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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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Development Strategies and Governance

Fatma Abdelaziz

Senior Research Associate

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Bio

Fatma M. Abdelaziz is a Senior Research Associate in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. She currently leads a USAID–funded research project on cluster-based development in Egypt. She also manages the IFPRI Egypt Seminar Series which features research-based policy dialogues that aim to identify and provide evidence-based policy solutions in Egypt. Prior to her work at IFPRI, she worked as consultant with the UNDP and PwC. Fatma’s research interests include public policy and development economics, with a special focus on cluster-based development. Fatma holds an MSc in Public Policy and Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo.

Publications

Publications

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Journal Article

Harnessing digital innovations for climate action and market access: Opportunities and constraints in the CWANA region

2024Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.; Salama, Yousra; Abay, Kibrom A.; Abdelaziz, Fatma; Zaccari, Claudia; Akramkhanov, Akmal; Menza, Gianpiero; Anarbekov, Oyture
Details

Harnessing digital innovations for climate action and market access: Opportunities and constraints in the CWANA region

There is growing optimism about the potential of digital innovations to support climate action and transform agricultural markets. We review and characterize the landscape of digital innovations in the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region. We highlight major success stories associated with the potential of digital innovations to facilitate rural market transformation and support climate action, including adaptation and mitigation. Our desk and landscape review identifies various digital innovations used in Egypt, Morocco, and Uzbekistan. We then create a typology of digital innovations based on seven broad service categorizations: weather and climate; agricultural finance; energy and early warning systems; data and crowdsourcing; market information and market place; extension and advisory information; and supply chain coordination. Three technical and validation workshops supplement this review. Our review shows that digital innovations have the potential to build resilience to climate change and increase market access, but their adoption remains low and varying across contexts. Significant heterogeneity and differences exist across these countries, possibly due to different institutional and regulatory frameworks that guide demand and capacity. We identify several supply and demand-side constraints facing the digital ecosystem in the region. There is the existence of a significant digital divide fueled by gender, literacy gaps, and related socioeconomic and psychosocial constraints. A seeming disconnect also exists between pilots and scale-ups, as most existing digital applications are unsuccessful in expanding beyond the pilot phase.

Year published

2024

Authors

Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.; Salama, Yousra; Abay, Kibrom A.; Abdelaziz, Fatma; Zaccari, Claudia; Akramkhanov, Akmal; Menza, Gianpiero; Anarbekov, Oyture

Citation

Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.; Salama, Yousra; Abay, Kibrom A.; Abdelaziz, Fatma; Zaccari, Claudia; et al. 2024. Harnessing digital innovations for climate action and market access: Opportunities and constraints in the CWANA region. Global Food Security 41(June 2024): 100763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100763

Country/Region

Egypt; Morocco; Uzbekistan

Keywords

Africa; Asia; Northern Africa; Central Asia; Innovation; Market Access; Climate Change; Climate-smart Agriculture; Digital Technology

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-3.0-IGO

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2024.100763 Source record

Project

Fragility, Conflict, and Migration

Record type

Journal Article

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Working Paper

An assessment of Sudan’s wheat value chains: Exploring key bottlenecks and challenges

2022Abdelaziz, Fatma; William, Amy; Abay, Kibrom A.; Siddig, Khalid
Details

An assessment of Sudan’s wheat value chains: Exploring key bottlenecks and challenges

Wheat is a strategic and political good in Sudan and has played a central role in the country’s economy during successive regimes. Disruptions in Sudan’s wheat value chain usually leads to shortages of wheat bread, price spikes, and political unrest. With the objective of ensuring sufficient grain supplies for domestic consumption, Sudan’s domestic and imported wheat sectors have been subject to several government interventions over the last decades. Most interventions have focused on and aimed to (i) stimulate domestic production, (ii) ensure a reliable flow of wheat imports to compensate for low domestic wheat production, and (iii) monitor wheat flour and bread distribution processes to limit leakage and wastage. Sudan has two distinct wheat value chains: one for imported wheat and one for domestic wheat. The imported wheat value chain involves three major actors: milling companies, wheat flour agents, and bakeries. The domestic (locally produced) wheat value chain involves four main actors: wheat producers, wheat grain wholesalers, wheat grain retailers, and consumers. To understand the landscape of the wheat sector in Sudan, this report relies on rapid assessment surveys of the main wheat value chain actors. The aim is to closely identify different value chain actors’ distinct roles of the and to explore their linkages. The report evaluates and identifies key bottlenecks that likely cause wheat and bread supply disruptions while also shedding light on untapped opportunities and possible policy options to improve the functioning of Sudan’s wheat sector. We document wheat value chain actors’ policy preferences, which vary depending on whether actors are engaged in the domestic or the imported value chain. The report highlights the differential impact of COVID-19 and related mobility restrictions on wheat value chain members. For example, while wheat production remains mostly unaffected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the marketing, trade, and distribution of wheat and wheat flour has been adversely affected by it.

Year published

2022

Authors

Abdelaziz, Fatma; William, Amy; Abay, Kibrom A.; Siddig, Khalid

Citation

Abdelaziz, Fatma; William, Amy; Abay, Kibrom A.; and Siddig, Khalid. 2022. An assessment of Sudan’s wheat value chains: Exploring key bottlenecks and challenges. Sudan SSP Working Paper 4. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.135876

Country/Region

Sudan

Keywords

Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Northern Africa; Value Chains; Policies; Covid-19; Farmers; Retail; Wholesale Markets; Assessment; Domestic Production; Wheat; Prices; International Trade; Governance

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.135876 Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Wheat subsidies, wheat markets and food security in Sudan: Current state and options for the future

2022Abay, Kibrom A.; Abdelaziz, Fatma; Abdelfattah, Lina Alaaeldin; Breisinger, Clemens; Dorosh, Paul A.; Resnick, Danielle; Siddig, Khalid; William, Amy
Details

Wheat subsidies, wheat markets and food security in Sudan: Current state and options for the future

This policy note summarizes the key findings from the following four research papers prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute with financial support by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID): 1. Bottlenecks in Sudan’s Wheat Value Chains: Insights from Surveys 2. Evaluating Cereal Market (Dis)Integration in Sudan 3. Distributional Consequences of Wheat Policy in Sudan: A Simulation Model Analysis 4. Political Economy of Wheat Value Chains in Post-Revolution Sudan

Year published

2022

Authors

Abay, Kibrom A.; Abdelaziz, Fatma; Abdelfattah, Lina Alaaeldin; Breisinger, Clemens; Dorosh, Paul A.; Resnick, Danielle; Siddig, Khalid; William, Amy

Citation

Abay, Kibrom A.; Abdelaziz, Fatma; Abdelfattah, Lina Alaaeldin; Breisinger, Clemens; Dorosh, Paul A.; Resnick, Danielle; Siddig, Khalid; and William, Amy. 2022. Wheat subsidies, wheat markets and food security in Sudan: Current state and options for the future. SSSP Policy Note 1. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134970

Country/Region

Sudan

Keywords

Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Northern Africa; Value Chains; Bread; Markets; Subsidies; Food Security; Wheat; Food Prices

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134970 Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Brief

Blogs

Egypt conference: Opportunities and challenges of cluster-based development
IFPRI Blog
 | 
February 28, 2019

Egypt conference: Opportunities and challenges of cluster-based development

By Hoda El Enbaby and Fatma Abdelaziz

IFPRI researchers on what the evidence shows about sparking local economic development in China and Egypt.

Egypt and other Arab countries need sound policies to jump-start development efforts
IFPRI Blog
 | 
June 24, 2016

Egypt and other Arab countries need sound policies to jump-start development efforts

By Katarlah Taylor, Fatma Abdelaziz, and Jose Luis Figueroa

Participants at a recent Cairo seminar held to mark the Egypt launch of IFPRI’s Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) grappled with the Arab region’s profound development problems. The upheavals of the Arab Spring halted progress in meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), said Clemens Breisinger, director of IFPRI’s Egypt Strategy Support Program. “It […]

Events

The potential of digital tools to support farmers in Egypt: Lessons learned and way forward
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

November 9, 2021, 8:00 – 10:30 am

The potential of digital tools to support farmers in Egypt: Lessons learned and way forward

Virtual Event: NOV 9, 2021 – 08:00 AM to 10:30 AM EST. This technical workshop aims to mobilize various actors' efforts as well support the MALR consolidate and mainstream existing digital services in Egypt. 

COVID-19 lessons for rebuilding resilient value chains and agri-food system
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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March 2, 2021, 9:00 – 10:30 am

COVID-19 lessons for rebuilding resilient value chains and agri-food system

The COVID-19 pandemic is an important reminder and rationale for investing in resilient value chains and agri-food systems. The pandemic revealed important vulnerabilities in national and global food systems. Although the pandemic continues to ravish national economies, these impacts vary across sectors and value chains. Most sectors and value chains are being (negatively) affected by […]

Launch of IFPRI’s 2019 Global Food Policy Report: Revitalizing Rural Areas in Lebanon & Soft Launch of WBG’s DigitalAG4MENA
Series/Special Event

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June 18, 2019, 11:00 – 2:00 pm

Launch of IFPRI’s 2019 Global Food Policy Report: Revitalizing Rural Areas in Lebanon & Soft Launch of WBG’s DigitalAG4MENA

The Launch of IFPRI’s 2019 Global Food Policy Report Welcoming Remarks Keynote Presentations Global Food Policy – Key Findings of the GFPR 2019 Regional Chapter – Cluster-Based Industrialization to Revitalize MENA Rural Areas Panel Discussion and Q&A Session Rural Revitalization: The Last Rabbit out of the Development Hat Can we Leap-Frog into Digitization? Promoting Agricultural […]

News

February 24, 2016 | Press Release

IFPRI, a Global Leader in Food and Agriculture Research, Opens Program Office in Cairo

IFPRI, a Global Leader in Food and Agriculture Research, Opens Program Office in Cairo The Cairo hub will produce scientific evidence and build national capacity to raise incomes of the rural poor and improve food and nutrition security in Egypt Office to serve as a resource for journalists February 24, 2016, Cairo, Egypt—The International Food […]

Research

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