriculture can threaten human health and the environment. We evaluate the effects of receiving a genetically modified cowpea variety that confers resistance to the legume pod borer (Maruca vitrata) using a clustered randomized controlled trial with an encouragement design in Nigeria. We find that farmers who received the pod borer-resistant (PBR) cowpea with complementary inputs significantly reduce insecticide volumes and report fewer days of insecticide-related illness compared to farmers who only received a conventional cowpea variety. Farmers receiving PBR cowpea alone experience smaller, mostly insignificant reductions. To explore heterogeneous responses, we combine ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) interactions with machine learning-based Causal Forest estimates of Conditional Average Treatment Effects (CATEs). Results reveal that smaller, less wealthy, and labor-constrained households experience the largest reductions in insecticide use and health improvements, whereas wealthier farmers or those with higher baseline spraying practices experience lower reductions. Women-managed plots exhibit modestly higher responsiveness. Our findings highlight the importance of moving beyond average effects and seed distribution toward targeted, context-specific interventions that account for behavioral and resource constraints in smallholder farming systems.

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).

The future of ABPU agriculture: The 2nd MERCUSUR outlook

In today’s complex and uncertain global environment, region-specific agricultural and trade outlooks are more essential than ever. While global projections from institutions such as the OECD-FAO and USDA provide valuable baselines, incorporating local perspectives is essential to capture the specific dynamics of emerging economies that are deeply integrated into international agrifood markets. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is the world’s largest net food-exporting region, playing a central role in stabilizing supplies and reducing price volatility (IFPRI, 2025). Within LAC, Mercosur—Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay (ABPU)—accounts for more than half of the region’s agrifood trade, concentrated in oilseeds, cereals, and animal proteins. Over the past two decades, agricultural exports from LAC have more than doubled, consolidating the region’s role as a net contributor to global food availability (Piñeiro et al, 2025a, 2025b). This performance highlights Mercosur’s structural weight in global markets, while also underscoring the climatic, institutional, and infrastructural challenges that call for tailored foresight tools.

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.

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.

Perceived need and measured well-being: How well do subjective rankings capture relative poverty?

Subjective well-being rankings are increasingly used to target social protection programs, yet their ability to capture relative welfare and wealth remains debated. This study benchmarks self-, peer-, and elite-based poverty rankings against consumption- and wealth-based measures using Ethiopian household survey data, where about 20 households per village were ranked from neediest to least needy by themselves, peers, and community leaders. We assess concordance between subjective and conventional welfare rankings and explore sources of divergence. Subjective rankings align more with relative wealth than consumption and with total rather than per capita welfare, suggesting they overlook household composition. Elite-based rankings best capture conventional measures, followed by peers’ and self-rankings. Subjective rankings also better reflect relative deprivation among households exposed to covariate shocks. A composite index combining all three improves agreement with standard metrics. Information asymmetries, favoritism, and welfare dynamics partly explain discrepancies, offering insights for enhancing targeting in data-scarce settings.

Targeting of beneficiaries in chemical fertilizer subsidy programs: State of knowledge and evidence gaps

Low and middle income countries have been facing mounting pressure from lenders and donors to eliminate or reform fertilizer subsidy programs, which can have distortionary market effects and negative environmental externalities. However, there is little systematic work understanding who these programs currently benefit both in theory and in practice, and hence who may be affected by policy reform. In this paper, we identify low and middle countries with active fertilizer subsidy programs, and characterize the targeting regime of each program based on both explicit and implicit criteria determining eligibility. Then in a selection of case studies, we explore which individuals are receiving subsidy benefits in practice. We find that while many fertilizer subsidy programs are meant to be universal, there are are additional implicit targeting criteria and/or informal targeting induced by supply shortfalls in many countries. Further, we find evidence that regardless of targeting regime, fertilizer subsidies are generally progressive, though this seems to be driven by the fact that the poor are often concentrated in the agricultural sector.

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.

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).

The two sides of migration in Central America: Distributional impacts in Guatemala

International migration has become a defining force shaping Guatemala’s economy, with both outflows and return inflows generating diverse impacts across economic sectors, labor markets, and household welfare. This study quantifies the economy-wide and distributional impacts of these migration dynamics using a modeling framework that integrates detailed microdata on migration profiles. Three scenarios are considered: a reference case reflecting recent-historical migration patterns (MIG-0), moderately restricted migration (MIG-1), and net return migration (MIG-2), capturing newly emerging shifts in emigration and return flows by skill level within the country. Results reveal trade-offs between aggregate economic performance and distributional impacts across households. Compared to a baseline economy with no mobility, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rises modestly under the reference scenario (+0.2%) and by an additional 0.3-0.5 percentage points under the more restrictive cases, driven by higher labor availability from returnees and currency depreciation. Non-agro-processing manufacturing shows the largest expansion (up to 1.8%), reflecting its strong labor-absorption potential. Household welfare, however, is highly sensitive to remittance flows, with income and consumption declining under the restrictive scenarios. These findings underscore the need for policies that facilitate returnee reintegration and strengthen social protection for remittance-dependent households, ensuring that the macroeconomic gains from migration adjustments translate into equitable welfare improvements.

Strategic plan of the IFPRI program on fragile and conflict-affected food systems (FCAS): 2026-2029

Humanitarian crises are becoming more frequent, protracted, and complex. Fragility, conflict, climate extremes, and displacement increasingly converge to undermine food security, disrupt livelihoods, and erode community resilience across dozens of countries. In these settings, humanitarian actors face enormous pressure to deliver assistance in ways that are timely, inclusive, accountable, and aligned with the needs and priorities of affected populations. Further, governments demand evidence on what policies, programming, and other investments can support prevention, recovery, and resilience. In the current funding environment, global humanitarian financing is stretched thinner than ever, making improvements in effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of humanitarian actions all the more urgent.

The IFPRI Program on Fragile and Conflict-Affected Food Systems (FCAS) responds to these challenges by generating practical, policy-relevant evidence on what works to support food security and resilience in FCAS, with a focus on who benefits, under what conditions, and at what cost. Through long-standing engagement in countries such as Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Sudan, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, and Yemen, the Program supports governments, UN agencies, International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), and local NGOs to strengthen food systems in fragile contexts and improve outcomes for crisis-affected children, women, households, and communities.

To make the Program’s rigorous research and evidence generation effective, it relies on deep partnership, local engagement, and a commitment to translating evidence into real-world change. Its work spans crisis anticipation and prevention; monitoring and crisis response; and recovery and resilience. It also considers two key cross-cutting areas: governance and accountability; and gender equality and inclusion. Across all of these areas, the Program advances locally-led approaches and elevates the voices and leadership of affected populations.

IFPRI’s institutional strategy and its four-pronged approach to research and impact guide the Program; its work in FCAS aims to: (1) position major development challenges on policy agendas, (2) build scalable high-impact solutions, (3) strengthen governance and financing mechanisms, and (4) deploy tools, methods, and capabilities for research and policy impact. The Program supports humanitarian systems reform by generating new evidence on effective program design features; exploring means of strengthening governance and social inclusion; and supporting coordination across humanitarian, development, and peace actors. This Strategic Plan outlines how the Program operates, what it contributes, and how it sustains a unique role for IFPRI within the global humanitarian ecosystem.

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.

From vision to action (V2A): Advancing sustainable management of multifunctional landscapes in Akole, Maharashtra (India)

The Vision-to-Action (V2A) approach was developed to support inclusive stakeholder conversations to create a shared vision for a desirable future, develop holistic and medium-term transition pathways towards sustainable living landscapes, and define realistic, collectively agreed-upon concrete action plans that outline the behavior changes required to transition from their current situation to the envisioned future. It is designed to foster action that is multi-actor (e.g., producers, traders, enterprises, consumers, policymakers), multidimensional (e.g., agricultural, environmental, economic, social), and multi-scalar (e.g., farm, landscape, system) to realize sustainable food system transformation. This method structures conversations to allow stakeholders to discuss and agree about who, what, when and where to engage in the sought transformation processes. The V2A process and results also point to opportunities and entry points for responsive external support including by research-in-development partners such as the CGIAR Science Program on Multifunctional Landscapes.

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.

Show me the money! Experimental evidence on preferences for cash vs. digital payment

In places such as rural Bangladesh, cash is the dominant medium for payments despite potential benefits of digital payments. We offer survey respondents an incentive-compatible choice for compensation: 200 Taka cash or randomly varied mobile money amounts (200-400 Taka). Only eight percent chose digital payment at parity and respondents exhibit an average willingness-to-pay of 43 percent of the payment value to receive cash payment. This preference persists across demographics, including among mobile money account holders. Within-household analysis reveals that 77 percent of the effect stems from individual-level rather than household-level factors, highlighting the importance of demand-side barriers on digital payments.

How local leaders view transparency and local autonomy in humanitarian aid distribution: Evidence from Mali

Recognizing the pivotal role local governance plays in crisis response and the diversity of local conditions even within a single country context, this article examines variation in preferences over humanitarian aid delivery among local leaders in Mali. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork and a survey of 2,919 local leaders across the country, we investigate leaders’ preferences over two key dimensions of aid governance: local autonomy over targeting and distribution and transparency over aid delivery. Using aid profile vignettes to elicit preferences over these attributes, we find that leaders generally favor approaches that combine both greater local control and greater transparency, viewing transparency as complementary to autonomy rather than constraining. Preferences, however, vary by leaders’ position and by context: outsiders to aid governance demand more transparency, and leaders’ relative trust in local aid committees versus donors predicts preferences for autonomy. Leaders in conflict-affected villages place greater value on autonomy and less on transparency, highlighting how insecurity reshapes aid preferences in fragile settings.

Mitigating the agricultural drivers of nature loss through nature-positive agriculture: A synthesis report