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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.

Where we work

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Where we work

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

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experts

Development Strategies and Governance

Emily Schmidt

Senior Research Fellow

Bio

Emily Schmidt is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Her research focuses on the intersection of development economics and geographic information systems (GIS) with an emphasis on the dynamic process of rural land transformation, rural employment diversification, and agricultural production outcomes on household welfare. Her most recent research explores household livelihood strategies in Papua New Guinea, including linkages between agriculture, poverty, and nutrition outcomes among rural smallholder farmers.

Publications

RePEc

CV

Publications

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Working Paper

Rural income diversification in Rwanda: Opportunities and challenges

2024Schmidt, Emily; Mugabo, Serge; Rosenbach, Gracie
Details

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.

Year published

2024

Authors

Schmidt, Emily; Mugabo, Serge; Rosenbach, Gracie

Citation

Schmidt, Emily; Mugabo, Serge; and Rosenbach, Gracie. 2004. Rural income diversification in Rwanda: Opportunities and challenges. Rwanda SSP Working Paper 13. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Agricultural Production; Economic Aspects; Employment; Welfare; Education; Land Ownership

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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Brief

Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: January 2024

2024International Food Policy Research Institute; Jemal, Mekamu; Schmidt, Emily
Details

Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: January 2024

This bulletin presents food price trends during the fourth quarter of 2023 and compares current prices with those of previous years (2021-2022) from major markets across Papua New Guinea using data collected by Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPD). It is important to note that during the fourth quarter of 2023, none of the markets had a complete set of fortnightly price data. While Port Moresby had fortnightly observations for October and December, the rest of the markets (Goroka, Banz Kokopo, Lae) collected price data on a monthly basis. No data was collected in the 4th quarter from Mt Hagen market. To access the complete and comprehensive price dataset, you can download it from our website. This bulletin reports the average real monthly fresh food price data from Port Moresby, Goroka, Banz, and Kokopo markets. The prices presented in this report are in real terms, adjusted for inflation using FAO consumer price index (CPI).

Year published

2024

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute; Jemal, Mekamu; Schmidt, Emily

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 2024. Papua New Guinea food price bulletin: January 2024. Papua New Guinea Food Price Bulletin January 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141485

Country/Region

Papua New Guinea

Keywords

Melanesia; Legumes; Markets; Food Prices; Staple Foods

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

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Working Paper

The impacts of production and price shocks on the coffee industry in PNG

2024Arua, Stanley; Gondo, Rober; Kinau, Adrian; Kotto, Aaron; Dorosh, Paul A.; Schmidt, Emily; Tian, Junyan
Details

The impacts of production and price shocks on the coffee industry in PNG

Coffee is one of Papua New Guinea’s leading agricultural export in value terms, accounting for 156 million USD of export earnings in 2021 (FAOSTAT, 2023), 13 percent of agricultural export revenues and 1.4 percent of total export revenues. The coffee industry is a major source of income for some 2.5 million people, mainly in farm households, and is cultivated in 17 out of 22 provinces (ACIAR, 2021). Coffee exports and incomes are threatened, however, by a number of supply side factors such as ageing coffee trees, outbreaks of coffee berry borer, poor production practices and challenges in reaching markets (i.e. transport and post-harvest handling), as well as by demand-side fluctuations in the world price of coffee (World Bank, 2022; Dorum et al., 2023). This research note first presents an overview of PNG’s coffee sector, including a discussion of production trends and structure of the coffee value chain. We then utilize a simple partial equilibrium model of coffee supply and demand, along with data on coffee production and household consumption from the PNG Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of 2009/10, FAOSTAT and the World Bank, to simulate the impacts of potential production and price shocks on the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Finally, we present an analysis of price movements in recent years and the potential costs and benefits of a price stabilization policy for coffee producers.

Year published

2024

Authors

Arua, Stanley; Gondo, Rober; Kinau, Adrian; Kotto, Aaron; Dorosh, Paul A.; Schmidt, Emily; Tian, Junyan

Citation

Arua, Stanley; Gondo, Robert; Kinau, Adrian; Kotto, Aaron; Dorosh, Paul; Schmidt, Emily; and Tian, Junyan. 2024. The impacts of production and price shocks on the coffee industry in PNG. Papua New Guinea Project Note December 2023. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140479

Country/Region

Papua New Guinea

Keywords

Oceania; Coffee; Agriculture; Income; Households

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Blogs

2023 Papua New Guinea Rural Household Survey: Insights on livelihoods and the agrifood system
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 22, 2024

2023 Papua New Guinea Rural Household Survey: Insights on livelihoods and the agrifood system

By Trudie Sikas-Iha and Emily Schmidt

New data on diets.

Improving agricultural value chain coordination and gender inclusiveness in Papua New Guinea
IFPRI Blog
 | 
December 20, 2022

Improving agricultural value chain coordination and gender inclusiveness in Papua New Guinea

By Lucia Carrillo, Peixun Fang, Katrina Kosec, and Emily Schmidt

Challenges and opportunities for women to engage in more profitable work.

Model: Impacts of the COVID-19-driven rise in global rice prices on consumers in Papua New Guinea
IFPRI Blog
 | 
May 20, 2021

Model: Impacts of the COVID-19-driven rise in global rice prices on consumers in Papua New Guinea

By Emily Schmidt and Paul Dorosh

Households may have reduced rice consumption as much as 15% or more,

Events

2023 PNG Rural Household Survey: Report Launch
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

March 18, 2024, 12:30 – 3:30 pm

2023 PNG Rural Household Survey: Report Launch

In-person Event: March 7, 2024 – 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM GMT+10. This seminar will provide results of the rural household survey and discuss opportunities for promoting agricultural transformation for economic growth and food security in PNG. 

Linkages of Agriculture, Nutrition and Economic Development
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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June 12, 2019, 9:00 – 12:30 pm

Linkages of Agriculture, Nutrition and Economic Development

Approximately 80 percent of the population in PNG is semi-dependent on subsistence agriculture, however limited economic analysis exists to inform policy priorities aimed at sustainable growth and poverty reduction in rural areas. Renewed efforts to inform overall agricultural production and resilience in Papua New Guinea have taken place over the last several years. This workshop […]

Resilient agriculture to accelerate progress: Compact2025 Forum in Ethiopia
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

December 15, 2017, 8:30 – 5:30 pm

Resilient agriculture to accelerate progress: Compact2025 Forum in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has made impressive progress reducing hunger and undernutrition, but “food security and nutrition are still key development issues,” said Dejene Abesha, RED&FS Secretariat, at the conference on The Future of Ethiopia’s Agriculture: Towards a Resilient System to End Hunger and Undernutrition held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on December 15, 2017. IFPRI and Compact2025 co-hosted […]

News

June 13, 2019 | In the News

Rural Communities Trapped in Poverty: Survey (Post-Courier)

Recent findings from an IFPRI survey on food consumption in Papua New Guinea found poor households were not getting enough food. Researcher Emily Schmidt calls for increased access to education to improve rural families' predicaments.

March 26, 2019 | In the News

New data offers insights into rural poverty and undernutrition in Papua New Guinea (Reuters)

Reuters published an opinion article by Research Fellow, Emily Schmidt, based on IFPRI’s ongoing work in Papua New Guinea. In the article, Schmidt highlighted how lack of data has hampered the country’s efforts to curb hunger and malnutrition.