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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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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

Ian Masias

Program Head

Bio

Ian Masias is a Program Head in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He currently manages the Feed the Future Myanmar Agriculture Policy Support Activity (MAPSA), which seeks to improve governance in Myanmar’s agriculture sector. Since joining IFPRI, he has been a Manager on the Nigeria Strategy Support Program (NSSP), the Feed the Future Nigeria Agriculture Policy Project (NAPP), the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy (FSP), and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutes, and Markets (PIM). Ian has lived and worked in Nigeria and Japan and has experience working in Ghana. Prior to joining IFPRI, he was a Research Support Specialist at the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law. He holds a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Connecticut.

Publications

Publications

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Journal Article

Double jeopardy: COVID-19, coup d’état and poverty in Myanmar

2023
Boughton, Duncan; Headey, Derek D.; Mahrt, Kristi; Cho, Ame; Diao, Xinshen; Lambrecht, Isabel; Minten, Bart; Goeb, Joseph; Masias, Ian; Belton, Ben
…more Aung, Nilar; San, Cho Cho
Details

Double jeopardy: COVID-19, coup d’état and poverty in Myanmar

Myanmar experienced multiple COVID shocks as well as a military takeover in February 2021. Impacts on household poverty remain uncertain, however, because large-scale in-person surveys were impossible during the pandemic and heightened internal conflict. We use ex ante simulation models and phone survey evidence to estimate the poverty effects of these shocks and identify factors correlated with them. While each approach has limitations, and cannot explicitly validate each other, they both indicate rising rural and urban poverty and capital-depleting coping mechanisms. Wider use of simulation modeling could help mobilize social protection faster than waiting for survey results in emergencies.

Year published

2023

Authors

Boughton, Duncan; Headey, Derek D.; Mahrt, Kristi; Cho, Ame; Diao, Xinshen; Lambrecht, Isabel; Minten, Bart; Goeb, Joseph; Masias, Ian; Belton, Ben; Aung, Nilar; San, Cho Cho

Citation

Boughton, Duncan; Headey, Derek D.; Mahrt, Kristi; Cho, Ame; Diao, Xinshen; Lambrecht, Isabel; Minten, Bart; Belton, Ben; et al. Double jeopardy: COVID-19, coup d’état and poverty in Myanmar. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 45(4): 1998-2016. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13390

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

South-eastern Asia; Asia; Surveys; Coronavirus; Covid-19; Households; Coronavirinae; Coronavirus Disease; Poverty

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13390 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Brief

Myanmar’s agrifood system structure and drivers of transformation

2023Diao, Xinshen; Masias, Ian; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; Boughton, Duncan; Ellis, Mia
Details

Myanmar’s agrifood system structure and drivers of transformation

Myanmar initiated economic and political reforms in 2011, ushering in a period of rapid economic transformation. The country experienced strong annual average economic growth of close to 7 percent between 2011 and 2019. The rural economy and the agriculture sector were also transforming, characterized by accelerated rural out-migration from the sector, which was facilitated by favorable policy changes, increased trade, and improved road infrastructure (Filipski et. al. 2021). Rural wages rose (Belton et. al. 2021), and labor shortages, along with increased access to financing, led to a massive expansion of mechanization services (Win et al. 2018) and other rural nonfarm enterprises. However, the economic transformation was disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the political crisis caused by the military coup d’état in 2021. During this recent period, Myanmar’s agrifood system was impacted by numerous shocks, including disruptions to the banking and local transportation systems, changes to international trade policies, rapidly depreciating currency, foreign exchange controls, increasing global commodity prices, and massive declines in income and access to credit, among others. In this brief, we focus on Myanmar’s agrifood system between 2011 and 2019 and evaluate the potential contributions of different value chains to driving agricultural transformation and welfare gains in the future.

Year published

2023

Authors

Diao, Xinshen; Masias, Ian; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; Boughton, Duncan; Ellis, Mia

Citation

Diao, Xinshen; Masias, Ian; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; Ellis, Mia; and Boughton, Duncan. 2023. Myanmar’s agrifood system structure and drivers of transformation. Agrifood System Diagnostics Country Series 11. https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136793

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

South-eastern Asia; Asia; Agrifood Systems; Value Chains; Markets; Agriculture; Labour Productivity; Off-farm Employment; Poverty; Diet Quality; Jobs; Development; Gross National Product; Cereals; Livestock; Hunger; Conflict

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136793 Source record

Project

Foresight

Record type

Brief

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Journal Article

Effects of COVID-19 restrictions on mechanization service providers and mechanization equipment retailers: Insights from phone surveys in Myanmar

2023Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Masias, Ian; Win, Myat Thida; Zone, Phoo Pye
Details

Effects of COVID-19 restrictions on mechanization service providers and mechanization equipment retailers: Insights from phone surveys in Myanmar

Agrifood sector mechanization service providers (MSP) and mechanization equipment retailers (MER) have increasingly become the providers of mechanical technologies for smallholders in developing countries, including Myanmar. Evidence remains scarce on the effects of COVID‐19 on these MSPs and MERs. This study provides insights into the effects of COVID‐19 restrictions on MSPs and MERs in Myanmar, using unbalanced panel data from five rounds of phone surveys. Direct responses to COVID‐19 involving movement restrictions, market disruptions, and growing financial challenges had significant negative effects on revenue prospects, service delivery, and sales of machines and equipment. Negative revenue prospects during a particular period can further hurt revenue prospects in subsequent periods. This is consistent with the hypotheses that MSPs who had incurred high sunk costs in machines can engage in more desperate and, thus, potentially suboptimal business practices to recover the sunk cost. Overall, policies to minimize movement restrictions and various financial struggles and mitigate any pessimism at the beginning of the production season are all important to make sure MSPs and MERs continue to function effectively under COVID‐19.

Year published

2023

Authors

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Masias, Ian; Win, Myat Thida; Zone, Phoo Pye

Citation

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Masias, Ian; Win, Myat Thida; and Zone, Phoo Pye. 2023. Effects of COVID-19 restrictions on mechanization service providers and mechanization equipment retailers: Insights from phone surveys in Myanmar. Review of Development Economics 27(1): 323-351. https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12940

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

South-eastern Asia; Asia; Market Disruptions; Costs; Policies; Surveys; Coronavirus; Covid-19; Restrictions; Equipment; Services; Technology; Smallholders; Coronavirinae; Developing Countries; Financial Situation; Coronavirus Disease; Agrifood Sector; Mechanization

Language

English

Access/Licence

Limited Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12940 Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Journal Article

Research

Projects

Topics/Countries