IFPRI Insights: November 2020

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November 9, 2020

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ReSAKSS’s Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR) Released
The 2020 ATOR focuses on “Sustaining Africa’s agrifood system transformation: The role of public policies,” looking in-depth at how to improve African agrifood systems so that they can meet their potential. The report, edited by Danielle Resnick, Xinshen Diao, and Getaw Tadesse, reviews the trajectory of agricultural sector policies over the last five decades, analyzes the constraints to agricultural productivity, and discusses the policies needed to make value chains more competitive as well as create an enabling environment for food-system transformation. (Read R eport)

Sweetening the Deal: Kate Ambler and colleagues find that a couple’s communication and gender workshop in Uganda increased sugarcane farmers’ interest in participating in a subsequent women’s economic empowerment intervention. (Read Article )

Landing on a Common Framework: Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Cheryl Doss develop a conceptual framework to identify the various dimensions of women’s land tenure security and the factors that may influence it, which include laws, gender norms, the rural economy, and more. (Read Article)

Upending Usury: The provision of low-cost loans through self-help groups in Bihar, India, reduced the use of informal credit and lowered interest rates, but the short-term impact on economic well-being is still modest, research by Vivian Hoffmann and colleagues shows. (Read Article)

A Clearer Outlook: Manuel Hernandez and colleagues exploit the departure of two power plants from a large Chinese city to gauge the impacts of improved air quality, finding a subsequent 12–14% increase in local housing prices. (Read Article)

Stay in the Game: A sports and life skills development program in Liberia caused a 0.12 standard deviation increase in labor force participation among young adults, with strongest effects for the most disadvantaged participants, findings from Sylvan Herskowitz and colleagues show. (Read Article)

>> Read More Research

Remarkable Resilience
The experience of China’s small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in 2020 offers important lessons about resilience in the face of COVID-19. New research from Xiaobo Zhang and colleagues documents the plight of SMEs, which were shuttered during the country’s initial COVID lockdowns; but when restrictions were eased, these businesses, led by agricultural enterprises, dramatically rebounded, reopening and achieving 86.4 percent of pre-shock employment levels. Still, Chinese SMEs face long-term economic challenges amidst persistent low consumer demand. (Read Blog)

Puzzling Perceptions: Alan de Brauw, Kalle Hirvonen and Gashaw Abate report findings from follow-up phone surveys in Ethiopia, which show that households’ food consumption was similar to pre-pandemic levels despite households having previously reported an income decline, casting doubt on how the impacts of income loss are often interpreted. (Read Blog)

Opportunity Amidst Crisis: In May, India announced a COVID relief package seen by some as an important moment for agricultural reform. S. Mahendra Dev of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research explains the reforms and why he believes they are a step in the right direction for small farmers. (Read Blog)

$14 Billion for a Bright Future: Ceres2030, a research project by IFPRI and partners, has concluded that donor countries must roughly double food security and nutrition assistance, or contribute an annual $14 billion, in order to end hunger by 2030, boost smallholders’ incomes, and cut agricultural carbon emissions. Marie Parent reports. (Read Blog)

Supporting Women: To mark the 2020 International Day of Rural Women (October 15), Emily Myers, Muzna Alvi, and Agnes Quisumbing explore some of the burdens the pandemic has imposed on rural women around the world and potential ways to lighten them, with examples from rural India. (Read Blog)

An Agricultural Success Story: Francesca Edralin reviews a new book by Paul Dorosh and Bart Minten which details Ethiopia’s efforts to transform its agrifood system and boost its economy, as well as its remaining challenge: maintaining long-term overall growth. (Read Blog)

Growing Cities, Growing Food Insecurity: Against the backdrop of increasing urbanization in Africa and Asia, Marie Ruel outlines the drivers of urban food insecurity and unhealthy diets, and identifies programs and policies that can meet the unique needs of the urban poor. (Read Blog)

>> Read More Blogs

Podcast Episode #10: Working Amid War: Assessing Cash Transfers for Nutrition in Yemen
In the latest episode of Research Talks, IFPRI Research Fellow Sikandra Kurdi tells the story of how Yemen’s Social Fund for Development and IFPRI designed, implemented, and evaluated a cash transfer and nutrition program in the middle of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world: the civil war in Yemen. (Listen to the Episode)

New Africa Director
IFPRI welcomes Jemimah Njuki as its new Director for Africa. Dr. Njuki has more than 20 years of experience in policy-oriented research and management, and has extensive knowledge of food policy, nutrition, and gender issues in Africa. (Read Bio)

Micronutrient Forum Global Conference
IFPRI is sponsoring the Micronutrient Forum’s 5th Global Conference, which will take place virtually on November 9-13. This year’s event is titled “Connected 2020: Building New Evidence and Alliances for Improving Nutrition” and features five informative tracks, virtual booth and poster presentations, and much more. (Learn More)

We see in this crisis the opportunity to pursue a transformation that moves smallholder farming… from a solitary struggle to a business that thrives.” – Fadel Ndiame, Deputy President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Event)

We get almost no glimpse of how two thirds of China works and grows up.” – Scott Rozelle, Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (Event)

We need to make sure that there are structures and processes to ensure that actors [in agricultural extension] are moving together in tandem” – Margaret Najjingo Mangheni, Professor, Makerere University, (Event)

COVID-19, for urban Africa… has played out less as a health crisis and more as an economic crisis, and that has manifested itself in food.” – Astrid Haas, Policy Director, International Growth Centre (Event)

We already know that [Africa’s agricultural exports] are a small share of the world’s total, but what we found… is that it is fast growing. This is good news. It has more than doubled between 2003 and 2018, and it promises to go even faster.” – Sunday Odjo, Deputy Director, Knowledge Systems, AKADEMIYA2063 (Event)