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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

Emily Schmidt

Emily Schmidt is a Senior Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. Her most recent research explores household livelihood strategies in Papua New Guinea, including linkages between agriculture, poverty, and nutrition outcomes among rural smallholder farmers.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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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

Foresight and Policy Modeling

Zhe Guo

Senior GIS Coordinator

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Bio

Zhe Guo is a Senior GIS Coordinator with the Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit, and is based at IFPRI-Washington, DC.

Publications

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Brief

Advancing climate-smart financial solutions for smallholder farmers: Lessons from the CGIAR Climate Resilience Initiative

2024
Timu, Anne G.; Laborte, Alice; Attoh, Emmanuel; Kikulwe, Enock; Kiundu, Paul; Guo, Zhe; Mayanja, Brian; Mbithi, Anthony; Sartas, Murat; Vyas, Shalika
…more You, Liangzhi
Details

Advancing climate-smart financial solutions for smallholder farmers: Lessons from the CGIAR Climate Resilience Initiative

Smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries face climate-related risks that increase their income volatility and compromise their well-being. The CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience (ClimBeR) has developed and implemented a suite of innovative instruments aimed at transforming the climate adaptation capacity of smallholder farmers. This brief examines the potential of these bundled financial solutions in enhancing smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate risks and documents ClimBeR’s experience in implementing and scaling these instruments.

Year published

2024

Authors

Timu, Anne G.; Laborte, Alice; Attoh, Emmanuel; Kikulwe, Enock; Kiundu, Paul; Guo, Zhe; Mayanja, Brian; Mbithi, Anthony; Sartas, Murat; Vyas, Shalika; You, Liangzhi

Citation

Timu, A, G., Laborte, A., Attoh, E., Kikulwe, E., Kiundu, P., Guo, Z., Mayanja, B., Mbithi, A., Sartas, M., Vyas, S., You, Liangzhi. 2024. Advancing climate-smart financial solutions for smallholder farmers: Lessons from the CGIAR Climate Resilience Initiative. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/169396

Country/Region

Kenya; Philippines; Zambia; Ethiopia

Keywords

Climate Change Adaptation; Finance; Economics

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Climate Resilience

Record type

Brief

Resource thumbnail

Brief

From space to soil: Advancing crop mapping and ecosystem insights for smallholder agriculture

2024Guo, Zhe
Details

From space to soil: Advancing crop mapping and ecosystem insights for smallholder agriculture

This project centers on in-season crop type mapping in Nandi County, Kenya, utilizing time-series Sentinel-2 imagery and supervised machine learning techniques. The objective is to produce accurate crop-type maps to support agricultural management activities such as yield estimation, acreage statistics, disaster damage assessment, and ecosystem evaluation. The approach leverages cloud-based computing, offering a customized and flexible solution that requires no prior knowledge of cloud infrastructure.

Year published

2024

Authors

Guo, Zhe

Citation

Guo, Zhe. 2024. From space to soil: Advancing crop mapping and ecosystem insights for smallholder agriculture. Low-Emission Food Systems Initiative Brief. CGIAR System Organization. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168470

Country/Region

Kenya

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Crops; Cartography; Smallholders; Agriculture; Satellite Imagery; Data; Ecosystem Management

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Low-Emission Food Systems

Record type

Brief

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Journal Article

Measuring above-ground carbon stock using spatial analysis and the InVEST model: Application in the Thoria Watershed, India

2024Guo, Zhe; Sharma, Himani; Jadav, Mahesh; Hettiarachchi, Upeksha; Guha, Chiranjit; Zhang, Wei; Priyadarshini, Pratiti; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.
Details

Measuring above-ground carbon stock using spatial analysis and the InVEST model: Application in the Thoria Watershed, India

Understanding and quantifying above-ground carbon stock is critical for assessing the impact of land use choices on carbon emissions which can inform conservation and management strategies to protect and increase carbon stocks. This study introduces a novel methodology for evaluating above-ground carbon storage and sequestration in the Thoria watershed, India, using time-series open-access remotely sensed datasets and the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs) carbon model. Our spatially explicit analysis examines land cover and land use changes over the past 20 years. Using high-resolution NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) data from Sentinel satellites, we disaggregate land cover types into high and low NDVI classes, which allows enhanced assessment of carbon stocks by capturing the spatial variation within the same land cover types. To assess the potential impacts of land cover changes on carbon stock, we generated two future scenarios suggested by local experts: a 20% expansion of cropland and a 20% expansion of wooded land. Using a proximity-based approach, we create these future land use maps and estimate the corresponding carbon stock with the InVEST carbon model. We demonstrate the utility of the methodology in informing land use decisions through spatially explicitly assessing how carbon stock changes in response to cropland expansion and wooded land growth. Our findings indicate that while urban development contributes to carbon losses, increasing wooded land and tree cover helps mitigate these losses, highlighting the importance of afforestation in maintaining ecological balance and reducing environmental impact.

Year published

2024

Authors

Guo, Zhe; Sharma, Himani; Jadav, Mahesh; Hettiarachchi, Upeksha; Guha, Chiranjit; Zhang, Wei; Priyadarshini, Pratiti; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S.

Citation

Guo, Zhe; Sharma, Himani; Jadav, Mahesh; Hettiarachchi, Upeksha; Guha, Chiranjit; et al. 2024. Measuring above-ground carbon stock using spatial analysis and the InVEST model: Application in the Thoria Watershed, India. Environmental Research Communications 6(11): 115036. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ad95e7

Country/Region

India

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Modelling; Carbon Stock Assessments; Watersheds; Spatial Analysis

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ad95e7 Source record

Project

Nature-Positive Solutions

Record type

Journal Article

Events

How Can We Improve Food Security Monitoring in Conflict-Affected Regions? Machine Learning for Spatially Granular Food Security Mapping
IFPRI Program/Country Event

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March 25, 2025, 9:30 – 10:30 am

How Can We Improve Food Security Monitoring in Conflict-Affected Regions? Machine Learning for Spatially Granular Food Security Mapping

Machine learning is transforming agricultural and food security research, enabling more accurate and timely insights. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is advancing data-driven approaches in various domains, including crop-type mapping, maize yield estimation, and boat detection. These innovations demonstrate the potential of machine learning in addressing complex challenges and informing policy decisions. A […]

The Latest Innovations in Global Crop Mapping
IFPRI at External Event

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April 29, 2024, 10:00 – 11:00 am

The Latest Innovations in Global Crop Mapping

Webinar: April 29, 2024 – 10:00 AM- 11:00 AM EDT. Join this webinar to hear from experts from IFPRI, the Bezos Earth Fund, Land & Carbon Lab and partners as they discuss the importance of transforming global food systems and the role that geospatial monitoring can play in this.

Enhancing Biodiversity and Resilience in Intensive Farming Systems: Results from an ETH Zürich-IFPRI Collaborative study
Series/Special Event

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December 6, 2022, 10:00 – 11:30 am

Enhancing Biodiversity and Resilience in Intensive Farming Systems: Results from an ETH Zürich-IFPRI Collaborative study

Virtual Event: December 6, 2022 – 10:00 AM- 11:30 AM EST. This project, undertaken by ETH-Zurich and IFPRI and funded by Bayer, has consolidated and synthesized existing knowledge about farm and landscape practices designed to enhance biodiversity and resilience in intensive soybean, maize, and wheat production systems in Brazil, France, Germany, and the United States.

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