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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

Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

John Hoddinott

Nonresident Fellow

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Bio

John Hoddinott is a Nonresident Fellow in the Poverty Health and Nutrition Division. He is also H.E. Babcock Professor of Food & Nutrition Economics and Policy, Cornell University. He was formerly a deputy director of the Poverty Health and Nutrition Division of IFPRI. A Canadian citizen, Hoddinott holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Toronto, an M.A. from York University and a D.Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford.

His principal research interest lies in the microeconometric analysis of issues in development economics. John is especially interested in the causes of poverty, food insecurity and undernutrition, and the design and evaluation of interventions that would reduce these. Much of his current research has focused on the determinants and consequences of human capital formation. This builds on his earlier work on modeling the processes of intra-household resource allocation and on labor markets. John has also had involvement in discussions surrounding aid flows, responses to the 2008 food price crisis and reforms to the global food security architecture such as the Food Aid Convention.

Publications

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Publications

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Journal Article

Increasing production diversity and diet quality: Evidence from Bangladesh

2024Ahmed, Akhter; Coleman, Fiona M.; Ghostlaw, Julie; Hoddinott, John F.; Menon, Purnima; Parvin, Aklima; Pereira, Audrey; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Roy, Shalini; Younus, Masuma
Details

Increasing production diversity and diet quality: Evidence from Bangladesh

In the context of rural Bangladesh, we assess whether agriculture training alone, nutrition behavior communication change (BCC) alone, combined agriculture training and nutrition BCC, or agriculture training and nutrition BCC combined with gender sensitization improve: (a) production diversity, either on household fields or through crop, livestock, or aquaculture activities carried out near the family homestead; and (b) diet diversity and the quality of household diets. All treatment arms were implemented by government employees. Implementation quality was high. No treatment increased production diversification of crops grown on fields. Treatment arms with agricultural training did increase the number of different crops grown in homestead gardens and the likelihood of any egg, dairy, or fish production but the magnitudes of these effect sizes were small. All agricultural treatment arms had, in percentage terms, large effects on measures of levels of homestead production. However, because baseline levels of production were low, the magnitude of these changes in absolute terms was modest. Nearly all treatment arms improved measures of food consumption and diet with the largest effects found when nutrition and agriculture training were combined. Relative to treatments combining agriculture and nutrition training, we find no significant impact of adding the gender sensitization on our measures of production diversity or diet quality. Interventions that combine agricultural training and nutrition BCC can improve both production diversity and diet quality, but they are not a panacea. They can, however, contribute toward better diets of rural households.

Year published

2024

Authors

Ahmed, Akhter; Coleman, Fiona M.; Ghostlaw, Julie; Hoddinott, John F.; Menon, Purnima; Parvin, Aklima; Pereira, Audrey; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Roy, Shalini; Younus, Masuma

Citation

Ahmed, Akhter; Coleman, Fiona; Ghostlaw, Julie; Hoddinott, John F.; Menon, Purnima; Parvin, Aklima; et al. 2024. Increasing production diversity and diet quality: Evidence from Bangladesh. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 106(3): 1089-1110. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12427

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Agriculture; Agricultural Training; Nutrition; Behaviour; Communication; Gender; Diversification; Production; Dietary Diversity; Aquaculture; Rural Areas; Households

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12427 Source record

Project

Transforming Agrifood Systems in South Asia

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Transfers, nutrition programming, and economic well-being: Experimental evidence from Bangladesh

2024Ahmed, Akhter U.; Hoddinott, John; Roy, Shalini; Sraboni, Esha
Details

Transfers, nutrition programming, and economic well-being: Experimental evidence from Bangladesh

Many cash transfer programs include complementary nutrition training, with the aim of encouraging households to use transfer resources toward improving child nutrition. Evidence indicates that these bundled programs, if intensive and well-implemented, can be effective in improving child nutritional status. However, little is known about how adding nutrition training to transfer programs affects their economic impacts. In particular, few studies have assessed whether nutrition programming may induce reallocation of transfer resources from physical capital to human capital. Scarce evidence also exists as to whether these tradeoffs depend on the transfer modality. We study a pilot program called the Transfer Modality Research Initiative in Bangladesh (TMRI), designed as a randomized controlled trial. TMRI provided cash or food transfers, with or without intensive group-based nutrition behavior change communication (BCC), to mothers of young children in poor rural households. We find that adding nutrition BCC to cash or food transfers leads to larger impacts on both consumption and assets – potentially surprising, given that the transfer value is unchanged. Analysis of mechanisms suggests that these effects occur through the BCC inducing increases in income generation, through investments in livelihoods. Suggestive evidence indicates that the effects of TMRI’s BCC are plausibly due to the intensive group-based format, which increased social capital for participant women and their household members, as well as improved participant women’s agency and self-confidence, knowledge, and input into household decisions. Results indicate that adding nutrition BCC to cash or food transfer programs do not necessarily induce a tradeoff between investing in human capital versus physical capital, but can rather strengthen impacts on both if appropriately designed.

Year published

2024

Authors

Ahmed, Akhter U.; Hoddinott, John; Roy, Shalini; Sraboni, Esha

Citation

Ahmed, Akhter U.; Hoddinott, John; Roy, Shalini; and Sraboni, Esha. Transfers, nutrition programming, and economic well-being: Experimental evidence from Bangladesh. World Development 173(January 2024): 106414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106414

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Cash Transfers; Child Nutrition; Economic Impact; Food Security; Households; Livelihoods; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106414 Source record

Project

Gender Equality

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

The glass of milk half-empty? Dairy development and nutrition in low and middle income countries

2024Headey, Derek D.; Alderman, Harold; Hoddinott, John; Narayanan, Sudha
Details

The glass of milk half-empty? Dairy development and nutrition in low and middle income countries

Dairy products have an exceptionally rich nutrient profile and have long been promoted in high income countries to redress child malnutrition. But given all this potential, and the high burden of undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), why isn’t dairy consumption more actively promoted in the developing world? In this review we focus on a broadly defined concept of “dairy development” to include production, trade, marketing, regulation, and demand stimulation. We address three key questions. First, how strong is the evidence on the importance of dairy production and consumption for improving nutrition among young children in LMICs? Second, which regions have the lowest consumption of dairy products? Third, what are the supply- and demand-side challenges that prevent LMICs from expanding dairy consumption? We argue that although more nutrition- and consumer-oriented dairy development interventions have tremendous potential to redress undernutrition in LMICs, the pathways for achieving this development are highly context-specific: LMICs with significant agroecological potential for dairy production primarily require institutional solutions for the complex marketing challenges in perishable milk value chains; lower potential LMICs require consumer-oriented trade and industrial approaches to the sector’s development. And all dairy strategies require a stronger focus on cross-cutting issues of nutrition education and demand creation, food safety and quality, gender and inclusiveness, and environmental sustainability and resilience. We conclude our review by emphasizing important areas for research and policy expansion.

Year published

2024

Authors

Headey, Derek D.; Alderman, Harold; Hoddinott, John; Narayanan, Sudha

Citation

Headey, Derek D.; Alderman, Harold; Hoddinott, John; and Narayanan, Sudha. 2024. The glass of milk half-empty? Dairy development and nutrition in low and middle income countries. Food Policy 122(January 2024): 102585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2023.102585

Keywords

Child Stunting; Malnutrition; Milk Production; Nutrition Education; Value Chains

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2023.102585 Source record

Project

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

Ethiopia’s social safety net effective in limiting COVID-19 impacts on rural food insecurity
IFPRI Blog
 | 
January 28, 2021

Ethiopia’s social safety net effective in limiting COVID-19 impacts on rural food insecurity

By Kibrom A. Abay, Guush Berhane, John Hoddinott, and Kibrom Tafere

A survey shows such programs can be effective in addressing the impacts of sudden shocks.

Impact study demonstrates Bt brinjal eggplant variety helps farmers in Bangladesh earn more with less pesticide
IFPRI Blog
 | 
October 18, 2019

Impact study demonstrates Bt brinjal eggplant variety helps farmers in Bangladesh earn more with less pesticide

By Akhter Ahmed, John Hoddinott, Paul Tanger, and Lesley Perlman

A new genetically-engineered pest-resistant eggplant variety shows promise.

Rohingya in Bangladesh are surviving – but their long-term prospects are grim
IFPRI Blog
 | 
July 02, 2019

Rohingya in Bangladesh are surviving – but their long-term prospects are grim

By Paul Dorosh and John Hoddinott

Aid efforts have averted a potential humanitarian disaster. Needed now – a long-term solution.

Events

The Forced Exile of Rohingyas into Bangladesh: Economic and Nutritional Outcomes and Future Policy Options
IFPRI Policy Seminar

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July 10, 2019, 12:15 – 1:45 pm

The Forced Exile of Rohingyas into Bangladesh: Economic and Nutritional Outcomes and Future Policy Options

More than 600,000 Rohingya people fled violence in Myanmar in 2017 and crossed into southeastern Bangladesh, joining 200,000 to 400,000 other forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals.   This seminar will include analysis of incomes, employment, food security, and nutrition based on a household survey conducted in camps housing Rohingyas and in neighboring host communities. Model simulations […]

News

September 16, 2020 | In the News

Indian farmers can’t wait anymore, they are sowing seeds of GM crops one Bt brinjal at a time (The Print)

The Print (India) published an article on how the Modi govt’s nod to field trials of two brinjal varieties comes after years of delayed decisions, leaving farmers to deal with daily risks of agriculture. Whereas the projects failed in India, Bangladesh picked up where India left off.  IFPRI, together with the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), carried out […]

October 24, 2019 | Press Release

NEW STUDY: Food markets near Ethiopia’s poor provide too little diversity at too high a price for optimum child health

Washington, D.C.: The rural poor in Ethiopia tend to live near lower-quality markets that sell fewer food groups at high prices, adversely impacting the health of children in these communities, a new study from researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has found. The findings, drawn from data from rural Ethiopia, mark the […]

October 11, 2019 | In the News

Merit of Bt brinjal technology

The Financial Express (India) published an op-ed by Abdul Bayer who wrote it’s time to pay more attention to non-rice crops. IFPRI, in a coauthored paper by Akhter Ahmed, John Hoddinott, Naveen Abedin, Nusrat Hossain discussed the results of the GM crop eggplant. It looked at pesticide use, infestation, net yields, and health.