Publications and Datasets

Effectiveness of current and alternative procurement modalities: An evaluation of the effectiveness of current and potential alternative grain procurement modalities, and development of a framework for stock turnover

This report has been prepared as one of the deliverables of the Bangladesh Integrated Food Policy Research Program (BIFPRP) implemented by the Ministry of Food, Government of Bangladesh under a World Investment for Modernizing Food Storages Facilities in the country. The key arguments and recommendations drawn up for the report are based on both quantitative and qualitative data. Food and agricultural policies have historically played a crucial role in triggering growth in many developing countries. While there were debates, public procurement and distribution of food are widely accepted as a “second best” solutions for countries characterized by markets and institutional failures. However, Bangladesh has done remarkably well in adjusting to changing realities and the country is now widely recognized for its agricultural policy reforms. But there is still room for further improvement and efficiency gains for which two broad sets of recommendation can be considered: 1) Pricing and procurement targets – Pricing in Bangladesh continues to be based on the average cost of production but with the application of satellite imageries, app-based small area estimation, the procurement price estimates can be improved substantially. Also, the current procurement target determination formula misses out on some key aspects of production, marketing, and macroeconomic parameters. The quota for each upazila is based on total production and milling capacities but it also needs to consider the net surplus to calculate how much could be procured in each Upazilas. 2) Alternative procurement modalities a) The report recommends changing this modality to Delivered to Destination Warehouse (DDW) through the open tendering method and undertaking pilots and learning from experiences to enhance efficiency can be important. b) Linking smallholders to markets through product aggregation has received renewed attention globally. Available data suggests that Bangladesh’s public procurement has thus far not managed to effectively integrate small farmers to its procurement system. To scale up nationally, we believe that more innovation in technology and a new institutional set up will be necessary. c) Implementing Delivered Duty Paid Modality on a pilot basis where the seller assumes all responsibilities and costs for delivering the goods to the named place of destination. d) Piloting Deficiency Payment Method as an effective method to provide both income and price to farmers of a wide range of agricultural commodities. Two key instruments of implementing this method would be Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL) and the Loan Deficiency Payment (LDP), which are tools available to the farmers. A recent report by the NITI Aayog of India also makes a strong case for this procurement modality and we also argue in favor of undertaking this pilot.

Introduction and executive summary for the supplement micronutrients in Latin America: Current state and research

Global health and nutrition stakeholders are facing a period full of changes and challenges, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Almost every country is experiencing at least, one burden of malnutrition,1 and among them many are facing the triple burden of malnutrition, both associated with unhealthy and nondiverse diets and reduced physical activity. According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report, in 2022, between 691 and 783 million people faced chronic hunger, representing an increase of 122 million people compared to 2019. It also informed that 3.1 billion people could not afford a healthy diet.2 On the one hand, economic shocks, war, violence, and climate-related disruptions are the leading causes of the current steep increase in the global burden of hunger in all its forms. The COVID-19 pandemic and other repeated pandemic shocks further reduce food and nutrition security of poor countries.3 On the other hand, chronic noncommunicable diseases, most of which are associated with overweight-obesity and unhealthy behavioral and environmental risk factors, continue to rise as the principal causes of death and disability worldwide, also disproportionately impacting LMIC.4 While the prevalence of hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is lower than the global average, food insecurity affects a higher proportion of the population in the region (40%) relative to the global prevalence (29.3%). The region also experiences the highest cost of a healthy diet, with 131 million people unable to afford to meet the recommended nutritional requirements that healthy diets would provide.5-7 Consequently, the risks of nutrient deficiency and excess for the region can be inferred, but the scarcity of current nationally representative data on micronutrient deficiencies is neither useful for program planning or evaluation nor conducive to narrowing the equity and justice gaps in the region.

An assessment of dietary patterns and micronutrient intake among farming adults in Rural Sri Lanka

Objectives: The study aimed to characterize food group intake and estimate usual nutrient intakes among Sri Lankan farmers. Methods: A baseline study (Dec 2020-Feb 2021), conducted as part of WFP’s Resilience, Risk Reduction, Recovery, Reconstruction, and Nutrition (R5N) program evaluation, collected data from adults in 45 rural villages across Sri Lanka (N=1283). Dietary intake was assessed using telephone-based 24-hour recalls, with repeat recalls from 60% of respondents (n=769). Reported foods were converted to nutrient intakes using standard recipes and Sri Lankan food composition data. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate average intake of food groups and the relative contribution of food groups to total energy. The National Cancer Institute method was used to estimate mean usual intakes of energy, macro-, and micronutrients, and to calculate the prevalence of adequate intake (PAI) of micronutrients relative to requirements. Results: Grains (primarily rice) and coconut milk provided 56% and 12% of total energy, respectively. Rice (red and white varieties, refined and parboiled), mango, green leafy vegetables, chilies, and fish were the primary sources of micronutrients. Participants reported 118±117 g vegetables and 71±243 g fruit per day (2.4±3.5 servings combined). High consumption of rice contributed to high PAI of riboflavin and thiamine ( >60%). PAI was < 25% for iron, calcium, zinc, niacin, and vitamins C and B12, reflecting low consumption of animal-source foods (ASF; 80 g/day), whole grains, and certain F&V (e.g., citrus fruits). Conclusions: We observed high consumption of rice and coconut milk, and low levels of micronutrient adequacy. Increasing consumption of ASF and F&V is needed to close micronutrient gaps. Staple food fortification may be required to effectively increase the PAI of calcium, iron, zinc, and vitamin B12. Additional research is recommended to understand and address the barriers to low consumption of micronutrient-rich foods.

Gender disparities in food shopping patterns: Evidence from rural Bangladesh, India, and Nepal

Objectives: Understanding gender differences in food acquisition and decision-making is needed to inform policies promoting healthy diets for all. We compare food acquisition patterns and preferences of men and women in three South Asian countries. Methods: In 2023, 4,000 rural households with adolescents were randomly selected with a proportional probability per village in five districts: Rajshahi and Rangpur in Bangladesh, Nalanda in India, and Banke and Surkhet in Nepal. Adults primarily responsible for household food purchases were asked where, why, and how they acquired frequently consumed foods. Foods were categorized as healthy or unhealthy. Analyses compared shoppers’ responses by country, district, and gender. Results: Food shoppers (n=2,555) were primarily men in India and Bangladesh, women in Nepal, and averaged 41 years of age. Food purchases were mostly from retail outlets in India and Nepal, and wholesale open-air markets in Bangladesh. Shoppers’ preferred purchasing source was primarily based on cost and distance. On average, shoppers traveled 2.9 km to purchase food, women 0.9 km further than men. Unhealthy foods were purchased more than healthy foods (2.6 vs 1.3 times/mo), with biscuits most often (3.8 times/mo). Nepal had 66% lower food purchase frequency than Bangladesh. Purchases varied by gender and country: healthy and unhealthy foods were purchased more by men in Bangladesh and women in India. In Nepal, men purchased more healthy foods than women, and women purchased more unhealthy foods than men. In India and Nepal, shoppers found unhealthy foods as more accessible and affordable than healthy foods; in Bangladesh, shoppers found healthy foods more accessible and affordable. Perceptions varied by gender and country: men found healthy and unhealthy foods more accessible and affordable than women in Bangladesh and Nepal, in India, such perceptions were predominant among women. With more income, men and women would purchase more animal-sourced foods and produce and fewer unhealthy foods. Women would purchase more legumes and grains than men. Conclusions: In rural South Asia, women perceived healthy foods as less affordable and accessible and purchased unhealthy foods more frequently than men. Policies and programs are needed to improve healthy food access, lower costs, and promote gender equity in food acquisition.

Innovation process tracing assessment: Methodological approach and guiding principles

The “Rethinking Food Markets and Value Chains for Inclusion and Sustainability” Initiative aims to provide evidence on what types of bundled innovations, incentive structures, and policies are most effective for creating more equitable sharing of income and employment opportunities in growing food markets while reducing the food sector’s environmental footprint. The Initiative targets approximately 30,000 individuals across six geographical areas, focusing on four key innovation areas: vertical coordination models, product quality certification, digital logistics, and finance innovations, along with global knowledge assessment. The approach to evaluating the initiative’s impact is based on a combination of theory-based methodologies, explicitly focusing on Process Tracing (PT) for the impact evaluation phase. The evaluation is designed to reflect on the success and learnings of the initiative while strengthening CGIAR’s practice of theory-based methods such as PT and integrating innovative techniques like “causal hotspots” and Outcome Harvesting for more nuanced analysis. At its core, this evaluation prioritizes and focuses on detailed case studies of selected innovation bundles. This distinctive feature allows for an in-depth analysis of significant outcomes within the initiative. The selection process is guided by the “causal hotspot” strategy for Contribution Analysis (CA) combined with Outcome Harvesting (OH), which helps identify key areas of impact prior to the PT application. The PT methodology is then rigorously applied to examine the plausibility of each innovation’s contributions and the strength of supporting evidence. This provides valuable insights to scaling efforts and evidence-based decision-making.

Strengthening delivery platforms of national nutrition programs in subnational geographies in India improved coverage of interventions and child growth

Objectives: Between 2016 and 2020, novel system strengthening mechanisms were implemented in 63.9% (N=409) of India’s districts by the government in collaboration with multiple partners to enhance the delivery of essential nutrition interventions for women and children during the critical first 1,000 days. We evaluated the influence of these mechanisms on the coverage of interventions and child growth outcomes.

Involving influential men’s groups to promote maternal and child nutrition practices increased diet diversity and egg consumption despite rising insecurity in the Sahel

Objectives: A two-arm cluster randomized trial was designed to compare 2 approaches of behavior change communication for improved nutrition and women’s empowerment practices. Both intervention arms received monthly training sessions using village saving and loans associations (VSLA) as main delivery platform, while in one arm, influential men’s groups (called EBENE) were also trained to promote improved nutrition and women’s empowerment practices. Methods: Data were collected after one year of implementation in June and August 2023 through phone surveys in a composite sample of women pre-identified before the intervention including members of VSLA, women interested in VSLA and women of the general population. Mixed-effects regression models using fixed effects for treatment exposure and random effects at cluster level, were used to assess differential effects of the interventions on program participation, and knowledge and practices related to diets and women’s empowerment. Adjusted models estimated the effects of insecurity and of the EBENE intervention in the context of insecurity, adjusting for baseline characteristics associated to insecurity prior to its onset, to account for its non-random nature. Results: Unadjusted analyses found participation rates of 44% and 38% for training on nutrition and gender respectively, with no significant differences between intervention groups. The EBENE intervention was found to increase the likelihood that women felt encouraged by men to improve dietary practices and that women and children consumed poultry and eggs. Adjusted analyses suggested that though insecurity had a negative effect on program participation and diet diversity, the EBENE intervention had a protective effect on diet diversity in areas with higher insecurity. The EBENE intervention was found to have protective effects on women’s mobility, group membership and participation in decisions related to poultry production. Conclusions: In the context of increasing insecurity, nutrition and women’s empowerment behavior change promoted through VSLA platforms can be boosted by engaging influential men’s to promote improved practices. Further research is needed to better understand the costs and mechanisms involved.

Uganda coffee agronomy training: Impact evaluation report

This report describes the methods and findings of a randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of coffee agronomy training and phone-based advisory services on farmer practices and observed coffee yield. In-person training was provided in randomly selected villages over the course of two years by Hanns R. Neuman Stiftung (HRNS) and TechnoServe in two separate regions of Western Uganda encompassing six districts. Messages reinforcing this training were sent to a subset of farmers in villages where training was offered by Precision Development (PxD), and standalone messages were sent to a subset of farmers in villages where no training was offered. The program period spanned the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns, which significantly affected how training could be delivered and likely reduced its impact.

Synopsis: Assessing agricultural extension agent digital readiness in Rwanda

The fourth Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation (PSTA IV) of the Government of Rwanda emphasizes extension and advisory services (EAS) as a priority area (MINAGRI 2018). In support of PSTA IV, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) began enhancing extension and advisory services by introducing a Customized Agriculture Extension System (CAES) (MINAGRI 2020). The CAES calls for ICT-supported extension services, stating that “ICT can revolutionize agriculture in Rwanda” (MINAGRI 2020: 34). Despite an enabling policy environment and Rwanda’s embracing of the ICT revolution, extension services have not taken advantage of the potential of ICTs (MINAGRI 2020). This paper looks at capacities of agricultural extension staff and the readiness of Rwandan public and private extension staff to use ICTs in their work—to be digitally equipped. A phone survey of 500 agricultural extension agents (EAs) was conducted in February and March 2021 across all districts of Rwanda among EAs in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors in Rwanda. We examine their demographics, education, and work backgrounds. To assess the ‘digital readiness’ of EAs, we assess the impacts of various factors on an EA’s digital experience and their attitudes toward digital modernization.

Addressing parent-adolescent roles and interactions to improve adolescents’ diets in Ethiopia

Objectives: Adolescence is a critical period of development and habit formation including healthy dietary practices. Nutrition education interventions were implemented in government primary schools in rural Ethiopia. This study examined (1) the impact of interventions on nutrition knowledge, parent-adolescent interactions, and parental food control; and (2) the relationships among knowledge, interaction, and food control on adolescents’ diets. Methods: We used endline survey data from a cluster-randomized program evaluation, among adolescent girls aged 10-14 years (N=536) enrolled across 54 primary schools. Interventions included specialized school-based nutrition education activities, and the control received standard school curriculum. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the differences between program groups. Multivariable regression analysis was used to assess factors associated with diets (dietary diversity, meal frequency, and junk food consumption), adjusting for covariates at adolescent, parental and household levels and school clustering. Structural equation models were used to assess the relationships among the intervention, knowledge, interactions, and food control on diets. Results: Adolescents in intervention schools, compared to control schools, had higher nutrition knowledge (mean score: 10.7 vs. 8.1, range 0-13), higher interactions with their parents (score: 8.6 vs. 8.1, range 0-10), and higher parental food control (score: 7.6 vs. 6.5, range 0-10). Higher parent-adolescent interaction (β=0.23-0.46), parents’ nutrition knowledge (β=0.28-0.73), and parental food control (β=0.23-0.41) were associated with higher dietary diversity and meal frequency. Higher parents’ education level was associated with lower junk food consumption among adolescents (OR=0.55). Interventions had largest direct effects on nutrition knowledge and parental food control and directly on adolescents’ dietary diversity and meal frequency. Exposure to food advertisements was mainly associated with junk food consumption. Conclusions: Parental roles and interactions between parents and adolescents, along with the food environment, need to be addressed to improve adolescents’ diets.

Understanding patterns of receipt and consumption of IFA supplements during pregnancy: Empirical considerations for measuring coverage

Objectives: Daily iron-folic acid (IFA) supplementation during pregnancy is a core intervention in low- and middle-income countries. Yet, there is a concern of poor validity and biased population coverage estimates using maternal reports of total number of IFA supplements. This study examined patterns of IFA receipt and consumption among pregnant women in India and identified considerations for measuring coverage of IFA supplementation.

The relationship between preterm and small for gestational age on child cognition during school-age years

Objectives: Children born preterm and/or small for gestational age (SGA) have a high susceptibility to neurological impairments that may affect cognitive and learning outcomes during school age and beyond. Yet, limited evidence exists for these high-risk birth phenotypes in low and middle-income countries where most occur with different etiology and socio-biology. This paper examined the deficits in cognitive function and academic achievement during the school age years in children born preterm or SGA compared to term adequate for gestational age (AGA) in rural Vietnam.

Preconception micronutrient supplementation positively affects offspring cognition at 10–11 years of age: A randomized controlled trial in Vietnam

Objectives: The importance of maternal periconceptional nutrition for offspring health and development has received increased attention recently, yet very few intervention studies have evaluated the long-term effects on offspring growth and cognitive outcomes. We evaluated the impact of preconception weekly multiple micronutrients (MM) or iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation compared to folic acid (FA) alone on offspring body composition and cognitive function during the school-age years and early adolescence.

Enhanced quality of nutrition services during antenatal care through interventions to improve maternal nutrition in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and India

Objectives: Quality antenatal care (ANC) services are critical for maternal health and nutrition. Information on quality of nutrition interventions during ANC is scarce in low-and middle-income countries. Our study examined the effects of intensified maternal nutrition interventions during ANC on service readiness, provision of care, and client’s experience of care in Bangladesh (BD), Burkina Faso (BF), Ethiopia (ET), and India (IN). We also examined inter-relationships between the dimensions of ANC quality.

Revisiting the demand and profitability of chemical fertilizers amid global fuel-food-fertilizer crisis: Evidence from Ethiopia

We revisit the state of smallholder fertilizer demand and profitability in Ethiopia in the face of the recent global fuel–food–fertilizer price crisis triggered by the Russian–Ukraine war and compounded by other domestic supply shocks. We first examine farmers’ response to changes in both fertilizer and food prices by estimating price elasticity of demand. We then revisit the profitability of fertilizer by computing average value–cost ratios (AVCRs) associated with fertilizer application before and after these crises. We use three-round detailed longitudinal household survey data, covering both pre-crisis (2016 and 2019) and post-crisis (2023) production periods, focusing on three main staple crops in Ethiopia (maize, teff, and wheat). Our analysis shows that fertilizer adoption, use, and yield levels were increasing until the recent crises, but these trends seem halted by these crises. We also find relatively large fertilizer price elasticity of demand estimates, ranging between 0.4 and 1.1, which vary across crops and are substantially larger than previous estimates. We find suggestive evidence that households with smaller farm sizes are relatively more responsive to changes in fertilizer prices. We also document that farmers’ response to increases in staple crop prices is not as strong as perceived and hence appears to be statistically insignificant. Finally, we show important dynamics in the profitability of chemical fertilizer. While the AVCRs show profitable trends for most crops, the share of farmers with profitable AVCRs declined following the fertilizer price surge. Our findings offer important insights for policy focusing on mitigating the adverse effects of fertilizer price shocks.

The International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT): Model documentation for version 3.6

The International Food Policy Research Institute’s IMPACT model is a robust tool for analyzing global and regional challenges in food, agriculture, and natural resources. Continuously updated and refined, IMPACT version 3.6 is the latest update to the model for continuously improving the treatment of complex issues, including climate change, food security, and economic development. IMPACT 3.6 multimarket model integrates climate, crop simulation, and water models into a comprehensive system, providing decision-makers with a flexible platform to assess the potential impacts of various scenarios on biophysical systems, socioeconomic trends, technologies, and policies.

Introducing the BMC Series SDG Editorial Board Members: Taddese Zerfu

Taddese Zerfu is a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), focusing on the nexus between agriculture, nutrition, and health. His research examines the impact of livestock farming and animal-source foods on maternal and child nutrition in low- and middle-income countries. Previously, Taddese worked as a clinician, researcher, and academic in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, and the UK. He holds a PhD in Food Science and Nutrition from Addis Ababa University and a Master’s in Public Health from Jimma University. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at Tufts University and the African Population and Health Research Center. His work has earned several awards, including the Tore Godal Medal and the African Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship. He belongs to the Editorial Board of BMC Public Health. This blog post and interview delve into my endeavors concerning the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shedding light on the challenges encountered during my research journey.

Synopsis: Enhancing smallholder farmers’ profitability through increased crop commercialization in Rwanda

This study analyzes the costs, returns, and profitability of smallholder agriculture in Rwanda using a gross margin approach (definitions are provided below) and reveals that over 80 percent of farmers generate positive gross economic margins. However, only around 40 percent achieve positive gross marketing margins from crop sales. This difference is directly attributable to the fact that two-thirds of production is directly consumed by households. The analysis further identifies that farm households allocate about 80 percent of their total crop input expenditures to fertilizer, seed, and hired labor, while the remaining expenses associated with fixed production costs that are almost exclusively related to land rental costs. Furthermore, per hectare analysis reveals decreasing returns to scale for land size, disputing the notion that larger areas lead to efficiency gains. Instead, for example, smaller commercial farmers of less than 0.1 hectare, comprising 5.5 percent of our sample, sell over 50 percent of their crop value. Despite existing trends, this indicates that commercialization can take place on any size land holdings for relative income gains. Additionally, the study highlights the impact of factors like labor decisions and crop choice can significantly influence economic outcomes. The findings suggest that smallholder farming remains economically viable in Rwanda, though market participation is somewhat limited. With appropriate support and risk mitigation, farmers of all land sizes can commercialize production, boost incomes, and enhance household welfare by reorienting towards higher-value market crops.

The effectiveness of cash and cash plus interventions on livelihoods outcomes: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Over the last 20 years, a burgeoning scholarly literature has analyzed the effects of cash transfer and cash plus interventions in a wide range of contexts and using a range of empirical designs. We conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the pooled effect of any cash or cash plus intervention on livelihoods-related outcomes (consumption, income and labor supply), ultimately compiling 305 different treatment estimates from 155 treatment arms in 104 studies (and in 43 countries). Using random effects and multilevel models, our findings suggest that cash transfer programming is associated with an increase of between $1 and $2 in monthly household consumption and income per $100 in cumulative transfers, an effect that persists for a period of roughly three years (inclusive of the period of program implementation); this effect is meaningfully larger (as much as $4 larger) for cash transfer programs that also include a cash plus livelihoods intervention. There are no significant effects observed on labor force participation. We also present a range of estimates capturing the longer-term (cumulative) effects of cash transfers on consumption under alternate assumptions.

Effects of a large-scale alcohol ban on population-level alcohol intake, weight, blood pressure, blood glucose, and domestic violence in India: A quasi-experimental population-based study

Background Globally, alcohol consumption is a leading risk factor for deaths and disability and a causal factor in over 200 diseases, injuries, and health conditions. In April 2016, the manufacture, transport, sale, and consumption of alcohol was banned in Bihar, a populous Indian state. We sought to estimate the impacts of this ban on health outcomes and domestic violence. Methods Data from the Indian National Family Health Surveys (2005–06, 2015–16, 2019–21), Annual Health Survey (2013), and District Level Household Survey (2012), were used to conduct difference-in-differences (DID) analysis, comparing Bihar (n = 10,733 men, n = 88,188 women) and neighbouring states (n = 38,674 men, n = 284,820 women) before and after the ban. Outcomes included frequent (daily or weekly) alcohol consumption, underweight, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and intimate partner violence. A triple difference model adding male–female interaction to the DID model was also estimated. Attributable averted cases were calculated to estimate the impact of the ban. Findings Across all models, the ban led to reduced frequent alcohol consumption (DID: −7.1 percentage points (pp) (95% CI −9.6pp, −4.6pp), lower overweight/obesity (−5.6pp (−8.9, −2.2) among males, and reduced experiences of emotional (−4.8pp (−8.2pp, −1.4pp) and sexual (−5.5pp (−8.7pp, −2.3pp) violence among females. The ban prevented approximately 2.4 million cases of daily/weekly alcohol consumption and 1.8 million cases of overweight/obesity among males, and 2.1 million cases of intimate partner violence among females. Interpretation Strict alcohol regulation policies may yield significant population level health benefits for frequent drinkers and many victims of intimate partner violence.

Understanding differential reductions in undernutrition among districts in Rwanda through the perspectives of mid‐level and community actors on policy commitment and policy coherence

Understanding the drivers of improvements in child undernutrition at only the national level can mask subnational differences. This paper aimed to understand the contributions of factors in the enabling environment to observed differences in stunting reduction between districts in Rwanda. In 2017, we conducted 58 semi-structured interviews with mid-level actors (n = 38) and frontline workers (n = 20) implementing Rwanda’s multi-sectoral nutrition policy in five districts in which stunting decreased (reduced districts) and five where it increased or stagnated (non-reduced districts) based on Rwanda’s 2010 and 2014/15 Demographic and Health Surveys. Mid-level actors are government officials and service providers at the subnational level who represent the frontline of government policy. Interviews focused on political commitment to and policy coherence in nutrition, and contributors to nutrition changes. Responses were coded to capture themes on the changes and challenges of these topics and compared between reduced and non-reduced districts. Descriptive statistics described district characteristics. Political commitment to nutrition was high in both reduced and non-reduced districts. Respondents from reduced districts were more likely to define commitment to nutrition as an optimal implementation of policy, whereas those from non-reduced districts focused more on financial commitment. Regarding coherence, respondents from reduced compared to non-reduced districts were more likely to report the optimal implementation of multi-sectoral nutrition planning meetings, using data to assess plans and progress in nutrition outcomes and integration of nutrition into the agriculture sector. In contrast, respondents from non-reduced districts more often reported challenges in their relationships with national-level stakeholders and nutrition and/or monitoring and evaluation capacities. Enhancing the integration of nutrition in different sectors and improving mid-level actors’ capacity to plan and advocate for nutrition programming may contribute to reductions in stunting.

A multi-sectoral community development intervention has a positive impact on diet quality and growth in school-age children in rural Nepal

Poor diet quality (diet diversity and animal-source food [ASF] consumption) during childhood negatively affects growth, development, behaviour and physiologic function in later life. Relatively less is known about the impact of poor diet on the growth of school-age children compared to children <5 years of age, especially in low/middle-income countries. A better understanding of delivery strategies for effective interventions to improve diet and hence growth in school-age children is needed. A 36-month longitudinal controlled impact evaluation in rural Nepal assessed the nutrition and growth of children <5 years of age in families assigned via community clusters to full package intervention (community development, training in nutrition [during pregnancy and for children <5 years] and livestock husbandry), partial package (training only) or control (no inputs). Concurrent data were collected prospectively (baseline plus additional four rounds) on school-age children (5–8 years at baseline) in these households; the present study analysed findings in the cohort of school-age children seen at all five study visits (n = 341). Diet quality improved more in the full package school-age children compared to those in partial package or control households. full package children consumed more ASF (β +0.40 [CI 0.07,0.73], p < 0.05), more diverse diets (β +0.93 [CI 0.55,1.31], p < 0.001) and had better head circumference z-scores (β +0.21 [CI 0.07,0.35], p < 0.01) than control children. In conclusion, a multi-sectoral community development intervention was associated with improvements in diet and growth of school-age children in rural Nepal even though the intervention focused on the diet of children <5 years of age. The diet and growth of school-age children can be favourably influenced by community-level interventions, even indirectly.

The impact of large-scale agricultural investments in low-income economies

Recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in large-scale agricultural land acquisitions in developing countries. The accompanying socio-economic implications have been areas of debate among politicians, policymakers and development agents. This paper argues that the traditional way of simulating the impacts of these investments in developing countries is misleading as the approach implies that the new investments are identical to the semi-subsistence way of farming that dominates agricultural practices in the host countries. In this study, we incorporate the peculiarity of large-scale agro-investments into an existing database for economy-wide models, i.e., social accounting matrix (SAM), and capture welfare and distributional outcomes properly. SAM-based multiplier models applied to Ethiopian data justify the need to account for the peculiarity of the investments in terms of production technology and their geographic distribution.

It’s all in the stars: The Chinese zodiac and the effects of parental investments on offspring’s cognitive and noncognitive skill development

Parental investments in children’s cognitive and noncognitive outcomes are deeply important to policymakers. However, because parental investments are arguably endogenous, estimating their importance empirically poses a challenge. To address this challenge, this paper exploits a rich and novel dataset, the China Family Panel Studies, and proposes a culture‐specific instrumental variable based on the Chinese zodiac. By comparing the outcomes of children born just before and just after the cutoff for a “lucky” (or ‘unlucky’) zodiac sign, we find that parents’ investments have significant effects on offspring’s development of both cognitive and noncognitive skills.

Demographie

Civil conflict, cash transfers, and child nutrition in Yemen

Can Growth Monitoring and Promotion (GMP) improve child growth and development? A critical review of the epidemiological foundations

Objectives: GMP programs have been globally implemented for many decades, but the epidemiological foundations of GMP have never been reviewed. We evaluated whether commonly used GMP criteria can be used for diagnosis or screening, i.e., if they accurately identify current or predict subsequent inadequate growth or development in individual children. Methods: We conducted a critical review of the literature and analyzed growth patterns in well-nourished children. We estimated the predictive accuracy of commonly used GMP criteria by regressing growth status and developmental scores at 18 and 24 months on these criteria during infancy, using longitudinal data from high-, middle-, and low-income countries. The root mean square error (RMSE), sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) were used as measures of predictive accuracy. Results: Healthy children follow highly variable growth trajectories which challenges the notion that growth information alone can be used to distinguish between current or subsequent healthy or inadequate growth in individual children. The most used GMP criteria (low weight-for-age Z-score, inadequate weight gain) do not provide a clear diagnosis because they cannot distinguish between being too thin or too short. GMP criteria are also not meaningful for screening individual children because they do not accurately predict (low Se, low Sp, and high RMSE) inadequate growth later in childhood. The same holds for growth indices which do not accurately identify individual children at risk of concurrent or later suboptimal development. Conclusions: GMP, as currently designed, does not have the epidemiological basis needed to justify its widescale implementation. Our results do not challenge the need to support parents of young children, but research is needed to identify how regular meetings with parents can be optimized to improve the nutrition, health, and development of their young children in LMICs.

The cost and cost-effectiveness of integrating wasting prevention into screening in facility- and community-based platforms in Burkina Faso and Mali

Objectives: The release of the new WHO guideline on the prevention and treatment of child wasting identified a dearth of rigorous evidence on the cost-effectiveness of wasting-related interventions, and especially so for interventions that integrate prevention into screening. We estimated the cost and cost-effectiveness of integrating prevention interventions – behavior change communication (BCC) and small quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNS) – into a facility-based platform in Burkina Faso with enhanced BCC and a community-based platform in Mali with standard BCC.

Changes in norms about infant and young child feeding in rural Bangladesh during the Alive & Thrive Initiative

Objectives: Norms play an important role in shaping infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. IYCF interventions to improve child feeding practices among mothers may ultimately translate into norms in their communities. The Alive and Thrive (A&T) initiative, beginning in 2009, implemented social, and behavior change interventions to improve IYCF practices like breastfeeding and complementary feeding in rural Bangladesh. This study aimed to understand the normative patterns of IYCF practices and how they changed over time.

Diet quality among mothers and children in India: Roles of social and behavior change communication and nutrition-sensitive social protection programs

Objectives: Poor diets have been identified as one of major causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Limited evidence exists on the relationship of maternal and child diet quality and its determinants. We: 1) examined the agreement between maternal and child diet quality in India and 2) assessed the role of Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) and nutrition-sensitive social protection (NSSP) programs on maternal and child diet quality.

Achieving sustainability and scalability of a large-scale prenatal cash and food transfer intervention in Bangladesh

Objectives: The WHO (2016) antenatal care guidelines recommend research on alternatives to prenatal energy and protein supplements – such as cash or food distribution. The Bangladesh government is currently implementing the Mother and Child Benefit Programme (MCBP) to improve prenatal nutrition and child health. We conducted implementation research that aimed to understand how the MCBP, and augmented versions of it, 1) stimulated behavior changes, 2) enabled or prevented participants to sustain behavior changes, and 3) achieved conditions required for program scale-up.

Utilization of maternal nutrition services during antenatal care and its association with nutrition practices in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and India

Objectives: Adequate coverage of antenatal care (ANC) and its related services are essential for maternal and newborn health and nutrition. Interventions to strengthen health systems in the delivery of nutrition interventions during ANC were implemented in Bangladesh (BD), Burkina Faso (BF), Ethiopia (ET), and India (IN). This study examined the coverage and equity of ANC services and the association between service utilization and maternal nutrition practices.

From promises to action: Strengthening global commitments to fight hunger and food insecurity

Since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, heads of state and ministers at global convenings have repeatedly expressed commitments in support of achieving SDG2 — Zero Hunger — by 2030. Yet progress toward SDG2 has stalled, owing to economic slowdowns, unforeseen crises, geopolitical conflict, and lackluster investment in agricultural productivity and open trade. Where have commitments to SDG2 fallen short? While SDG2 calls for ending global hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition by 2030, this brief predominantly focuses on progress and commitments related to hunger and food insecurity. Drawing on the results of two recent studies, the policy brief (1) discusses trends and setbacks toward reducing hunger and food insecurity, (2) analyzes progress on the “means of implementation,” or mix of finances, technology, and policy choices, to address SDG2, (3) assesses 107 commitment statements in support of SDG2 made at 68 global meetings since 2015, and (4) explores how to improve accountability in the commitment-making process to accelerate progress toward Zero Hunger.

Consumption, sources, and perceptions of unhealthy foods Among adults and adolescents in rural South Asia

Objectives: South Asian nations are experiencing a nutritional shift, transitioning from traditional diets to more energy-dense and processed alternatives containing added sugars, high salt, and saturated or trans fats, commonly known as unhealthy foods. This study examined unhealthy food consumption patterns, sources of acquisition, perceptions, and information sources among adults and adolescents in rural South Asia. Methods: The Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia survey was conducted in 2023 across five rural districts (Bangladesh: Rangpur and Rajshahi; Nepal: Banke and Surkhet; India: Nalanda). In each district, 25 villages/wards and 4,000 households were selected (n=6,007 adults and n=3,995 adolescents). Dietary intake was assessed using 24-hour dietary recall via the Global Diet Quality Score application and a 7-day food frequency questionnaire. Information on eating occasions, purchasing habits, perceptions, and exposure to food advertisements was also collected. Results: Among all unhealthy foods, sweets and ice cream had the highest daily consumption, ranging from 42-75% among respondents based on respondent type and district. Compared to India and Nepal, daily consumption of processed meat was 10-15 times higher in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi males consumed twice as much unhealthy food in the afternoon per day than other countries. Over the last 7 days, 38% adults and 22% adolescents consumed tea/coffee with sugar daily. Biscuits were perceived as safer and more nutritious compared to other unhealthy foods in Bangladesh (70%) and India (60%) than in Nepal (37%). Most unhealthy foods were purchased from large open-air markets in Bangladesh (60%) or small retail shops in Nepal (85%) and India (78%). Adolescents (47%) were more exposed to unhealthy food advertisements than adults (33%) in the past month, especially for soft drinks. However, adolescents (26%) also received more information on avoiding unhealthy foods than adults (14%), mostly from family/friends (44%) and schools (42%). Conclusions: In South Asia, adults and adolescents consume a notable portion of their diets from unhealthy foods, with easy access and extensive exposure to unhealthy food advertisements. Further research on how lived experiences of the food environment impact the demand and consumption of unhealthy foods is needed.

Farmer groups as ICT Hubs: Findings from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Malawi

Many rural producer groups face poor management practices, low productivity, and weak market linkages. An information and communication technology (ICT)-based intervention bundle was provided to producer groups to transform them into ICT hubs, where members learn about and adopt improved management practices and increase their productivity and incomes. The intervention bundle includes phone messages and videos, promotion of the call center/hotline, and facilitation of radio listening clubs and collective marketing. The study, a cluster-randomized controlled trial, randomly assigned 59 groups into treatment groups and 59 into control groups. After 18 months of interventions, results show positive but small impact on crop sales (USD65 per household) and no impact on productivity. The income effect was mainly from Kasungu and Nkhota-kota, which experienced increased production and sales of rice, soybean, and groundnut and received higher prices due to collective marketing. Farmers in Kasungu and Nkhota-kota improved a few agricultural management practices, while farmers in other districts did not improve their management practices. Results show more farmers accessing phone messaging on agriculture and markets, greater awareness and use of the call center, more listening groups established, and more farmers—especially women—joining these groups. Nevertheless, coverage and uptake remain very low, which are likely reasons for the limited impact.

We need to know the economic impacts of Sudan’s ongoing conflict

The impact of excluding adverse neonatal outcomes on the creation of gestational weight gain charts among women from low- and middle-income countries with normal and overweight BMI

Two decades after Maputo, What’s in the CAADP ten percent? Determinants and effects of the composition of government agriculture expenditure in Africa

This paper analyzes the determinants of the composition of government agriculture expenditure (GAE) in Africa and estimates the effect of the composition on agricultural productivity using cross-country annual data from 2014 to 2020 and structural equations modeling methods. It includes different specifications of the explanatory variables to assess the sensitivity of the results to different assumptions of the conceptual variables that are hypothesized to affect the composition and pathways of impact of government expenditure. The results show that there is a wide variation in GAE across African countries, and few have achieved the 10 percent CAADP agriculture expenditure target. Most African countries spend much smaller proportions of the national budget on agriculture than the sector’s share in the economy, and total agriculture expenditure seems to be allocated across subsectors according to their relative contribution to the sector’s output, with forestry and fisheries being slightly favored compared with crops and livestock, which dominate the sector. The allocation is also affected by several factors, such as past output and size of the subsector, official development assistance, education, irrigation, and state of agricultural transformation, although there are cross-subsector differences in their influence. There are also subsector differences in the estimated effect of GAE on land productivity: 0.06 to 0.08 for expenditure on the total sector, 0.02 for research, 0 to 0.09 for crops, 0 to 0.08 for livestock, and 0 to 0.07 for fisheries. The lower bound of zero means that the estimated effect is not statistically significant in some of the model specifications, such as whether cross-subsector expenditure effects are considered. We discuss implications of the results and suggestions for future research.

Myanmar Agricultural Performance Survey Round Four: Note on Sample Characteristics and Weighting

The Myanmar Agricultural Performance Survey (MAPS) is a nationally and sub-nationally representative phone survey with the objective of collecting bi-annual data on agricultural indicators including crop production and sales, input use, crop marketing, farm and livestock assets, and farm services. The Myanmar Household Welfare Survey (MHWS)is a nationally and sub‐nationally representative phone survey with the objective of collecting quarterly data on household and individual welfare indicators, including poverty, food security, dietary quality, subjective wellbeing, and coping strategies. MAPS is a sub-sample survey that includes farming households from MHWS. There are four Rounds of MAPS. MAPS Rounds 1 and 3 were conducted between January and March 2022 and 2023 and collect recall data on monsoon production. MAPS Round 2 and 4 were conducted between June and September 2022 and 2023 and collect recall data on dry season production (pre/post monsoon season). MAPS Round 4 consists of 11 modules (A-K) that are each included in the clean dataset and unique by household ID (hhid). Modules A, B, and J are introductory and closing modules that only include information on the call and confirmation of demographic information connected to MHWS. The remaining modules provide data on farmer demographics and agricultural production and marketing. Module C consists of background and demographic information. This includes data on farmer demographics along with farm area and crops grown. Module D provides data on rice production and sales for pre/post monsoon 2022 and 2023, including rice variety, amounts produced and sold, and farmgate prices. Module E contains similar information to Module D but pertaining to pulses and oilseeds. Module F consists of data on farm input use including purchased inputs, mechanization, labor, and the effect of natural shocks. Module G presents information on crop marketing and Module H provides data on farm and livestock assets. Module I contains data on farm services including agricultural extension, credit, mobility issues in the community, travel times to access services, contract farming, crop residues, and changes in rice consumption and paddy growing practices. Module K contains information on change in rice consumption and paddy growing practices.

The true costs of food in Kenya and Vietnam: A conceptual framework

Sustainable food systems provide enough quality, healthy, and affordable food to all without imposing a burden on planetary and social boundaries. By this standard, it is quite clear that food systems in many countries are not sustainable as they generate substantial environmental, social, and health costs while failing to provide affordable food to all (FAO et al., 2020). This implies the need to have a good understanding of the extent to which those externalities are present in country specific food systems. The key challenge is that such externalities are not reflected in market prices (Baker et al., 2020), being therefore hidden factors to drivers of choices by market players, as the link between market activity and those social and environmental harms is not directly visible or reflected in the incentives that drive economic systems (UNFSS, 2021). Internalizing the externalities of the food systems will require the full estimation of costs, including the measurement of externalities through “True Cost Accounting” (TCA) approaches. This document provides the analytical framework for the application of approaches in a research study to measure the true costs of food in Kenya and Vietnam. It focuses on: o Key research questions, their relevance, and policy implications o How the TCA analytical framework fits in The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) framework o Country selection and geographic focus – national, sub-national o Data requirements for estimating the true costs, including household surveys, workers’ surveys, externally compiled Global Impact Database (GID), and monetization factors. o A step-by-step process for estimating the true costs in the study area and country level GID analysis.

Africa cannot achieve the Malabo Declaration commitments: Statistical impossibility or logical fallacy

The results of the recently released Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) 4th Biennial Review (BR) report indicate that Africa’s performance in 2023 toward achieving the Malabo Declaration commitments by 2025 has strayed farther away from being on-track. Using a scorecard method to review progress in 58 indicators that represent the commitments, previous BR reports show that the number of countries assessed to be on-track to achieve the commitments has dwindled over time, from twenty in 2017 to four in 2019 and only one in 2021. In the 4th BR in 2023, none of the 49 participating countries was on on-track. This seems to conflict with evidence of positive trends in other continent-level reports on related development indicators. According to the African Economic Outlook for example, the contribution of agriculture to overall economic growth in Africa has remained stable, especially as growth in the services and industry sectors has been irregular—and even negative in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest editions of the Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor, Africa Agriculture Status Report, and Annual Trends and Outlook Report5 also show substantial progress in terms of expansion of agricultural investments, trade, and growth and improvement in poverty and nutrition outcomes, amid challenges associated with the pandemic, climate change, conflicts, and epidemics such as the locust and fall armyworm infestations. The BR scoring method and data have some issues that contribute to the seemingly worsening performance.

Impacts of Africa RISING in Ghana

Sustainable intensification (SI) of the smallholder sector in Africa south of the Sahara is among the approaches pursued to build resilient food systems that can supply nutritionally adequate food in the face of rapid population growth and climatic changes. This study assesses the impact of Africa RISING, an SI program in Ghana implemented in the poorest and most food insecure areas of the country since 2012. The program first validated and then scaled up a wide range of SI interventions focused on improved agronomic management and crop cultivars; improved livestock feed, housing conditions, and species; crop-livestock integration; integrated natural resource management; vegetable production and nutritional education; and small-scale mechanization. Impact is estimated using two rounds of quasi-experimental panel data (conducted in 2014 and 2020), propensity score matching, and difference-indifferences techniques. The study design allows us to estimate the impact of Africa RISING by comparing outcomes among program beneficiaries with those of two different control groups—one residing in program villages (within village comparison) and another in non-program (control) villages (out-of-village comparison) on several indicators across five SI domains—environment, productivity, economic, human, and social. We also conduct a placebo test comparing non-beneficiaries in the two control groups. Results from panel data analyses show improvements in several indicators in the environmental and productivity domains. We also find a positive impact on use of conservation practices (fallowing, disc/moldboard ploughing, manure), groundnut yield, livestock, net crop income, and women’s likelihood of becoming members of farmers groups relative to non-beneficiaries. We do not find a statistically significant effect on consumption- and asset-based poverty rates, household dietary diversity, and several indicators of maternal and child nutrition. For both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, the share of monetary-based non-poor, dietary diversity, and food security have declined between baseline (2014) and follow-up (2020) likely due COVID-19. Our study highlights useful empirical lessons learned for informing future program design and impact assessments.

Africa RISING in Tanzania: Impact brief

Africa RISING project in Tanzania was implemented in Babati, Kongwa, and Kiteto districts. The project aimed at improving cropping systems through the promotion of stress resilient and high-yielding crop varieties (groundnut, sorghum, maize, and pigeon pea), support of cereal-legume intercropping, and fostering of good agricultural practices in vegetable production through reduction in pesticide use. The project also supported the adoption of a series of natural resource management practices such as rainwater harvesting, planting of fodder crops, use of mineral fertilizers, and balanced application of farmyard manure. In addition, the livestock system arm of the project introduced improved animal feeding to boost egg and milk production and reduce feed costs. Other program interventions included mechanization for postharvest handling and introduction of an integrated nutrition package for nutrition and health gains, especially for children.

Impacts of Africa RISING in Tanzania

Sustainable intensification (SI) of the smallholder sector in Africa south of the Sahara is among the approaches pursued to build resilient food systems that can supply nutritionally adequate food in the face of rapid population growth and climatic changes. This study assesses the impact of an SI program in Tanzania implemented in the poorest and most food insecure areas of the country since 2012. The program first validated and then scaled up a wide range of SI interventions focused on improved agronomic management and crop cultivars; improved livestock feed, housing conditions, and species; crop-livestock integration; integrated natural resource management; vegetable production and nutritional education; and small-scale mechanization. Impact is estimated on several SI indicators and domains using two rounds of quasi-experimental panel data (conducted in 2014 and 2022), propensity score matching, and difference-in-differences techniques. The study design allows us to estimate the impact of Africa RISING by comparing outcomes among program beneficiaries with two different counterfactual groups—one located inside program villages (within-village comparison) and another in non-program (control) villages (out-of-village comparison)—on several indicators across five SI domains environment, productivity, economic, human, and social. We also conduct a placebo test comparing non-beneficiaries in the two counterfactual groups. Results from panel data analyses show improvements in several indicators in the environmental and productivity domains. We also find positive impact of participation in Africa RISING on several indicators under all the considered domains: beneficiaries were less likely to experience soil erosion, used more inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds) per hectare, obtained higher legume yields, were more likely to produce meat and dairy, reported higher net livestock income, and experienced fewer months of food insecurity. Estimates based on within-village, out-of-village, overall, and placebo comparisons suggest important insights about the challenges in assessing the impact of agricultural programs in general and, specifically, participatory multi-intervention programs in the presence of sample (self-)selection and spillovers. Our study highlights useful empirical lessons learned for informing future program design and impact assessments.

Africa RISING in Ghana: Impact brief

The Africa RISING project in Ghana was implemented in 25 communities across the Upper East, Upper West, and Northern regions. The project supported the promotion of early maturing maize varieties and maize-cowpea intercropping, optimal crop spacing for increased groundnut yield, and maize-leaf stripping for livestock feed. It also aimed to foster the adoption of improved feeding for livestock to boost manure production, reduce animal mortality, and increase animal reproduction rates. Alongside these interventions, Africa RISING promoted effective natural resource management (leaf stripping, manure production, and use of nitrogen fertilizer). Mechanization for postharvest handling was also supported, especially the use of fuel-powered maize-shelling machines.

Opportunities and challenges for coffee production in Papua New Guinea’s highlands

Coffee is one of the most important smallholder cash crops in Papua New Guinea. It accounted for US$156 million of export earnings, 13% of agricultural export revenues, and 1.4% of total export revenues in PNG in 2021. According to the PNG Rural Household Survey 2023, approximately 55% of sampled households in the highlands produce coffee. During March and April 2024, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) collaborated with the University of Goroka (UoG) to conduct gender-differentiated focus group discussions with coffee producers in Simbu and Eastern Highlands provinces to better understand the challenges and opportunities associated with coffee production and marketing in PNG. We completed 24 focus groups, each with 10 community members, discussing production, input usage, sales volume, production shocks, pest control, labour needs and market access.

Supporting agrifood systems transformation in Indonesia with governance innovation

This policy brief summarizes the background, evidence and insights from the innovative governance modelling and analysis work developed in Indonesia under the “Governance Innovation for Sustainable Development of Food Systems” subprogramme. In addition, the brief offers guiding points and recommendations to support Indonesia’s agrifood systems transformation efforts. The FVC subprogramme was carried out between 2020 and 2023 with funds from FAO’s Flexible Voluntary Contribution (FVC). Together with Indonesia’s national agency for planning and the Ministry of Agriculture as co-convener, the subprogramme supported the Directorate for Food and Agriculture in the Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS) leading the consolidation and implementation of the agrifood systems transformation agenda, including the UNFSS follow-up. The modelling and analytical work was conducted by a pool of researchers from the Christian Albrechts University of Kiel (CAU), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). The researchers elaborated their analysis on the concrete priorities of the country and provided insights about the agrifood systems’ performance, mapping synergies and potential trade-offs across identified interventions. The information package included an examination of the interests, roles, and contributions of stakeholders, allowing for the identification of alliances and coordination needed to ensure the coordination needed to ensure the political feasibility of their agrifood systems transformation plans.

Modelling the impacts of policy interventions for agrifood systems transformation in Indonesia

The Government of Indonesia and FAO have recognized the need for thorough analysis and modelling of Indonesia’s agrifood systems to support agrifood systems transformation efforts in the country. This is needed to provide a better understanding of the governance context in agrifood systems, including the political economy dynamics influencing performance, as well as to identify synergies and trade-offs across different policy goals and optimal policy mixes for achieving multiple policy objectives. In this regard, FAO facilitated a project to pilot an innovative approach to modelling for food systems transformation. This modelling approach was developed and implemented by a team of researchers from IFPRI, IIASA, IISD and Christian-Albrechts- University of Kiel. It uses three different economic models to generate insights that can assist Indonesian policymakers in developing technically sound and politically feasible policy interventions for agrifood systems transformation. This report provides context for agrifood systems transformation in Indonesia and describes the overall modelling approach before synthesizing the results of the individual modelling activities and distilling these into the overall findings of the modelling. It concludes with implications from these findings for policymaking for agrifood systems transformation in Indonesia and suggestions for the next steps. The results of this modelling and the insights drawn from these results are expected to support efforts to translate Indonesia’s commitments on agrifood systems transformation into concrete policy interventions and to inform medium- and long-term development planning by the Indonesian Government.

Special issue opening editorial: Designing, assessing and scaling approaches for integrated seed sector development

Impacts of Africa RISING in Malawi

This study evaluates the impact of Africa RISING, a large-scale sustainable intensification (SI) program that has been implemented in Central Malawi’s Dedza and Ntcheu districts beginning in 2012. Using a participatory action research framework, the program validated and promoted alternative SI options including fertilized maize, maize-legume intercropping, intercropping of two compatible legumes, cereal-legume rotation, and double-row planting of legumes. Impact is estimated on several SI indicators and domains using two rounds of panel data and difference-in-differences techniques. The unique study design allowed us to estimate impact by comparing outcomes among program beneficiaries with two different counterfactual groups—one located inside program villages (within village comparison) and another in non-program (control) villages (out-of-village comparison). We also conduct a placebo test comparing non-beneficiaries in the two counterfactual groups. The within-village comparison shows positive impact on several agricultural and economic indicators including access to agricultural information, value of harvest, on-farm diversity, labor profitability, annual net household income, per capita household consumption expenditure, household wealth, and household dietary diversity score. We do not find a statistically significant impact on human indicators such as child and maternal nutrition. Estimates based on within-village, out-of-village, and placebo comparisons suggest important insights about the challenges in assessing the impact of agricultural programs in general and, specifically, participatory multi-intervention programs in the presence of sample (self-)selection and spillovers. Our study highlights important lessons learned to inform future program design and impact assessments.

Impacts of Africa RISING in Mali

This study evaluates the impact of Africa RISING, a sustainable intensification (SI) program, implemented in Bougouni, Yanfolila, and Koutiala cercles in southern Mali beginning in 2012. Using a participatory action research framework, the program validated and promoted alternative SI options including fertilized groundnut and sorghum, crop-legume intercropping, intercropping of two compatible legumes, access to extension services, and fertilizer microdosing, while preserving ecosystem services in the face of projected population growth and climatic changes. Impact is estimated on several SI indicators and domains using two rounds of quasi-experimental panel data (surveys conducted in 2014 and 2022) and difference-in-differences techniques. The unique study design allows us to estimate the impact of Africa RISING by comparing outcomes among program beneficiaries with two different counterfactual groups—one located inside program villages (within-village comparison) and another in non-program (control) villages (out-of-village comparison) on several indicators across five SI domains—environment, productivity, economic, human, and social. We also conduct a placebo test comparing non-beneficiaries in the two counterfactual groups. We find few statistically significant differences in the averages of the characteristics in the environmental and productivity domain among households in the within-village and out-of-village comparisons, most likely because of misreporting of program participation. Overall comparisons between households in target and non-target villages show a positive impact of AR on environmental variables such as access to extension services, and adoption of improved crops; on productivity variables such as green bean, cotton and okra yield; and on economic variables such as an increase in the non-agricultural wealth index; but no statistically significant effect on human and social indicators, namely household dietary diversity, food consumption scores, and nutritional indicators for children 0–59 months old and women 15–49 years old. Estimates based on within-village, out-of-village, and placebo comparisons suggest important insights about the challenges in assessing the impact of agricultural programs in general and, specifically, participatory multi-intervention programs in the presence of sample (self-)selection and spillovers. Our study highlights useful empirical lessons learned to inform future program design and impact assessments.

Costs and returns in Rwandan smallholder agricultural production: Gross margins and profitability analyses

This paper explores crop commercialization among smallholder agricultural households in Rwanda from a cost and revenue perspective to determine profitability at the farm level. We use standard revenue and cost equations to assess the commercial viability of the smallholders. In general, we find that a household’s total crop production creates positive returns even if implicit costs, such as own family labor and fertilizer subsidies, are included. Specifically, over 80 percent of our sample households generated positive economic returns from farming— referred to as demonstrating a positive gross economic margin (GEM). However, if only crop market sales and market input costs are used in the calculations, only 40 percent of agricultural households generated positive returns—referred to as demonstrating a positive gross marketing margin (GMM). Most of the explanation for this difference is that the typical farm household sells only about one-third of its crop production by value. This outcome suggests that many agricultural households continue to focus on cultivating food crops for their own consumption and do not specialize in commercial production. This is to be expected in an economic context where input, credit, and commodity markets are still developing, production decisions are still shaped by high levels of weather and market risk, and production risk management options are limited, among many other factors. The results of this research provide a better understanding of how Rwandan smallholders might move towards higher value production, with the ultimate goal being to increase household revenues and welfare and accelerate the country’s economic transformation.

Myanmar Agricultural Performance Survey (MAPS) Monsoon Season 2024: Agricultural input markets, credit and extension services

This note provides an overview of agricultural input access and utilization for the monsoon season 2023 based on a nationally and regionally representative sample of 4,663 crop farmers undertaken in January 22 to March 7, 2024. Key Findings  Fertilizer use rates and profitability for rice production reached their highest levels since before the coup during the 2023 monsoon season, driven primarily by higher paddy prices. Application rates for monsoon season paddy increased to 66 kg/acre from 54 kg/acre in the previous monsoon. Urea application increased from 33 kg/acre to 38 kg/acre, and non-urea fertilizers (mainly compound 15-15-15) increased from 21 kg/acre to 28 kg/acre.  The benefit-cost ratio of urea application to paddy crops averaged 2.3 at the urea sales price reported by agri-input dealers and 2.0 at farmer reported urea prices. These ratios imply a return on investment in urea fertilizer for the farmer of 130 percent at input dealer prices and 100 percent at average famer-reported prices. The difference in reported prices likely reflects interest charges and local transport costs from the dealer to the farm.  Access to mechanization services, tractors and combine harvesters was similar in monsoon 2023 compared to a year earlier, but costs increased dramatically. Plowing with a four-wheel tractor, for example, increased by 42 percent to 60,000 MMK/acre. The cost of combine harvesting averaged 110,000 MMK/acre. Timeliness of access was likely reduced as fuel shortages increased, especially in conflict areas.  The share of farmers using saved paddy seed increased from 56 percent to 61 percent nationally for use in the 2023 monsoon season compared to a year before. There were important differences across states and regions. The share of farmers purchasing seed in conflict areas fell more than the national average; by 11 percentage points in Mandalay, 7 percentage points in Rakhine, 6 percentage points in Tanintharyi, and 5 percentage points in Mon State.  Eighty-four percent of farms hired labor in the 2023 monsoon season, slightly higher than the previous monsoon season. Male wages rose to 8,800 MMK/day in the 2023 monsoon season from almost 7,400 MMK/day in the previous monsoon, an increase of 19 percent.  Despite large nominal increases, real wages for men and women nevertheless fell as the cost of a typical daily diet which rose 37 percent over the period February 2023 to March 2024.  Access to internet or mobile phone services increased by 3 percentage points from 15 percent to 18 percent, and access to private sector services increased by almost 3 percentage points from 18.0 percent to 20.6 percent. Increases in private extension access favored producers of cash crops, notably betel leaves, cotton, rice and maize. Internet or mobile phone services were sought out by producers of cotton, rice, betel leaves and pulses, again primarily cash crops. Recommendations  Improvements in the geographical coverage and content of mobile phone extension services could play an important role in offsetting reductions in in-person extension access. This is an opportunity for development partners to have a positive impact without increasing risk to beneficiaries or implementing partner staff.  The prevalence of local farmers as a seed source indicates that mobile extension services targeting informal seed producers could be important, along with facilitating access to certified seed for multiplication. As nearly all chemical input distributors and machinery service providers depend on imports, access to foreign exchange is critically important. Further sharp depreciation of the Myanmar Kyat will lead to increases in prices for the coming post-monsoon season.

Tracking Maternal and Child Anthropometric Outcomes, Early Childhood Development, Maternal Mental Health and Household Welfare in urban Yangon and rural Ayeyarwady: A Description of the 11th Round of The Rural-Urban Food Security Survey (RUFSS) conducted in October-November 2023

Myanmar’s population has become increasingly at risk of malnutrition due to political turmoil, armed conflicts, the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruptions, price fluctuations, and erratic weather patterns (MAPSA 2024; MAPSA 2023). However, given the fragile situation with respect to conflict, crime and poor governance, conducting face-to-face data collection is challenging (Lambrecht et al. 2023; Boughton et al. 2023), and there is a particular scarcity of anthropometric data since this cannot be collected via phone surveys. To redress this knowledge gap, IFPRI partnered with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)- Myanmar to conduct an in-person survey that revisited households previously surveyed in 2020-2021 by phone. This Rural-Urban Food Security interviewed mothers or caregivers of young children and collected anthropometric measurements in-person between October – November 2023. Out of approximately 1,500 mothers who participated in at least one round of the previous phone survey, we successfully followed up with 702 mother-child pairs located mainly in peri-urban Yangon, with a small subset of households in rural Ayeyarwady. This paper describes the implementation of this survey and the reports key results from the questionnaire in order to provide readers with a clear understanding of the sample and its key socioeconomic characteristics, as well as comparability to two national surveys with representative Yangon sub-samples: the Myanmar Household Welfare Survey (MHWS) conducted in 2023 and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in 2015-16. Results of this comparison suggest that the RUFSS sample of caregivers (mostly mothers) is broadly comparable to the DHS in terms of education levels. Thus, while the RUFSS sample should not be interrupted as representative of mothers of young children in Yangon or their households – because we oversample peri-urban households – it nevertheless appears to be broadly comparable to the DHS in terms of caregiver education levels, which would one not expect to change rapidly over 2015-16 to 2023.

Africa RISING impact assessment report

This report summarizes lessons from cross-country analyses of the impact of the Africa RISING (AR) program. Implemented in six countries—Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mali, and Ghana—AR aimed to provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for smallholders by sustainably intensifying their farming systems in order to enhance income and food security, particularly for women and children, while conserving or enhancing the natural resource base. Phase I (2012–2016) focused on the validation of demand-driven sustainable intensification (SI) innovations, while Phase II (2016–2022) focused on the scaling of a subset of validated SI innovations in partnership with development partners. Our impact assessment studies covered all program countries, except Zambia, and are based on two rounds of household panel survey data, excluding Ethiopia for which program effect is estimated using one round of survey data. Impact is estimated using the difference-in-differences method for countries with panel data or, for Ethiopia, based on simple comparison of outcomes between program beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. The choice of impact indicators is guided by the Sustainable Intensification Assessment Framework (SIAF) framework and survey data availability. Impact indicators encompass the five sustainable intensification (SI) domains discussed in the SIAF: environment, productivity, economic, human, and social.

Food security and social assistance in Sudan during armed conflict: Evidence from the first round of the Sudan Rural Household Survey (November 2023–January 2024)

The conflict in Sudan has severely impacted the food security landscape in rural areas, with profound implications for household diets, coping strategies, and overall food insecurity levels. Data from a national rural household phone survey conducted between October 2023 and January 2024 highlights the dire food consumption patterns, the prevalence of food insecurity, and the reliance on reduced coping strategies among the rural population of Sudan. As of the end of 2023, nearly 40 percent of rural households were consuming inadequate diets, with West Kordofan, South Kordofan, North Darfur, East Darfur, and Sennar states experiencing the highest prevalence of poor food consumption (34, 33, 29 and 24 percent, respectively). The primary components of diets were cereals and oils, with nutrient-rich foods, such as meats and fruits, consumed less frequently, highlighting a critical gap in nutritional adequacy. The situation has resulted in households across Sudan resorting to a range of coping strategies to try to meet their food needs, such as buying less preferred or less expensive food (on average 4 days out of 7), limiting portion sizes, or reducing the number of daily meals. The five coping mechanisms that were examined in the analysis were found to be implemented with approximately similar frequencies across rural Sudan. However, the situation was particularly dire in West Darfur, South Kordofan, and Khartoum, the states recording the highest prevalence of consumption of inadequate diets and the highest reduced Coping Strategy Index (rCSI) scores.

Rural income diversification in Rwanda: Opportunities and challenges

The Government of Rwanda continues to work to accelerate structural transformation to expand and diversify the country’s economy. High rural population density and small agricultural landholdings are driving workers from agricultural households to seek employment outside of farming. Using representative data on agricultural production and employment for rural households in Rwanda from 2022, this research evaluates the opportunities rural households have to diversify their labor portfolios. We find that, rather than nonfarm household enterprises developing to meet greater rural service and goods demand, agriculture wage labor is the dominant source of off-own-farm employment. However, such informal agricultural wage labor is seen as low-productivity work and is among the lowest paid. Among nonfarm employment options, nonfarm businesses generate less income than nonagricultural wage labor, likely reflecting high barriers to entrepreneurship and low demand for off-farm services in rural areas. In contrast to employment profiles from other low-income countries, we find that the probability of a worker from an agricultural household in Rwanda engaging in rural, off-farm wage labor decreases as household welfare increases. Agricultural households that have workers seeking to hire out their labor tend to have the smallest landholdings, while households that hire in labor have the largest landholdings. Additionally, households with a higher share of members who completed primary education are less likely to hire out their labor, especially for agriculture wage work. These results suggest that programs that offer support services to agricultural households, such as financial services and affordable and relevant education, may be important in incentivizing these households to engage in entrepreneurship and form their own businesses or to seek wage employment in more remunerative sectors than agriculture.

Assessing agricultural extension agent digital readiness in Rwanda

Effective agricultural extension and advisory services are a key component of efforts to achieve sustainable agricultural production, resilient livelihoods, and inclusive economic growth. These are all necessary elements for accelerating Rwanda’s agricultural transformation. Both extension and information and communication technologies (ICT) are important elements in Rwanda’s Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation. This paper examines the capacities of public and private agricultural extension agents in Rwanda and their readiness to use ICT in their work—that is, to be digitally equipped—and provides recommendations for enhancing agricultural extension capacities through expanding and effectively using ICT. To examine capacities and readiness, we use a representative survey of 500 public and private extension agents in Rwanda, augmented by qualitative data from a literature review and key informant interviews. To assess agents’ ‘digital readiness,’ we create two indices focused on their digital experiences and attitudes toward digital modernization.

South Asia Nutrition Knowledge Initiative: Abstract Digest 2

In this second edition of South Asia Nutrition Knowledge Initiative’s Abstract Digest, we present insights from new global evidence on the double burden of underweight and obesity, interventions to improve women’s diets, policy challenges related to unhealthy food and beverage marketing to children, and facilitators and barriers to implementing community-based interventions for addressing acute malnutrition in in low and middle-income countries. This issue also includes studies from Bangladesh, India, and Nepal that examine anthropometric outcomes and their determinants, utilization of various social safety net programs and linkages to undernutrition, synergistic association of antenatal care and iron-folic acid supplementation on low birthweight, and global relevance of Multicenter Growth Reference Study. We also share IFPRI’s Global Food Policy Report 2024, that highlights opportunities and challenges for transforming food systems for sustainable, and healthy diets for all. Additionally, this edition features Agri-Food Systems Data Portal for India, launched by Anuvaad Solutions, and the document on adolescent health indicators recommended by the Global Action for Measurement of Adolescent health. Below is the list of articles. Please scroll down to explore the abstracts in the pages that follow. If this Abstract Digest was forwarded to you, we invite you to subscribe. Happy reading!

Stunting and wasting rates among pre-school age children in Yangon and Ayeyarwady, October–November 2023

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 and the military takeover of the democratically elected government in early 2021 has largely prevented the implementation of in-person surveys necessary for the collection of anthropometric data. To redress this knowledge gap, we implemented an in-person survey of mothers (caregivers) and young children in urban and peri-urban Yangon and rural Ayeyarwady in October and November 2023. This in-person 11th round of the Rural-Urban Food Security Survey (RUFSS) involved data collection on a wide range of socioeconomic indicators, but also child anthropometric outcomes such as length and weight. In this study, we report results for height-for-age z scores (HAZ) and weight-for-height z scores (WHZ) relative to international reference standards, as well as stunting (HAZ < -2) and wasting (WHZ < -2). Because of high and rising rates of overweight/obesity among adults in the RUFSS survey, we also examined the number of children were overweight (WHZ > +2) and mildly overweight (+1

Prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity among mothers in Yangon and Ayeyarwady, October–November 2023

In this research note, we report results on the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity among mothers of young children using data collected in Yangon and Ayeyarwady as part of the Rural-Urban Food Security Survey (RUFSS). This in-person study, conducted between October–November 2023, surveyed mothers who were registered from antenatal clinics in peri-urban Yangon in early 2020. In this latest survey round, we revisited this sample of mother-child pairs to gather anthropometric data (along with other nutrition-relevant indicators). We successfully collected anthropometric data for 646 mothers.

Household resilience and coping strategies to food insecurity: An empirical analysis from Tajikistan

Resilience Index Measurement Analysis (RIMA) is applied to panel household survey data from 2007, 2009, and 2011 in Tajikistan to investigate the causal impact of household resilience on food security in the presence of coping strategies. Key findings • Three significant factors define household resilience capacity: access to basic services, including affordable energy supply; assets; and social safety nets. The latter two factors underscore the importance of formal and informal transfers as effective responses when shocks intensify. • Coping strategies allow households to quickly adjust their behavior to adapt to shocks in the short-term, potentially enhancing their overall resilience in the long-term. • Resilience capacity at a given point in time enhances households’ future food security. Households with higher resilience capacity are likely to have a higher household food expenditure share (HFES) and less likely to face loss of food expenditure share, particularly due to the protective effect of resilience when shocks intensify. • While households with an older head have higher food expenditure share, households with a male head and/or located in rural areas are less likely to face a worsening household food expenditure share. • As household size increases, the household food expenditure share initially decreases but eventually increases at a gradual pace. Conversely, as size increases, households are initially less likely to experience loss of HFES, but this likelihood eventually increases.

IFPRI Malawi maize market report, May 2024

The Monthly Maize Market Report was developed by researchers at IFPRI Malawi to provide clear and accurate information on the variation of maize prices in selected markets throughout Malawi. All prices are reported in Malawi Kwacha (K).

Barriers and facilitators to women’s participation in farmer producer organizations: A qualitative study exploring women’s empowerment and collective efficacy in Jharkhand, India

Over the last decade in India, farmer producer organizations (FPOs) have emerged as a means of collectivizing smallholder farmers and providing them access to extension, innovation, and market services. FPOs that center women farmers, traditionally at a disadvantage vis-à-vis their male counterparts in access to resources and extension, can serve to enhance women’s agency and collective action in agricultural value chains. We used 59 key informant interviews and nine focus group discussions to examine the constraints to, and facilitators of, women’s and men’s participation in three women-only FPOs in Jharkhand, an eastern Indian state. Additionally, we study the gender and power dynamics in such FPOs and the potential of collective efficacy to enhance agricultural and empowerment outcomes. The FPO intervention we evaluated was supported by an NGO that provides FPO members with both agricultural and gender-based inputs to improve agronomic practices, market linkages, agricultural yields and profits, and the role of women both within the FPO and within their households and communities. In this paper, we provide contextual insights on ‘what works’ to empower women in this context. Women’s perceptions of the benefits from FPO membership were heterogeneous. Our qualitative analysis suggests a nuanced picture of women’s autonomy and decision-making within and outside their household, further shaped by women’s and men’s perception of shifts in women’s access to resources and services. The emerging lessons provide inputs for development implementers and policymakers to recognize diverse contextual barriers in designing FPO interventions to enable and enhance women empowerment outcomes. The research also contributes to the body of knowledge on local gender norms and understanding of empowerment.

Gendered farm work and decision-making: Quantitative evidence from Tajikistan

Quantitative data collected in August and September 2018 in 12 districts of Khatlon Province, called “The Assessment of Nutrition-Sensitive Value Chains in the FtF ZOI in Tajikistan” were employed to analyze gender differences in participation in crop production and marketing activities, and to understand the association between women’s employment and their decision-making power at home. The dataset contains general information on the households’ farm activities, and detailed information of production practices for households’ main horticultural crops (vegetables, fruits, melons and cucurbitae).

Oilseed farming in Myanmar: An analysis of practice, productivity, and profitability: Assessment of the 2023 monsoon

We have analyzed oilseed production patterns, productivity, and profitability for the 2023 monsoon season from the Myanmar Agriculture Performance Survey (MAPS), conducted at the beginning of 2024. This survey encompassed plots managed by 802 oilseed producers, distributed across all states/regions of the country. Our findings reveal: 1. Overall, oilseed productivity increased by an average of 2 percent during the 2023 monsoon compared to the previous year. Performance differed by crop with soybean and sesame experiencing moderate increases in yield, while groundnut and sunflower witnessed a decline in average yields of one percent. This mediocre performance stemmed from low input usage (particularly fertilizer), similar labor inputs, and a high occurrence of natural shocks, notably pests, diseases, and weeds, and heavy rain and storms. 2. Despite decreasing fertilizer prices, chemical fertilizer use remained low in oilseed production, with 45 percent of farmers using chemical fertilizer in monsoon 2023. Further, chemical fertilizer use did not increase in oilseed production compared to the previous monsoon. 3. Organic fertilizer use, on the other hand, is high in oilseed production, as 63 percent of farmers applied it in the 2023 monsoon season. During this time, organic fertilizer was used by 74 percent of groundnut farmers and 76 percent of oilseed farmers in the Dry Zone. This is due to the availability of organic manure in the Dry Zone where oilseed production is high. 4. Groundnut, soybean, and sesame farmers relied on seeds saved from last year’s harvest, while 67 percent of sunflower farmers purchased seeds from ag-input retailers or the government. The percentage of oilseed farmers using self-preserved seed – instead of obtaining it from the market – increased by 9 percentage points compared to last monsoon. 5. Draught animal ownership remains important for oilseed production, especially in the Dry Zone. Seventy-one percent of oilseed farmers used draught animals in production, with 50 percent using their owned draught animals. 6. Thirty-nine percent of oilseed farmers reported being impacted by climatic or other production shocks during this monsoon, with pests, diseases, and weeds (reported by 36 percent of farmers who experienced shocks), heavy rain/ storms (reported by 34 percent), droughts (reported by 22 percent), and irregular rainfall (reported by 21 percent) having significant adverse effects on yields. 7. Oilseed prices at the farm level increased by between 20 (soybean) and 45 (sunflower) percent, reflecting changes in international oilseed prices as well as the depreciation of the MMK. 8. Real – in terms of the cost of an average food basket – gross margins from oilseed farming during the monsoon of 2023 increased by between 2 (soybean and groundnut) and 12 (sesame) percent compared to the previous year. Real sunflower gross margins declined. At the same time, nominal profits increased by 33 percent since the previous monsoon. High price inflation tempered the increase in real profits. 9. Twenty percent of oilseed farmers faced significant issues in terms of marketing, including low prices for crops, insecurity, and having trouble reaching traders. These issues likely decreased the profitability of oilseed farming for the affected farmers. 10. Oilseed farmers reflecting on this monsoon compared to last, perceived higher profits, suggesting that the oilseed sector continues to be a lucrative choice for farmers. These findings have several policy implications: 1. Ensure access to quality seeds: Reusing seeds from previous seasons reduces yields, especially when combined with climate shocks. The private sector should make quality seeds and seeds with high oil content available to boost oilseed crop yields. 2. Promote organic fertilizer use: Organic fertilizer is predominantly used in the Dry Zone. Expand its use to other agro-ecological zones to improve long-term soil fertility and help farmers mitigate the impact of fluctuating chemical fertilizer prices. The private sector and NGOs through in-person and online platforms can provide training on making compost from farm residues for farmers without access to animal manures. 3. Enhance pest and disease management: The private sector should provide farmers with access to better pest and disease management resources, including training and access to effective, environmentally friendly pesticides and herbicides. 4. Strengthen climate resilience: The private sector can strengthen climate resilience by developing and disseminating climate-resilient agricultural practices, providing training on drought-tolerant and flood-resistant crop varieties through in-person and online platforms, and offering financial incentives and technological support to farmers. 5. Create secure marketing channels: Farmers face low crop prices and safety issues during trade, along with difficulties in reaching traders due to security concerns. Develop secure and stable marketing channels to address these challenges. 6. Increase loans for oilseed crops: Given the higher production costs of groundnut, sesame, and soybean compared to sunflower, MADB should increase their loan amounts for these crops to enhance their productivity. The private sector could also lend money to oilseed farmers, given the increase in oilseed production stemming from their perceived profitability and importance to the government.

From farm to ship to fork: The role of maritime insurance in facilitating global food trade

Developments in agriculture and transportation over the last century have shifted global diets from traditional to staple crops, largely concentrating the source of populations’ nutritional and caloric needs to a limited number of producing countries. Three staple crops—rice, corn, and wheat—now provide more than 40 percent of global caloric intake. The remaining dietary needs of populations are in part met by local markets, but the outsourcing of a significant proportion of food production is now a permanent fixture of food security and nutrition in a globalized agricultural marketplace. More than 80 percent of global trade in staple crops and oilseeds relies on a handful of maritime trade routes that, when disrupted, create a chokehold on food supplies.