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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

Liangzhi You

Liangzhi You is a Senior Research Fellow and theme leader in the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit, based in Washington, DC. His research focuses on climate resilience, spatial data and analytics, agroecosystems, and agricultural science policy. Gridded crop production data of the world (SPAM) and the agricultural technology evaluation model (DREAM) are among his research contributions. 

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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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experts

Innovation Policy and Scaling

Ning Ma

Research Analyst

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Bio

Ning Ma is a Research Analyst in the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. Prior to joining IFPRI, she worked as a research assistant for research projects in many university labs and research centers. She holds an MA in International Development from Johns Hopkins University and a master of education degree in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Innovation Policy and Scaling

Publications

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Report

Designing gender- and youth-responsive agronomic solutions: accelerating the use of digital tools for delivering agronomic advice through a public-private partnership extension model in Rwanda

2024Ma, Ning; Kihiu, E.; Lambrecht, Isabel B.; Cole, S.; Ragasa, Catherine; Malit, J.; Uzamushaka, S.; Mudereri, B.T.
Details

Designing gender- and youth-responsive agronomic solutions: accelerating the use of digital tools for delivering agronomic advice through a public-private partnership extension model in Rwanda

This report is part of a study series offering insights into the potential of Excellence in Agronomy (EiA) Use Cases to adjust the agronomic solutions offered through the Minimum Viable Products (MVP) to better reach, benefit, and empower women and youths, and to transform norms that cause gender and social inequalities. These efforts are guided appropriately by the Reach-Benefit-Empower-Transform framework that highlights the importance of not only reaching women and young people, but also making sure that they benefit from any interventions, that the interventions further help increase their empowerment, and lead to a transformation of any restrictive attitudes, norms, and power relations that are the root causes of gender and social inequalities.

Year published

2024

Authors

Ma, Ning; Kihiu, E.; Lambrecht, Isabel B.; Cole, S.; Ragasa, Catherine; Malit, J.; Uzamushaka, S.; Mudereri, B.T.

Citation

Ma, N., Kihiu, E., Lambrecht, I., Cole, S., Ragasa, C., Malit, J., … & Mudereri, B.T. (2024). Designing gender- and youth-responsive agronomic solutions: accelerating the use of digital tools for delivering agronomic advice through a public-private partnership extension model in Rwanda. Study Report for the Smart Nkunganire System – Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Board Use Case. Nairobi, Kenya: IITA, (42 p.).

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; West and Central Africa; Eastern Africa; Agronomy; Farming Systems; Food Security; Gender

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Excellence in Agronomy

Record type

Report

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Working Paper

Farmer groups as ICT Hubs: Findings from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Malawi

2024Ragasa, Catherine; Ma, Ning; Hami, Emmanuel
Details

Farmer groups as ICT Hubs: Findings from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Malawi

Many rural producer groups face poor management practices, low productivity, and weak market linkages. An information and communication technology (ICT)-based intervention bundle was provided to producer groups to transform them into ICT hubs, where members learn about and adopt improved management practices and increase their productivity and incomes. The intervention bundle includes phone messages and videos, promotion of the call center/hotline, and facilitation of radio listening clubs and collective marketing. The study, a cluster-randomized controlled trial, randomly assigned 59 groups into treatment groups and 59 into control groups. After 18 months of interventions, results show positive but small impact on crop sales (USD65 per household) and no impact on productivity. The income effect was mainly from Kasungu and Nkhota-kota, which experienced increased production and sales of rice, soybean, and groundnut and received higher prices due to collective marketing. Farmers in Kasungu and Nkhota-kota improved a few agricultural management practices, while farmers in other districts did not improve their management practices. Results show more farmers accessing phone messaging on agriculture and markets, greater awareness and use of the call center, more listening groups established, and more farmers—especially women—joining these groups. Nevertheless, coverage and uptake remain very low, which are likely reasons for the limited impact.

Year published

2024

Authors

Ragasa, Catherine; Ma, Ning; Hami, Emmanuel

Citation

Ragasa, Catherine; Ma, Ning; and Hami, Emmanuel. 2024. Farmer groups as ICT Hubs: Findings from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Malawi. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2261. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148814

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Markets; Information and Communication Technologies; Digital Agriculture; Digital Extension Tools; Impact Assessment; Sales; Productivity; Agriculture

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Working Paper

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Poster

Gender attitudes on politics and leadership: A framing experiment

2023Ning Ma; Ragasa, Catherine; Kyle, Jordan
Details

Gender attitudes on politics and leadership: A framing experiment

This paper measures the extent of attitudes toward gender inequality in leadership at different levels of decisionmaking. We also estimated the effect of a subtle gender frame on those gender attitudes through a randomized survey experiment. Using a sample of 241 experts involved in federal- and state-level agri-food policy process in Nigeria, we presented six statements that support gender (in)equality in leadership at different levels and asked the experts to rate each statement using a four-point Likert scale. Study results show persistent gender norms around women’s leadership roles, even among elites and experts: 4–20% of female experts and 30–46% of male experts in our sample still believe that men are better in leadership positions at different levels. Female experts’ gender attitudes did not vary by the level of decision-making and by gender frame; however, males’ gender attitudes varied significantly by the level of decision-making and by the gender frame. Those randomly assigned the gender equality frame (e.g., Women make equally good or better political leaders than men do) were less likely to have attitudes in support of gender inequality in leadership than those randomly assigned the gender-inequality frame (e.g., Men make better political leaders than women do). Male respondents tended to disagree less on the statements that support gender equality than to agree on the statements that support gender inequality. Assessing attitudes through surveys is often challenging and biased, as we show that responses to sensitive gender questions are malleable and sensitive to subtle framing. We demonstrate that subtle frames affect survey responses, which warrants attention to a more careful survey design

Year published

2023

Authors

Ning Ma; Ragasa, Catherine; Kyle, Jordan

Citation

Ning Ma; Ragasa, Catherine; Kyle, Jordan. 2023. Gender attitudes on politics and leadership: A framing experiment. Poster. Presented at the CGIAR GENDER Conference ‘From Research to Impact: Towards just and resilient agri-food systems’, New Delhi, India, 9-12 October 2023. International Food Policy Research Institute

Keywords

Gender; Agriculture; Research; Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Limited Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Poster

Blogs

Enhancing farm productivity and rural livelihoods through ICT interventions in Malawi
IFPRI Blog
 | 
July 10, 2024

Enhancing farm productivity and rural livelihoods through ICT interventions in Malawi

By Catherine Ragasa, Ning Ma, and Emmanuel Hami

New opportunities as mobile phone use grows in farming areas.

Events

From Research to Impact: Towards just and Resilient Agri-food Systems
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

October 9 to 12, 2023

From Research to Impact: Towards just and Resilient Agri-food Systems

Conference: October 09, 2023 – 9:00 AM to October 12, 2023 – 6:00 PM IST. IFPRI is participating in the 2023 annual CGIAR gender research conference will take place in New Delhi, India.

Research

Topics/Countries