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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

Vartika Singh

Vartika Singh is a Senior Research Analyst in the Natural Resources and Resilience Unit, based in New Delhi, and a Senior Research Officer at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Humboldt University in Berlin and a guest researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany. Her research interest is in the nexus of food-water-energy and land. 

Where we work

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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

Foresight and Policy Modeling

Yumei Zhang

Nonresident Fellow

Yumei Zhang

Bio

Yumei Zhang is a Nonresident Fellow with the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit, and is based at IFPRI-Beijing.

Foresight and Policy Modeling

Publications

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Journal Article

Food security amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Central Asia: Evidence from rural Tajikistan

2024Zhao, Yuhan; Qian, Chen; Zhang, Yumei; Li, Xiande; Akramov, Kamiljon T.
Details

Food security amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Central Asia: Evidence from rural Tajikistan

Food security has been long understudied in the context of Central Asia. We present an analysis examining household-level food demand for Tajikistan and assessing the magnitude of its food security changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on an extensive household survey data set from Tajikistan, we estimate the expenditure, income, and price elasticities for nine food categories using the QUAIDS model. Then, we develop a microsimulation model using the estimated elasticities to assess the dual impact of declining remittance income and rising food prices stemming from the pandemic shock. There are significant differences in demand elasticities across food groups, with high elasticities observed for nutritious foods, such as meat, fruit, eggs, and milk, in rural households. Moreover, our findings show that changes in remittance income and food prices significantly negatively affected food security for rural households during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings have important implications for policymakers concerned about rural livelihoods and food security in remittance-receiving economies during the post-pandemic period.

Year published

2024

Authors

Zhao, Yuhan; Qian, Chen; Zhang, Yumei; Li, Xiande; Akramov, Kamiljon T.

Citation

Zhao, Yuhan; Qian, Chen; Zhang, Yumei; Li, Xiande; and Akramov, Kamiljon T. 2024. Food security amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Central Asia: Evidence from rural Tajikistan. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 23(8): 2853-2867. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jia.2023.12.001

Country/Region

Tajikistan

Keywords

Asia; Central Asia; Covid-19; Food Security; Household Surveys; Rural Areas

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jia.2023.12.001 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Book Chapter

Evolution of agricultural support policies

2022Zhang, Yumei; Meng, Ting; Lan, Xiangmin; Fan, Shenggen; Chen, Kevin Z.; Si, Wei
Details

Evolution of agricultural support policies

In recent decades, agricultural support policies in many countries have played an active role in promoting food production and reducing hunger and poverty. Remarkable achievements have been made globally in agricultural production, with rapid growth in output of agricultural products outpacing population growth. Populations’ food consumption has increased and the number of undernourished people has decreased significantly. Particularly in China, agricultural reforms that were initiated in the late 1970s have increased farmers’ incomes and improved dietary quality. By 2020, China had achieved a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and had eliminated hunger and poverty. This chapter reviews domestic and international agricultural support policies and their impacts. China’s experience of developing agricultural support policies has been summed up in order to, on the one hand, provide a reference for other developing countries. On the other hand, China is now implementing new national development goals of nutrition and health, green and high quality development, common prosperity, and institutional opening. The analysis of the challenges being faced in the course of implementing the corresponding new agricultural support policies can help optimize these policies.

Year published

2022

Authors

Zhang, Yumei; Meng, Ting; Lan, Xiangmin; Fan, Shenggen; Chen, Kevin Z.; Si, Wei

Citation

Zhang, Yumei; Meng, Ting; Fan, Shenggen; and Si, Wei. 2022. Evolution of agricultural support policies. In China and global food policy report 2022: Reforming agricultural support policy for transforming agrifood systems. Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy, China Agricultural University (AGFEP); China Academy for Rural Development, Zhejiang University (CARD); Centre for International Food and Agricultural Economics, Nanjing Agricultural University (CIFAE); Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IAED); International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Chapter 1, Pp. 2-12 http://agfep.cau.edu.cn/module/download/downfile.jsp?classid=0&filename=6dbb930c64de42458dc72edba23fbcdf.pdf

Country/Region

China

Keywords

Eastern Asia; Asia; Income; Food Production; Undernutrition; Agricultural Products; Health; Agricultural Policies; Farmers; Hunger; Population; Sustainable Development; Nutrition; Developing Countries; Diet Quality; Food Consumption; Agricultural Support; Poverty; Green Infrastructure

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Low-Emission Food Systems

Record type

Book Chapter

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Book Chapter

Repositioning agricultural support policies for achieving China’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal

2022Feng, Xialong; Zhang, Yumei; Wu, Zongyi; Fan, Shenggen; Chen, Kevin Z.
Details

Repositioning agricultural support policies for achieving China’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal

Agrifood systems are both a contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and an important sector for achieving China’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal and mitigating climate change. Rising global temperatures and frequent extreme weather have greatly weakened agricultural production capacity (IPCC, 2021). The need to mitigate climate change by reducing GHG emissions has global consensus. In 2020, the Chinese government made an important commitment toward peaking its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Under China’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal, the contribution of agrifood systems to GHG emissions reduction cannot be ignored. According to estimates by the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy (AGFEP) at China Agricultural University (AGFEP, 2021), GHG emissions from agrifood systems reached 1.09 billion metric tons (t) of CO2eq in 2018, accounting for 8.2 percent of total national GHG emissions. While ensuring food security as the top national priority, the combined measures can reduce GHG emissions by 47 percent by 2060, compared to 2020 levels; these measures include improving agricultural technologies, reducing food loss and waste, and shifting dietary patterns. When coupled with the carbon sequestration of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), agrifood systems can contribute significantly to achieving carbon neutrality (AGFEP, 2021).

Year published

2022

Authors

Feng, Xialong; Zhang, Yumei; Wu, Zongyi; Fan, Shenggen; Chen, Kevin Z.

Citation

Feng, Xialong; Zhang, Yumei; Wu, Zongyi; Fan, Shenggen; and Chen, Kevin Z. 2022. Repositioning agricultural support policies for achieving China’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal. In China and global food policy report 2022: Reforming agricultural support policy for transforming agrifood systems. Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy, China Agricultural University (AGFEP); China Academy for Rural Development, Zhejiang University (CARD); Centre for International Food and Agricultural Economics, Nanjing Agricultural University (CIFAE); Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IAED); International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Chapter 3, Pp. 39-55. http://agfep.cau.edu.cn/module/download/downfile.jsp?classid=0&filename=6dbb930c64de42458dc72edba23fbcdf.pdf

Country/Region

China

Keywords

Eastern Asia; Asia; Greenhouse Gases; Carbon Dioxide; Weather Hazards; Food Wastes; Agricultural Products; Land Use; Agrifood Systems; Agricultural Technologies; Food Security; Temperature; Carbon Emissions; Diet; Climate Change

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Low-Emission Food Systems

Record type

Book Chapter

Blogs

How China can address threats to food and nutrition security from the coronavirus outbreak
IFPRI Blog
 | 
February 12, 2020

How China can address threats to food and nutrition security from the coronavirus outbreak

By Kevin Chen, Yumei Zhang, Yue Zhan, Shenggen Fan, and Wei Si

Important steps to avoid potential hiccups in the food supply and other problems during the coronavirus outbreak..