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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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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

Mulubrhan Amare

Senior Research Fellow

Bio

Mulubrhan Amare is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He is a quantitative development microeconomist whose research focuses on impact programs, rural institutions and agricultural transformation, poverty and livelihood diversification, and migration and development. He has investigated the impact of agricultural productivity and migration on welfare distribution and rural development, and his current work examines determinants of chronic child malnutrition in Nigeria as well as linkages between income diversification and agricultural productivity of countries in Africa south of the Sahara. Prior to joining IFPRI, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Partnership for Economic Policy, Nairobi, Kenya. Amare received his PhD in Economics with a focus on Development and Agricultural Economics from Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany, in 2015.

Publications

CV

Publications

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Report

Impact evaluation of the use of PBR cowpea in Nigeria: Baseline process evaluation report

2024Mockshell, Jonathan; Asante-Addo, Collins; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Ritter, Thea; Amare, Mulubrhan; Andam, Kwaw S.
Details

Impact evaluation of the use of PBR cowpea in Nigeria: Baseline process evaluation report

This process evaluation (PE) is part of a five-year (2021–2026) impact evaluation (IE) of the use of a new pod-borer-resistant (PBR) cowpea variety in Nigeria, a project led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). While the IE draws from a representative sample of 1,399 farmers to determine the causal impacts of the use of PBR cowpea, the PE complements the IE by exploring in detail the potential adoption of the PBR cowpea variety and the reasons for adoption or non adoption, including its potential impacts on actors throughout the value chain. A program impact pathway (PIP) is the basis of this PE. The PIP identifies how impacts emerge from program inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes to highlight barriers and facilitators of adoption. Given that this PE was conducted before the rollout of PBR cowpea in the IE, the analysis focuses on the potential of this innovative seed to achieve positive outputs and outcomes based on the PIP. Qualitative data were gathered from eight focus group discussions with farmers and 180 semi-structured interviews conducted with farmers, extension agents, seed dealers, and cowpea traders from eight local government areas (LGAs) in the states of Adamawa and Kwara. Given that the data are qualitative, the data are not representative. However, important insights were found that can help guide the IE.

Year published

2024

Authors

Mockshell, Jonathan; Asante-Addo, Collins; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Ritter, Thea; Amare, Mulubrhan; Andam, Kwaw S.

Citation

Mockshell, Jonathan; Asante-Addo, Collins; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Ritter, Thea; Amare, Mulubrhan; and Andam, Kwaw. 2024. Impact evaluation of the use of PBR cowpea in Nigeria: Baseline process evaluation report. NSSP Project Report: June 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145073

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Western Africa; Africa; Impact Assessment; Cowpeas; Farmers; Agriculture; Value Chains; Stakeholders

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Report

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Working Paper

The economic importance of cowpea in Nigeria trends and Implications for achieving agri-food system transformation

2024Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Andam, Kwaw S.; Amare, Mulubrhan; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; Fasoranti, Adetunji
Details

The economic importance of cowpea in Nigeria trends and Implications for achieving agri-food system transformation

Nigeria is the largest producer of cowpea in the world and one of the highest consumers. This paper documents the challenges in cowpea production and consumption, export, and import trends in Nigeria. The critical and comparative review reveals several important insights. Cowpea is important for households and communities due to its substantial contributions to food security, nutrition, and revenue production. It plays a pivotal role in supporting various stakeholders involved in the value chain, including producers, processors, traders, and food vendors. Thus, cowpea is a crucial multipurpose crop. Although Nigeria is the largest producer of cowpea in the world, with a total production of 3.6 million tons in 2021, the demand for cowpea surpasses its supply due to factors such as the country’s large population and low productivity. We describe the main challenges encountered in Nigeria’s cowpea production, encompassing a range of issues such as high susceptibility to pests and diseases from planting to storage phases, low adoption of improved cowpea seed varieties, poor soil fertility, drought, and heat stress. The data suggest that low input use, low-yield varieties, and low productivity characterize the current level of cowpea production. Our findings suggest the need for tailored strategies to support the adoption of improved cowpea varieties in Nigeria to increase domestic production, adherence to quality standards, exploration of international markets for export opportunities, and ultimately, household income and improve nutritional outcomes.

Year published

2024

Authors

Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Andam, Kwaw S.; Amare, Mulubrhan; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; Fasoranti, Adetunji

Citation

Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Andam, Kwaw S.; Amare, Mulubrhan; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; and Fasoranti, Adetunji. 2024. The economic importance of cowpea in Nigeria trends and Implications for achieving agri-food system transformation. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2241. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/139672

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Western Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Agrifood Systems; Cowpeas; Value Chains; Households; Exports; Imports

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Working Paper

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Journal Article

Variation in women’s attitudes toward intimate partner violence across the rural–urban continuum in Ethiopia

2024Amare, Mulubrhan; Arndt, Channing; Guo, Zhe; Seymour, Greg
Details

Variation in women’s attitudes toward intimate partner violence across the rural–urban continuum in Ethiopia

Little is known about the effects of urbanization on women’s attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV). The scarcity of empirical studies on this relationship can be partly attributed to the lack of an objective measure of urbanization levels. In this study, we investigate the effects of urbanization on Ethiopian women’s attitudes toward IPV using four continuous measures of urbanization: nightlight intensity, distance to urban areas, total urban area within a 10-km radius, and an urbanization index. These measures are defined from satellite-based nighttime light intensity and multispectral sensor data. We find that despite a generally strong positive association between urbanization and progressive attitudes among women toward IPV, some stages of urbanization show a more significant association than others. The heterogeneities in the effect of all urbanization measures on women’s attitudes toward intimate partner violence further show that the effects of urbanization measures are sharply heterogeneous across wealth indicator terciles. While we find that urbanization measures are associated with an overall decrease in the justification of IPV, the effects are higher and stronger for women in the upper and middle wealth terciles compared to the lowest wealth tercile. Initially less-privileged women gain little from urbanization in the attitudes toward IPV, resulting in increased inequality in women’s empowerment in the short and medium term.

Year published

2024

Authors

Amare, Mulubrhan; Arndt, Channing; Guo, Zhe; Seymour, Greg

Citation

Amare, Mulubrhan; Arndt, Channing; Guo, Zhe; and Seymour, Greg. 2024. Variation in women’s attitudes toward intimate partner violence across the rural–urban continuum in Ethiopia. World Development 174(February 2024): 106451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106451

Country/Region

Ethiopia

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Gender; Women; Gender-based Violence; Domestic Violence; Rural Areas; Urban Areas; Urbanization

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106451 Source record

Project

Fragility, Conflict, and Migration

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

The Russia-Ukraine crisis presents threats to Nigeria’s food security, but potential opportunities for the fertilizer, energy sectors
IFPRI Blog
 | 
June 09, 2022

The Russia-Ukraine crisis presents threats to Nigeria’s food security, but potential opportunities for the fertilizer, energy sectors

By Bedru Balana, Kwaw Andam, Mulubrhan Amare, Dolapo Adeyanju, and David Laborde

Problems for a country that imports 99% of its wheat.

COVID-19-induced disruptions of school feeding services exacerbate food insecurity in Nigeria
IFPRI Blog
 | 
August 05, 2021

COVID-19-induced disruptions of school feeding services exacerbate food insecurity in Nigeria

By Kibrom A. Abay, Mulubrhan Amare, Luca Tiberti, Kwaw S. Andam, and Michael Wang

What happened when a key type of social protection program stopped operating during lockdown.

Avocados in Kenya: What’s holding back smallholder farmers
IFPRI Blog
 | 
February 18, 2020

Avocados in Kenya: What’s holding back smallholder farmers

By Mulubrhan Amare and Julia Wilson

A study reveals the obstacles to breaking into export markets—and suggests some options to overcome them.

Events

Innovation for Agribusiness (InovAgro) Project Impact Evaluation Results Dissemination Workshop
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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October 28, 2021, 2:00 – 3:30 pm

Innovation for Agribusiness (InovAgro) Project Impact Evaluation Results Dissemination Workshop

Virtual Event: OCT 28, 2021 – 02:00 PM to 03:30 PM CAT. This workshop will disseminate the results of the impact evaluation of the InovAgro project's interventions. 

31st International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE)
IFPRI at External Event

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August 17 to 31, 2021

31st International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE)

Virtual Event: AUG 17, 2021 – 08:00 AM to AUG 31, 2021 08:00 PM EDT. IFPRI is participating in the 31st Conference of Agriculture Economists organized by the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE). 

6th African Conference of Agricultural Economists
IFPRI at External Event

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September 23 to 26, 2019

6th African Conference of Agricultural Economists

IFPRI is participating in the the 6th African Conference of Agricultural Economists 2019 hosted by the African Association of Agricultural Economists​. The conference will explore the recent developments in agricultural systems across Africa. Key drivers of change include population growth, rapid urbanization, productivity enhancing innovation, climate change, the rise of agri-preneurship, land reform, as well as […]

News

September 20, 2020 | In the News

Kenya’s avocado farming, and where the profit lies (Smart Farmer Kenya)

Smart Farmer Kenya published an article on the potential of boosting Kenyan farmer’s income by exporting avocados to high-value European Markets. Kenya is the third-largest producer of avocados, with about 70 percent of the produce coming from small-scale farmers. Research Fellow Mulubrhan Amare states, “International agricultural markets offer a higher price, and also demand higher quality than the local market. […]

February 19, 2020 | In the News

Avocados in Kenya: what’s holding back smallholder farmers (The Conversation)

The Conversation featured an op-ed by Research Fellow Mulubrhan Amare on avocados in Kenya and how to increase export production. Amare with co-authors found in a recent study that exporting more of Kenya’s avocado production could raise the incomes of Kenyan smallholder farmers. But, to do so, programs and policymakers need to reduce the barriers […]

December 19, 2019 | Press Release

NEW STUDY: Can avocado exports bring prosperity to Kenya’s smallholder farmer?

Exporting avocados to the high-value European market can raise incomes of smallholder avocado farmers in Kenya by nearly 39 percent, according to a new study.