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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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Markets, Trade, and Institutions

Thomas Reardon

Nonresident Fellow

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Bio

Thomas Reardon is a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University. Tom has been at MSU since 1992; IFPRI Research Fellow 1986-1991; Rockefeller Foundation Post-Doc with IFPRI in Burkina Faso 1984-1986; Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1984, and masters from the Université de Nice and Columbia University.

Tom researches the transformation of food value chains: (1) the e-commerce and food delivery intermediaries; (2) the “supermarket revolution” and the “food service revolution” (3) the “Quiet Revolution” (the diffusion of SMEs in the midstream of value chains); and (4) R&D and farm inputs supply chain transformation. He studies the impacts of these transformations on food industry business strategies, on farms, consumption/nutrition, and employment.

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Publications on Google Scholar

Publications

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Journal Article

African domestic supply booms in value chains of fruits, vegetables, and animal products fueled by spontaneous clusters of SMEs

2024Reardon, Thomas; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Belton, Ben; Dolislager, Michael; Minten, Bart; Popkin, Barry; Vos, Rob
Details

African domestic supply booms in value chains of fruits, vegetables, and animal products fueled by spontaneous clusters of SMEs

There is an international consensus that Africans consume less fruits and vegetables (FV), and animal products (AP) than they need for adequate nutrition, and that production and supply chains of these products are constrained. Yet, in this paper, we show that despite these problems, there is a lot of dynamism in demand and supply of these nutrient-dense products in Africa: (1) macro evidence of “domestic supply booms”—with supply growing as fast as or faster than in Asia and Latin America; (2) only 2–4% of FV, and 10% of AP consumption in Africa is imported, and only about 1–2% of the output of FV and AP is exported: the supply booms have thus been overwhelming domestically sourced, not imported; (3) micro evidence of substantial shares of consumption of FV and AP in total food consumption, similar to Asia’s; (4) evidence of rapid development of spontaneous clusters of farms and off-farm SMEs (output wholesalers, logistics, processors, and agro-dealers supporting farmers). These clusters are important in fueling the supply booms. Illustrative cases from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zambia are presented. We recommend that African governments and international partners: (1) internalize the fact that these spontaneous clusters are forming and already fueling supply booms; (2) note that important drivers of the booms have been government investments in wholesale markets, roads, and other infrastructure like electrification, and agricultural research/extension; (3) leverage and support existing spontaneous clusters and help new ones to form by greatly increasing those three types of public investments. JEL Codes: O20, Q13, Q18

Year published

2024

Authors

Reardon, Thomas; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Belton, Ben; Dolislager, Michael; Minten, Bart; Popkin, Barry; Vos, Rob

Citation

Reardon, Thomas; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Belton, Ben; Dolislager, Michael; Minten, Bart; Popkin, Barry; and Vos, Rob. 2024. African domestic supply booms in value chains of fruits, vegetables, and animal products fueled by spontaneous clusters of SMEs. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 46(2): 390-413. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13436

Country/Region

Ethiopia; Nigeria; Zambia

Keywords

Tanzania; Africa; Eastern Africa; Western Africa; Southern Africa; Animal Products; Enterprises; Fruits; Vegetables; Value Chains

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13436 Source record

Project

Rethinking Food Markets

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Vulnerability of Nigerian maize traders to a confluence of climate, violence, disease and cost shocks

2024Vargas, Carolina M.; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Reardon, Thomas
Details

Vulnerability of Nigerian maize traders to a confluence of climate, violence, disease and cost shocks

Purpose We study five exogenous shocks: climate, violence, price hikes, spoilage and the COVID-19 lockdown. We analyze the association between these shocks and trader characteristics, reflecting trader vulnerability. Design/methodology/approach Using primary survey data on 1,100 Nigerian maize traders for 2021 (controlling for shocks in 2017), we use probit models to estimate the probabilities of experiencing climate, violence, disease and cost shocks associated with trader characteristics (gender, size and region) and to estimate the probability of vulnerability (experiencing severe impacts). Findings Traders are prone to experiencing more than one shock, which increases the intensity of the shocks. Price shocks are often accompanied by violence, climate and COVID-19 shocks. The poorer northern region is disproportionately affected by shocks. Northern traders experience more price shocks while Southern traders are more affected by violence shocks given their dependence on long supply chains from the north for their maize. Female traders are more likely to experience violent events than men who tend to be more exposed to climate shocks. Research limitations/implications The data only permit analysis of the general degree of impact of a shock rather than quantifying lost income. Originality/value This paper is the first to analyze the incidence of multiple shocks on grain traders and the unequal distribution of negative impacts. It is the first such in Africa based on a large sample of grain traders from a primary survey.

Year published

2024

Authors

Vargas, Carolina M.; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Reardon, Thomas

Citation

Vargas, Carolina M.; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; and Reardon, Thomas. 2024. Vulnerability of Nigerian maize traders to a confluence of climate, violence, disease and cost shocks. Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies. Article in press. First published online April 22, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1108/JADEE-08-2023-0214

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Africa; Western Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Climate; Covid-19; Maize; Violence; Vulnerability

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1108/jadee-08-2023-0214 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Brief

Outsource agrifood service MSMEs facilitating pivoting by fruits & vegetables farmers, wholesalers, and retailers

2024Reardon, Thomas; Awokuse, Titus; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Minten, Bart; Nguyen, Geneviève; Qanti, Sara; Swinnen, Johan; Vos, Rob; Zilberman, David
Details

Outsource agrifood service MSMEs facilitating pivoting by fruits & vegetables farmers, wholesalers, and retailers

There is an important gap in the literature regarding evidence about the emergence of outsource agrifood services. We contend that there are few studies on outsource services for differentiated product value chains, particularly in developing countries. To some extent, also, there is a knowledge gap regarding the use and effectiveness of eco-certification and labeling compliance-assisting services in developed countries. The bulk of attention on outsource services is centered at the commodity phase (such as with bulk grains) and the modern stage, and less attention is being paid to the product differentiation phase. To fill these voids, we focus on three country illustrations, ranging in the product cycle phases from transitional to transitional-modern to modern, and from early differentiating case in Ethiopia (on basic quality) to intermediate differentiating case in Indonesia (on advanced quality and variety differentiation in mangoes), to advanced-differentiating case in France (on eco-labeling and certification). We focus on horticulture as it is rapidly growing, and rapidly differentiating both in developed and developing countries. We conclude that policies and public investments facilitating the formation of these services are important. Importantly, we found that without these emerging outsource services, farmers would not have been able to be resilient to the shocks of market requirements and climate change.

Year published

2024

Authors

Reardon, Thomas; Awokuse, Titus; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Minten, Bart; Nguyen, Geneviève; Qanti, Sara; Swinnen, Johan; Vos, Rob; Zilberman, David

Citation

Reardon, Thomas; Awokuse, Titus; Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.; Minten, Bart; Nguyen, Geneviève; Qanti, Sara; et al. 2024. Outsource agrifood service MSMEs facilitating pivoting by fruits & vegetables farmers, wholesalers, and retailers. CGIAR Rethinking Food Markets Initiative Technical Paper January 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137594

Country/Region

Ethiopia; France

Keywords

Agrifood Systems; Value Chains; Developing Countries; Horticulture

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Rethinking Food Markets

Record type

Brief

Blogs

Two years on, resilience innovations help food supply chains overcome COVID-19 disruptions
IFPRI Blog
 | 
February 23, 2022

Two years on, resilience innovations help food supply chains overcome COVID-19 disruptions

By Thomas Reardon, Johan Swinnen, and Rob Vos

Important lessons for policymakers.

Smallholder and agrifood SME resilience to shocks: Lessons from COVID-19 for the UN Food System Summit
IFPRI Blog
 | 
June 10, 2021

Smallholder and agrifood SME resilience to shocks: Lessons from COVID-19 for the UN Food System Summit

By Thomas Reardon, Johan Swinnen, and Rob Vos

Farmers and small businesses show both vulnerabilities and a capacity to adapt.

Digital innovations accelerated by COVID-19 are revolutionizing food systems: Implications for the UN Food Systems Summit
IFPRI Blog
 | 
June 08, 2021

Digital innovations accelerated by COVID-19 are revolutionizing food systems: Implications for the UN Food Systems Summit

By Thomas Reardon, Johan Swinnen, Rob Vos, and David Zilberman

Lessons from how food supply chains adapted to pandemic stresses.

Events

Taking Stock of Africa’s Agrifood Processing Sector
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

February 9, 2023, 8:00 – 9:30 am

Taking Stock of Africa’s Agrifood Processing Sector

Virtual Event: February 9, 2023 – 8:00 AM- 9:30 AM EST. During this event key research findings and policy recommendations of the 2022 ATOR will be presented and discussed by a distinguished panel of representatives from academia, the private sector, and international and regional organizations engaged in strengthening Africa’s agri-food processing sector.