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

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researcher spotlight

Samuel Benin

Samuel Benin is the Acting Director for Africa in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He conducts research on national strategies and public investment for accelerating food systems transformation in Africa and provides analytical support to the African Union’s CAADP Biennial Review.

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

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Finance and Administration

James Fields

Director of Finance and Administration

Bio

James Fields is the Director of Finance and Administration at IFPRI. In this capacity, he oversees the IFPRI’s annual budget of $150+ million and leads finance and administration across the Institute, which includes the Finance, Computer Services, Travel, and Facilities departments. He has participated in a number of CGIAR meetings and working groups in relation to the current funding and operational changes within CGIAR.

Prior to his current appointment, James served as IFPRI’s Controller for 13 years, during which time he played an instrumental role in successfully launching key financial and administrative initiatives. James also has extensive accounting and management experience, with over 18 years working for a variety of companies in the private sector, including several years with one of the big four accounting firms. James is a Certified Public Accountant and earned his BS in Accounting from Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Finance and Administration

Publications

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Brief

Synopsis: Crop commercialization in Rwanda: Current market participation and drivers

2024Warner, James; Benimana, Gilberthe; Mugabo, Serge; Ingabire, Chantal
Details

Synopsis: Crop commercialization in Rwanda: Current market participation and drivers

As Rwanda emerges from the effects of COVID-19 and global price shocks caused by the Russia/Ukrainian conflict, there is an opportunity to focus on agricultural fundamentals to drive its economic transformation. One aspect of the transformation is how farm households are engaging in crop commercialization. This policy note outlines basic findings and suggested recommendations derived from a 2022 Rwandan commercialization household survey. Our basic unit of analysis is total crop sold divided by total value produced, averaged at either the household or individual crop level. Key findings include:  Approximately 20% of our sampled smallholder households do not sell any crops. However, contrary to a subsistence/commercial farm dichotomy, most households sell on a broad continuum ranging from 1 – 100% with an average of 33% of their total crop production marketed.  Crop value per hectare increases with greater marketed sales, indicating that farmers switch from lower value food crops (e.g. beans, cassava, maize) to cash crops such as fruits and vegetables where they market higher percentages.  Crop value per hectare is not correlated with land size, revealing that crop choices drive value and not increasing land-related economies of scale. This finding underscores the pivotal role of crop selection in determining agricultural productivity and economic returns, rather than mere expansion of land holdings.  Irrigation, land size, hiring labor and input purchases increase market participation as well as percentage of sales. Conversely, a larger family size has a negative effect on both.

Year published

2024

Authors

Warner, James; Benimana, Gilberthe; Mugabo, Serge; Ingabire, Chantal

Citation

Warner, James; Benimana, Gilberthe; Mugabo, Serge; and Ingabire, Chantal. 2024. Synopsis: Crop commercialization in Rwanda: Current market participation and drivers. Rwanda SSP Policy Note 11. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141779

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Agriculture; Commercialization; Food Crops; Markets; Cash Crops; Food Security; Income; Surpluses

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Brief

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Working Paper

Crop commercialization in Rwanda: Current market participation and drivers

2024Warner, James; Benimana, Gilberthe; Mugabo, Serge; Ingabire, Chantal
Details

Crop commercialization in Rwanda: Current market participation and drivers

In this paper, we explore the current levels and participation of crop commercialization by Rwandan smallholder farmers. Our basic unit of analysis is total crop sales divided by the total value of crop production, either at the household or specific crop level. Overall, our findings suggest that approximately 80 percent of farmers participate in crop market sales and sell an average of 33 percent of their total production. However, there is a wide variety of percentage sales by crop and, in general, higher-valued crops are sold by more commercialized farm households. We also find that value of crop production per hectare rises with greater commercialization, suggesting that developing greater market commercialization, particularly with more valuable crops, may increase household incomes and aid in the economic transformation.

Year published

2024

Authors

Warner, James; Benimana, Gilberthe; Mugabo, Serge; Ingabire, Chantal

Citation

Warner, James; Benimana, Gilberthe; Mugabo, Serge; and Ingabire, Chantal. 2024. Crop commercialization in Rwanda: Current market participation and drivers. Rwanda SSP Working Paper 11. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141718

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Agriculture; Income; Surpluses; Food Crops; Cash Crops; Food Security; Markets; Commercialization

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Working Paper

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Working Paper

Agricultural mechanization policy options in Rwanda

2024Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Benimana, Gilberthe; Spielman, David J.; Warner, James
Details

Agricultural mechanization policy options in Rwanda

This paper summarizes general demand- and supply-side issues for agricultural mechanization based on recent studies that focus on experiences and evidence from both Africa and Asia. The paper pro vides typologies of agricultural mechanization in Rwanda along with policy options within the context of its current mechanization support strategies. Provincial variations in agroecology and cropping systems, irrigated/rainfed systems, farm size, and labor use intensity, among other factors, characterize the key types of mechanization use in Rwanda. Support for mechanization in Rwanda can be broadly tailored to (a) irrigated medium-scale farmers in the Eastern province and Kigali; (b) rainfed medium-scale farmers in the Eastern and Southern provinces; (c) rainfed, small-scale highland farmers in the Northern province; and (d) irrigated small-scale farmers in the Western province. Recent experiences in other countries with rugged terrain and smallholder farming systems similar to Rwanda suggest that significant growth in the use of tractors is possible in the medium term among smallholders cultivating rainfed maize and legumes, in addition to irrigated rice. However, farm wages may still be too low in Rwanda and tractor-hiring fees may still be too high to induce a shift to mechanization in the short term. Therefore, it may be advisable for policy support for mechanization to focus on improving the understanding of mechanization needs among each type of farmers identified, knowledge of suitable machines, and required skills for their operations and maintenance. Such efforts should also balance the need to develop competitive markets and supply networks for promising machines, parts, and repair services at a viable and integrated market scale.

Year published

2024

Authors

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Benimana, Gilberthe; Spielman, David J.; Warner, James

Citation

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Benimana, Gilberthe; Spielman, David J.; and Warner, James. 2024. Agricultural mechanization policy options in Rwanda. Rwanda SSP Working Paper 9. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141685

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Supply Balance; Agricultural Mechanization; Irrigation; Farm Size; Smallholders; Tractors; Income

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Working Paper