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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

Ruth Meinzen-Dick

Ruth Meinzen-Dick is a Senior Research Fellow in the Natural Resources and Resilience Unit. She has extensive transdisciplinary research experience in using qualitative and quantitative research methods. Her work focuses on two broad (and sometimes interrelated) areas: how institutions affect how people manage natural resources, and the role of gender in development processes. 

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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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Innovation Policy and Scaling

Patricia Zambrano

Senior Program Manager

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Bio

Patricia Zambrano is a Senior Program Manager in the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. She works on themes related to the economic evaluation of biotechnologies and their regulation. Previously she supported work on gene bank evaluation, genetic resources, biodiversity, intellectual property rights, R&D expenditures, and other related themes.

Patricia holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and pursued postgraduate studies at the same institution. Additionally, she earned a master’s degree in economics from the University of California, Davis.

Publications

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Publications

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Conference Paper

Assessing the development impacts of bio-innovations: The case of genetically modified maize and cassava in Tanzania

2024Benfica, Rui; Zambrano, Patricia; Chambers, Judith; Falck-Zepeda, Jose
Details

Assessing the development impacts of bio-innovations: The case of genetically modified maize and cassava in Tanzania

Tanzania’s agriculture is characterized by low productivity due to unpredictable rainfall and the prevalence of pests and diseases. Genetically modified (GM) maize offering protection against drought and insects are being developed. Likewise, GM varieties resistant to cassava brown streak disease were developed. Building on prior crop-based analyses, we use the Rural Investment and Policy Analysis (RIAPA) CGE model to assess the impacts of the adoption of those GM crops. GM maize and cassava have positive effects on the economy, the Agri-Food System (AFS), and poverty. Given its stronger linkages in the AFS, the effects of the GM maize are stronger, especially in higher adoption and high yield scenarios. Likewise, the effects on the poorest and rural households are greater. The high variation across scenarios, and the significant effect of the high adoption/high yield scenarios, suggests a high return to investments and policies that realize these adoption rates and yield potential. JEL Codes: O10, O30, O55

Year published

2024

Authors

Benfica, Rui; Zambrano, Patricia; Chambers, Judith; Falck-Zepeda, Jose

Citation

Benfica, Rui; Zambrano, Patricia; Chambers, Judith; and Falck-Zepeda, Jose. 2024. Assessing the development impacts of bio-innovations: The case of genetically modified maize and cassava in Tanzania. 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists Conference, August 2-7, 2024, New Delhi, India. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.344284

Keywords

Tanzania; Africa; Eastern Africa; Agrifood Systems; Cassava; Genetically Modified Foods; Maize; Poverty

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.344284 Source record

Record type

Conference Paper

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Report

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

2024Andam, Kwaw S.; Amare, Mulubhran; Zambrano, Patrica; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Fasoranti, Adetunji; Edeh, Hyacinth; Chambers, Judith
Details

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

Nigeria is the largest consumer and producer of cowpea in Africa. Produced predominantly by smallholder farmers, cowpea is relied on by millions of Nigerians and is one of their main sources of affordable protein. Despite cowpea’s economic relevance (Nwagboso et al. 2024; Phillip et al. 2019), cowpea yields in Nigeria have barely grown over the last 20 years. One of the main abiotic constraints of the crop is the pod-borer insect (Maruca vitrata), which can cause damages of up to 80 percent. Given that conventional breeding has not been successful in addressing this constraint, local and international efforts over the last decades focused on developing a pod-borer-resistant (PBR) cowpea. The culmination of these efforts in Nigeria was the commercial release of the PBR cowpea variety SAMPEA-20T in late 2019. This is a significant milestone, as it was the first transgenic food crop to be approved for cultivation in Nigeria. In its programming under the “Feed the Future Innovative Maize and Cowpea Technologies to Increase Food and Nutrition Security in Africa” activity, implemented by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) aims for an adoption rate of PBR cowpea in Nigeria of 25 percent by 2025, with yield gains of 20 percent and accompanying reductions in pesticide applications. The International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI) Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS) is leading a five-year (2021–2026) impact evaluation (IE) project, funded by USAID. The study goal is to generate causal evidence of the use of the PBR cowpea variety and its consequential household and farm impacts and associated value chain effects. In a collaboration with IFPRI’s Nigeria Country Office, PBS is leading and coordinating the overall study while the IFPRI-Nigeria Country Office designs and implements the quantitative and qualitative approaches to the evaluation. IFPRI has worked with technology developers, the AATF and its partners (including private local seed companies), to ensure access to necessary data and cooperation by the evaluation team, while maintaining the team’s independence. To ensure such required independence, the evaluation team has separated the cooperation in implementing the evaluation (including distributing inputs) from the data analysis. The evaluation team will continue to maintain its independence in the methodological approach and the analysis of the results from the implemented randomized controlled trial (RCT), adhering to international standards.

Year published

2024

Authors

Andam, Kwaw S.; Amare, Mulubhran; Zambrano, Patrica; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Fasoranti, Adetunji; Edeh, Hyacinth; Chambers, Judith

Citation

Andam, Kwaw S.; Amare, Mulubhran; Zambrano, Patrica; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Fasoranti, Adetunji; Edeh, Hyacinth; and Chambers, Judith. 2024. Impact evaluation of the use of PBR cowpea in Nigeria: Baseline report. NSSP Project Report: June 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145074

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Western Africa; Africa; Cowpeas; Smallholders; Nutrition; Yields; Pests; Transgenic Plants; Value Chains; Impact Assessment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Report

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Journal Article

Opportunities for orphan crops: Expected economic benefits from biotechnology

2022Zambrano, Patricia; Wood-Sichra, Ulrike; Ruhinduka, Remidius D.; Phillip, Dayo; Nin Pratt, Alejandro; Komen, John; Kikulwe, Enoch Mutebi; Falck Zepeda, José; Dzanku, Fred M.; Chambers, Judith A.
Details

Opportunities for orphan crops: Expected economic benefits from biotechnology

An enabling, evidence-based decision-making framework is critical to support agricultural biotechnology innovation, and to ensure farmers’ access to genetically modified (GM) crops, including orphan crop varieties. A key element, and often a challenge in the decision-making process, involves the balancing of identified potential risks with expected economic benefits from GM crops. The latter is particularly challenging in the case of orphan crops, for which solid economic data is scarce. To address this challenge, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in collaboration with local economists analyzed the expected economic benefits to farmers and consumers from the adoption of GM crops in 5 sub-Saharan African countries. This paper focuses on case studies involving insect-resistant cowpea in Nigeria and Ghana; disease-resistant cassava in Uganda and Tanzania; and disease-resistant banana in Uganda. Estimations from these case studies show substantial economic benefits to farmers and consumers from the timely adoption and planting in farmers’ fields of GM orphan crops. Our analysis also shows how the benefits would significantly be reduced by regulatory or other delays that affect the timely release of these crops. These findings underscore the importance of having an enabling policy environment and regulatory system—covering, among other elements, biosafety and food/feed safety assessment, and varietal release registration—that is efficient, predictable, and transparent to ensure that the projected economic benefits are delivered and realized in a timely manner.

Year published

2022

Authors

Zambrano, Patricia; Wood-Sichra, Ulrike; Ruhinduka, Remidius D.; Phillip, Dayo; Nin Pratt, Alejandro; Komen, John; Kikulwe, Enoch Mutebi; Falck Zepeda, José; Dzanku, Fred M.; Chambers, Judith A.

Citation

Zambrano, P.; Wood-Sichra, U.; Ruhinduka, R.D.; Phillip, D.; Nin Pratt, A.; Komen, J.; Kikulwe, E.M.; Falck Zepeda, J.; Dzanku, F.M.; Chambers, J.A. (2022) Opportunities for orphan crops: Expected economic benefits from biotechnology. Frontiers in Plant Science 13: 825930 10 p. ISSN: 1664-462X

Country/Region

Nigeria; Ghana; Uganda

Keywords

Tanzania; Africa; Western Africa; Eastern Africa; Plant Biotechnology; Innovation Adoption; Economic Benefits; Genetically Modified Organisms; Policies; Biotecnología Vegetal; Adopción De Innovaciones; Beneficios Económicos; Banana; Models; Biotechnology; Cowpeas; Mathematical Models; Agriculture; Food Safety; Disease Resistance; Cassava; Regulations; Dreampy; Orphan Crops; Impact Assessment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.825930 Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Journal Article

Events

ICTforAg 2024: Localizing impact
IFPRI at External Event

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May 28, 2024, 9:00 – 5:00 pm

ICTforAg 2024: Localizing impact

Event: May 28, 2024 – 9:00am to 5:00pm EDT. This event explores the localization of ICT, responsible AI in agriculture, the potential for AI to increase farm profitability, empowering citizen science, and harnessing digital solutions for sustainable and regenerative farming practices.

2018 International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research Conference (ICABR)
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

June 12 to 15, 2018

2018 International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research Conference (ICABR)

IFPRI is participating extensively in the International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR) conference. Multiple changes in the structure of the food system and agriculture raise new opportunities and challenges for the agricultural sector.  In the developing world, these changes started in Asia and Latin America, and are rapidly emerging in Africa.  Urbanization and increased urban […]