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Who we are

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

Kalyani Raghunathan

Kalyani Raghunathan is Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, based in New Delhi, India. Her research lies at the intersection of agriculture, gender, social protection, and public health and nutrition, with a specific focus on South Asia and Africa. 

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

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Quinn Marshall

Associate Research Fellow

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Quinn

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ORCiD

Bio

Quinn Marshall is a Associate Research Fellow with the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit, and is based at IFPRI-Washington, DC.

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Publications

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Brief

Food environment research in Sri Lanka: A desk review

2024Clarke, Rebecca Namara; Sehgal, Mrignyani; Marshall, Quinn; Kumar, Neha
Details

Food environment research in Sri Lanka: A desk review

Key Findings • Research has documented the availability of modern food retail (e.g. fast-food) in both urban and rural contexts, and its influence especially on adolescents. • Barriers to accessing healthy diets include the high cost of nutritious foods, especially vegetables and animal source foods, the time needed to cook fresh meals, and food safety • Most research to date has utilized cross-sectional designs, with relatively few studies examining associations with diet or health outcomes, or evaluating interventions.

Year published

2024

Authors

Clarke, Rebecca Namara; Sehgal, Mrignyani; Marshall, Quinn; Kumar, Neha

Citation

Clarke, Rebecca Namara; Sehgal, Mrignyani; Marshall, Quinn; and Kumar, Neha. 2024. Food environment research in Sri Lanka: A desk review. FRESH Brief November 2024. CGIAR Initiative on FRESH. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.

Country/Region

Sri Lanka

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Adolescents; Capacity Development; Diet Quality; Food Environment; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Brief

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Book Chapter

Food environments: Improving their healthfulness

2024Fretes, Gabriela; Marshall, Quinn; Leroy, Jef L.
Details

Food environments: Improving their healthfulness

The food environment is the setting in which people choose what to eat, where they buy those foods, and where, when, and how they eat. This chapter examines some of the key challenges and opportunities for food environments amid the rapid transitions occurring in low- and middle-income countries. It presents examples of evidence-based food environment policies and actions that are being implemented to promote diet quality in a diverse range of countries. The conclusions reflect on potential policies for improving diets through changes in food environments, and discuss actions needed to move forward in strengthening the healthfulness of food environments.

Year published

2024

Authors

Fretes, Gabriela; Marshall, Quinn; Leroy, Jef L.

Citation

Fretes, Gabriela; Marshall, Quinn; and Leroy, Jef L. 2024. Food environments: Improving their healthfulness. In Global food policy report 2024: Food systems for healthy diets and nutrition. Chapter 5, Pp. 46-52. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141887

Keywords

Food Environment; Healthy Diets; Ultraprocessed Foods; Developing Countries; Food Safety; Digital Technology; Food Policies

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Journal Article

Food prices and the wages of the poor: A cost-effective addition to high-frequency food security monitoring

2024Headey, Derek D.; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Marshall, Quinn; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Mahrt, Kristi
Details

Food prices and the wages of the poor: A cost-effective addition to high-frequency food security monitoring

The affordability of nutritious food for “all people, at all times” is a critically important dimension of food security. Yet surprisingly, timely high-frequency indicators of food affordability are rarely collected in any systematic fashion despite price volatility emerging as major source of food insecurity in the 21st Century. The 2008 global food crisis prompted international agencies to invest heavily in monitoring domestic food prices in low and middle income countries (LMICs). However, food price monitoring is not sufficient for measuring changes in diet affordability; for that, one must also measure changes either in income or in an income proxy. We propose using the wages of unskilled workers as a cheap and sufficiently accurate income proxy, especially for the urban and rural non-farm poor. We first outline alternative measures of “food wage” indices, defined as wages deflated either by consumer food price indices or novel healthy diet cost indices. We then discuss the conceptual strengths and limitations of food wages. Finally, we examine patterns and trends in different types of real food wage series during well-known food price crises in Ethiopia (2008, 2011 and 2022), Sri Lanka (2022) and Myanmar (2022). In all these instances, food wages declined by 20–30%, often in the space of a few months. In Myanmar, the decline in real wages during 2022 closely matches declines in household disposable income. We strongly advocate tracking the wages of the poor as a timely, accurate and cost-effective means of monitoring food affordability for important segments of the world’s poor.

Year published

2024

Authors

Headey, Derek D.; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Marshall, Quinn; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Mahrt, Kristi

Citation

Headey, Derek D.; Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Marshall, Quinn; Raghunathan, Kalyani; and Mahrt, Kristi. 2024. Food prices and the wages of the poor: A cost-effective addition to high-frequency food security monitoring. Food Policy 125(May 2024): 102630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102630

Keywords

Early Warning Systems; Food Prices; Food Security; Healthy Diets; Less Favoured Areas; Nutrition; Poverty; Remuneration

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102630 Source record

Project

Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Journal Article

Events

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

August 2 to 7, 2024

32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists

The triennial International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE-2024), centred on the theme “Transformation Towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems” is scheduled from August 2-7, 2024, in New Delhi, India. The conference offers a distinctive platform, providing a golden opportunity for the agricultural academic institutions and researchers to convene in person, exchange knowledge, and actively contribute to the […]