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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.

researcher spotlight

Kalyani Raghunathan

Kalyani Raghunathan is Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, based in New Delhi, India. Her research lies at the intersection of agriculture, gender, social protection, and public health and nutrition, with a specific focus on South Asia and Africa. 

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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

Clemens Breisinger

Senior Research Fellow

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Bio

Clemens Breisinger is Program Leader for the Kenya Strategy Support Program and a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Previously, Clemens led IFPRI’s Middle East and North Africa team and was based in Cairo from 2016 to 2021, where he also established and led IFPRI’s country program office for Egypt. Clemens, now based in Nairobi, is also the Country Program Leader for Kenya and has co-led the establishment of IFPRI’s new country program office in Sudan. The country programs develop research-based policy solutions, build coalitions for policy change, and co-create innovative analytical tools in close collaboration with ministries of planning, social solidarity, and agriculture; statistical agencies and universities; and regional and international partners such as AGRA, the European Union, UN agencies, USAID, and the World Bank. Clemens’ research, capacity building, and policy advisory work covers a broad range of issues related to food systems transformation and poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, climate change, conflict, and social protection. Together with colleagues and partners, Clemens has produced more than 100 widely read and quoted publications. Clemens received his PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

Languages spoken: English, French, German

Publications

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RePEc

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Publications

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Brief

Cluster-based development: Lessons from country experiences for Odisha, India

2024Belton, Ben; Breisinger, Clemens; Kassim, Yumna; Pal, Barun Deb; Narayanan, Sudha; Zhang, Xiaobo
Details

Cluster-based development: Lessons from country experiences for Odisha, India

Clusters are spatial aggregations of small businesses producing the same or related goods or services. Together, these businesses have the potential to contribute to economic development of rural areas by compounding the existing strengths of local producing communities. Cluster-based development has been successful where governments facilitate infrastructure and provide services to support existing clusters, often leading to spillover and expansion of these clusters to wider areas over time (Abdelaziz et al. 2021). Agrifood cluster development can occur via two broad mechanisms: (1) immanent development, where clusters of commercial farms as well as firms in the value chain that provide goods and services re quired by farms (for example, specialized production inputs, machinery, and transport), emerge spontaneously in co-located groups; and (2) organized development, where actors such as government, companies, or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) organize producers into groups to deliver extension services, inputs, or credit or to upgrade production practices, facilitate collective action to improve terms of market access, or enable compliance with standards or forms of branding such as geographic indications

Year published

2024

Authors

Belton, Ben; Breisinger, Clemens; Kassim, Yumna; Pal, Barun Deb; Narayanan, Sudha; Zhang, Xiaobo

Citation

Belton, Ben; Breisinger, Clemens; Kassim, Yumna; Pal, Barun Deb; Narayanan, Sudha; and Zhang, Xiaobo. 2024. Cluster-based development: Lessons from country experiences for Odisha, India. South Asia Policy Perspectives 1. New Delhi, India: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152082

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Small and Medium Enterprises; Economic Development; Rural Areas; Value Chains; Infrastructure

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Brief

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Journal Article

From food subsidies to cash transfers: Assessing economy-wide benefits and trade-offs in Egypt

2024Breisinger, Clemens; Kassim, Yumna; Kurdi, Sikandra; Randriamamonjy, Josée; Thurlow, James
Details

From food subsidies to cash transfers: Assessing economy-wide benefits and trade-offs in Egypt

Food is a vital part of poor households’ budgets and so subsidizing staple foods would appear to be an obvious pro-poor policy. Indeed, most countries in North Africa have prioritized large national subsidy programs for staple foods and fuels as their main social safety net. However, these programs account for significant shares of government spending and often drive fiscal deficits, especially when import prices rise. In this paper we use a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model to evaluate the trade-offs between reducing poverty and managing fiscal balances. The modeling framework allows us to measure the efficiency costs of subsidies compared to cash transfers – switching to the latter is an emerging regional trend. We analyze these issues through a detailed case study of Egypt, where efforts to replace food subsidies with cash transfers is already underway. Data is also available in Egypt to design scenarios that realistically reflect potential targeting effectiveness and administrative costs. We show that replacing broad food subsidies with targeted cash transfers of roughly equivalent fiscal costs can improve the welfare of the poorest households, but the continuation of fiscal deficits results in a deceleration of economic growth. The latter gradually reduces welfare gains for the poor and leads to substantial welfare losses for middle-income households who lose access to subsidies without benefitting from cash transfers. Our findings highlight the political challenges facing subsidy reform programs.

Year published

2024

Authors

Breisinger, Clemens; Kassim, Yumna; Kurdi, Sikandra; Randriamamonjy, Josée; Thurlow, James

Citation

Breisinger, Clemens; Kassim, Yumna; Kurdi, Sikandra; Randriamamonjy, Josee; and Thurlow, James. 2024. From food subsidies to cash transfers: Assessing economy-wide benefits and trade-offs in Egypt. Journal of African Economies 33(2): 109–129. https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejad006

Country/Region

Egypt

Keywords

Africa; Northern Africa; Food; Poor Households; Budgeting; Staple Foods; Policies; Subsidies; Social Safety Nets; Government Spending; Prices; Cash Transfers

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejad006 Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Journal Article

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Book

Food systems transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the past and policy options for the future

2023Breisinger, Clemens; Keenan, Michael; Mbuthia, Juneweenex; Njuki, Jemimah
Details

Food systems transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the past and policy options for the future

The new Kenyan government faces a complex domestic and global environment, and it is widely expected to address key food and agricultural challenges with a new set of policies and programs. This policy brief presents key recommendations from a forthcoming book, Food Systems Transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the Past and Policy Options for the Future, which provides research-based “food for thought and action” to support the Kenyan government’s efforts to improve food security.

Year published

2023

Authors

Breisinger, Clemens; Keenan, Michael; Mbuthia, Juneweenex; Njuki, Jemimah

Citation

Breisinger, Clemens, ed.; Keenan, Michael, ed.; Mbuthia, Juneweenex, ed.; and Njuki, Jemimah, ed. 2023. Food systems transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the past and policy options for the future. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896294561

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Food Systems; Livestock; Diet; Food Safety; Agricultural Production; Green Revolution; Policies; Mechanization; Climate; Gender; Value Chains; Technology

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896294561 Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Book

Events

Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition: Africa Regional Launch of IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report
Series/Special Event

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November 14, 2024, 2:30 – 4:30 pm

Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition: Africa Regional Launch of IFPRI’s 2024 Global Food Policy Report

Despite significant progress in addressing hunger and undernutrition in the early 2000s, malnutrition, in all its forms, remains a major challenge in all regions of the world. Unhealthy diets remain the primary drivers of many forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, overweight and obesity, micronutrient deficiencies, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Today, the number of people who […]

Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 Summit
IFPRI at External Event

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September 2 to 6, 2024

Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 Summit

The Africa Food Systems Forum 2024 annual summit will be a timely opportunity to convene diverse stakeholders, including world leaders, investors, academia, farmers’ organizations, and the private sector, to spotlight innovations, technologies, best practices, business models, policy delivery mechanisms, and investments to accelerate food systems transformation in Africa and beyond, with youth and women at […]

Navigating Sudan’s Conflict: Research Insights and Policy Implications
Series/Special Event

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March 5, 2024, 12:00 – 9:00 pm

Navigating Sudan’s Conflict: Research Insights and Policy Implications

Hybrid Event: March 5, 2024 at 8:00am-6:00pm EAT / 12:00am – 10:00am EST. IFPRI and UNDP have partnered for this event on wide-ranging and in-depth analysis to better understand the socioeconomic impact of the war in Sudan, and to inform policy and programmatic recommendations.

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News

January 08, 2024 | Press Release

A new book provides a roadmap for food systems transformation in Kenya

The past few years have seen Kenya, along with many other countries, confronted with multifaceted and compounding challenges. The disruptions caused by COVID-19, high levels of food price inflation, and environmental crises, such as locust infestations and droughts, have severely tested the resilience of Kenya’s food systems and the affordability of food for its citizens. […]

May 20, 2022 | In the News

CGIAR launches initiative to build food security policy in 6 countries (Devex) 

Devex published an article stating that CGIAR has launched a new initiative that seeks to improve food security and resilience by supporting partner countries in developing coherent policies on food, land, and water. The National Policies and Strategies for Food, Land and Water Systems Transformation Initiative, or NPS — which was inaugurated Tuesday in Kenya […]

April 13, 2022 | In the News

Russia-Ukraine conflict is driving up wheat prices: this could fuel instability in Sudan (The Conversation)

The Conversation published an op-ed by senior research fellows Clemens Breisinger, David Laborde, Joseph Glauber, Paul Dorosh, and research fellow Oliver Kiptoo Kurui. In the op-ed, the authors write that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted agricultural production and trade from one of the world’s major food exporting regions. The war threatens to drive rising […]

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