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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

Emily Schmidt

Emily Schmidt is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Her most recent research explores household livelihood strategies in Papua New Guinea, including linkages between agriculture, poverty, and nutrition outcomes among rural smallholder farmers.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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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

James Warner

Research Fellow/Program Leader, Rwanda

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Bio

James Warner is a Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, and is the Program Leader for Rwanda. He first joined IFPRI in 2013 as a Research Coordinator based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has also been the office head of IFPRI’s Eastern and Southern Africa Office, which provided both analytical support and capacity building to regional partners. Before joining IFPRI, James worked extensively in eastern and southern Africa as both an academic and economic policy consultant. He lectured at four African universities and worked for a variety international development projects and institutions, including the Centre for the Study of African Economies, Orgut (a Swedish development firm), Harvard University, and UNICEF. In addition, he was a tenured Associate Professor of Economics at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. His education includes a PhD from the University of Utah, master’s degrees from the University of New Hampshire and University of California, Riverside, and an bachelor’s degree from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

Publications

CV

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Synopsis: The dynamic impact of alternative livestock sector interventions and spending options in Rwanda

2025Aragie, Emerta A.; Bahta, Sirak T.; Baltenweck, Isabelle; Enahoro, Dolapo K.; Karugia, Joseph T.; Thurlow, James; Warner, James
Details

Synopsis: The dynamic impact of alternative livestock sector interventions and spending options in Rwanda

This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of various livestock interventions—feed, breeding, and health—and budget allocation strategies (balanced, feed-oriented, breeding-oriented, and health oriented) in the context of Rwanda’s economic and livestock systems. Using an economic and livestock systems integrated framework, the research highlights moderate yet sustained impacts on agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and significant improvements in the livestock sector. Breeding interventions have the largest cumulative effect on agricultural GDP, while health measures, particularly dewormers, yield long-term gains in livestock productivity. Under the balanced scenario, breeding contributes significantly to both meat and milk sector GDP, while feed interventions show a smaller impact overall. The model estimates the economic and livestock systems over a period of five years (t1-t5) from a base year at t0, which corresponds to the Fifth Structural Transformation in Agriculture (PSTA5) period.

Year published

2025

Authors

Aragie, Emerta A.; Bahta, Sirak T.; Baltenweck, Isabelle; Enahoro, Dolapo K.; Karugia, Joseph T.; Thurlow, James; Warner, James

Citation

Aragie, Emerta; Bahta, Sirak; Baltenweck, Isabelle; Enahoro, Dolapo; Karugia, Joseph; Thurlow, James; and Warner, James. 2025. Synopsis: The dynamic impact of alternative livestock sector interventions and spending options in Rwanda. Rwanda SSP Policy Note 20. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173823

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Livestock; Budgets; Economic Aspects; Agriculture; Agricultural Productivity

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

The dynamic impacts of alternative livestock sector intervention and spending options in Rwanda

2025Aragie, Emerta A.; Bahta, Sirak T.; Baltenweck, Isabelle; Enahoro, Dolapo K.; Karugia, Joseph T.; Thurlow, James; Warner, James
Details

The dynamic impacts of alternative livestock sector intervention and spending options in Rwanda

This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of various livestock interventions—feed, breeding, and health—and budget allocation strategies (balanced, feed-oriented, breeding oriented, and health-oriented) in the context of Rwanda’s economic and livestock systems. Using an economic and livestock systems integrated framework, the research highlights moderate yet sustained impacts on agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and significant improvements in the livestock sector. Overall, breeding interventions have the largest cumulative effect on agricultural GDP, while health measures, particularly dewormers, yield long-term gains in livestock productivity. Under the balanced scenario, breeding contributes significantly to both meat and milk sector GDP, while feed interventions show a smaller impact overall. The study also finds that biased spending scenarios lead to differing outcomes across livestock sub-sectors. Breeding-oriented spending boosts milk GDP initially, whereas health-oriented spending excels in meat production through reduced deaths and increased liveweight. By the end of the simulation period, a balanced investment strategy results in a 12.5 percent increase in meat yield and a 27 percent rise in milk yield, largely driven by breeding. Health interventions, particularly deworming, are crucial for sustained meat production, while improved feed mitigates mortality and supports stock growth. These results can support policy dialogue, such as the recently introduced Fifth Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation (PSTA 5), as policy makers seek to revitalize the livestock sector and enhance its resilience to future challenges.

Year published

2025

Authors

Aragie, Emerta A.; Bahta, Sirak T.; Baltenweck, Isabelle; Enahoro, Dolapo K.; Karugia, Joseph T.; Thurlow, James; Warner, James

Citation

Aragie, Emerta; Bahta, Sirak; Baltenweck, Isabelle; Enahoro, Dolapo; Karugia, Joseph; Thurlow, James; and Warner, James. 2025. The dynamic impacts of alternative livestock sector intervention and spending options in Rwanda. Rwanda SSP Working Paper 15. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173465

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Livestock; Agriculture; Agricultural Policies; Gross National Product

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Commercialization and dietary diversity of Rwandan smallholder farmers: A focus on women and youth headed households

2025Mukangabo, Emerence; Warner, James
Details

Commercialization and dietary diversity of Rwandan smallholder farmers: A focus on women and youth headed households

Using a household dietary diversity score as a proxy for household access to nutritious foods, this paper assesses the relationship between commercialization and nutritional outcomes of Rwandan smallholder farmers, with a particular emphasis on women and youth headed households. The results indicate that commercialization has a strong, positive effect on household dietary diversity but mixed results between sub-categories of households. For instance, male-headed households have higher overall dietary diversity compared to female-headed ones, but much of that variation can be explained by higher asset ownership and income. However, relative to male headed households, female headed households appear to respond to increasing levels of commercialization by consuming more diverse foods, an insight that could be useful for targeted interventions. Importantly, youth-headed households exhibit greater household dietary diversity than those households headed by older individuals, despite having both lower levels of assets and crop commercialization. General determinants that positively influence household dietary diversity include the level of commercialization, household non-farm assets, market access, education of the household head, the presence of children under five in the household, irrigation use, land size, and livestock holdings. The goal of this research is to enable policy makers to better identify the drivers of household dietary consumption, particularly among more vulnerable households, and how to encourage a more diverse diet for better nutritional outcomes.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mukangabo, Emerence; Warner, James

Citation

Mukangabo, Emerence; and Warner, James. 2025. Commercialization and dietary diversity of Rwandan smallholder farmers: A focus on women and youth headed households. Rwanda SSP Working Paper 16. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173175

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Nutrition; Dietary Diversity; Commercialization; Gender; Youth; Households; Smallholders

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Working Paper

Blogs

Is Ethiopia missing a golden opportunity for addressing hidden hunger? The opportunities and challenges of biofortification
IFPRI Blog
 | 
August 18, 2023

Is Ethiopia missing a golden opportunity for addressing hidden hunger? The opportunities and challenges of biofortification

By Taddese Zerfu, Fantu Bachewe, Tirsit Genye, Meron Girma, Aregash Samuel, James Warner, and Cornelia van Zyl

A promising approach to micronutrient deficiencies.

Events

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 […]

Using Satellite Imagery for Early Warning of Productivity Constraints
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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October 31, 2019, 11:00 – 12:30 pm

Using Satellite Imagery for Early Warning of Productivity Constraints

On October 31, the NASA Harvest Consortium in collaboration with the Food Security Portal will hold a webinar to discuss the potential of satellite imagery for food crisis early warning systems. This webinar will provide an opportunity to share the current state of knowledge and to identify areas new or further collaboration.  The 2019 Global […]

17th International Conference on the Ethiopian Economy
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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July 18 to 20, 2019

17th International Conference on the Ethiopian Economy

IFPRI is participating in the Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA) 17th International Conference on the Ethiopian Economy. The EEA is a not-for-profit association serving the professional interests of members working in agricultural and broadly related fields of applied economics.  Members of the EEA are employed by academic or government institutions, as well as in industry and not-for-profit […]

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