IFPRI Publications: Journal Articles

Levelling the field: A review of the ICT revolution and agricultural extension in the Global South

Information and communications technology has evolved significantly over the last seven decades, beginning with radio and video vans and culminating in the rise of smartphones and mobile internet in remote areas of the Global South. While ICT is an integral part of agricultural extension, little is known about how these changes have influenced agricultural extension practices. After a systematic review of 131 papers, we find that changes in ICT have shaped agricultural extension, enabling a shift from linear dissemination and “one-way communication” to co-innovation and farmer-to-farmer learning. The results indicate the potential for smartphones and mobile internet to democratize agricultural extension.

Determinants and impacts of contract farming: Evidence from cultivation of onion, okra and pomegranate in Maharashtra, India

This study investigates the impact of contract farming in onion, okra and pomegranate production on profits of smallholder farmers in India. It also investigates the determinants of farmers’ participation in contract farming. The study is based on a survey of 1,131 farmers from Maharashtra, India engaged in the cultivation of these three crops.This study uses instrumental variable regressions and quasi-experimental methods to decipher the impact of contract farming.The study reveals that contract farming ensures higher returns for smallholders, enables their access to high-end markets and brings in risk-sharing with protection during price fluctuations. Farm size and farmers’ risk perceptions are significantly associated with their participation in contract farming.The study is based on cross-sectional data, which presents limitations on considering unobserved farmer-level individual heterogeneity.The study shows that contracts highlight the functioning of the contractor/integrator on both the input and output sides of the market. By providing better-quality inputs on credit and at discounted prices and by providing training, the integrator helps small farmers meet international food safety and quality standards, a historically difficult challenge for smallholders in India.

Polycentric governance of commons through multi-stakeholder platforms: Insights from two case studies in India

This paper examines the complexities of commons governance, focusing on the role of multistakeholder platforms (MSPs) in addressing tensions among diverse decision-making centers. Drawing on the experiences of the Indian NGO Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) in Gujarat and Odisha, the study analyzes two MSPs operating at the block level, engaging communities, government, and private sector actors. Through surveys, interviews, and analysis of institutional reports, the research identifies key benefits of MSPs, including enhanced multi-stakeholder engagement, scale, and enabling conditions. It argues that MSPs can effectively support polycentric governance by facilitating inter-community collaboration, strengthening local voices, and building trust over time. The study also underscores the importance of external actors like NGOs in supporting community agency and fostering collaboration across different governance levels.

Do youth work in agriculture? Short-term dynamics of on-farm rural youth employment in Tanzania and Malawi

Evaluating the gendered credit constraints and uptake of an insurance-linked credit product among smallholder farmers in Kenya

Identification, characterization, and determinants of dietary patterns of low-income urban adults in Vietnam and Nigeria

Understanding dietary patterns and their determinants can steer efforts to food systems transformations required to provide sustainable healthy diets. Based on 24-h recall data and using latent class analysis, we characterized dietary patterns of adults from low-income neighborhoods in Hanoi, Vietnam and Ibadan, Nigeria (n = 385 and 344, age 18–49 years). We examined sociodemographic determinants and diet quality (diversity, non-communicable disease risk, and micronutrient adequacy) of these patterns. Three dietary patterns were identified in each country. Vietnamese patterns differed in sociodemographic characteristics and diet quality. Nigerian patterns differed in diet quality but not in sociodemographics. Understanding different consumer groups and the drivers of consumption helps to identify tailored interventions to diversify diets and improve diet quality.

Can survey design reduce anchoring bias in recall data? Evidence from smallholder farmers in Malawi

Recall biases in retrospective self-reported survey data have important implications for empirical research. We leverage the survey design literature and test three strategies to attenuate mental anchoring in retrospective data collection: question ordering, retrieval cues and aggregate (community) anchoring. We focus on maize production and happiness reports among smallholder farmers in Malawi. Asking for retrospective before concurrent data on average reduces recall bias (i.e. the deviation of the recalled versus the concurrent outcome reported in the previous period) by 34 per cent for maize production, a meaningful improvement with no increase in data collection costs. Retrieval cues are less successful and community anchors can exacerbate the bias. None of the strategies help to ease the recall bias for happiness reports.

Africa’s manufacturing puzzle: Evidence from Tanzanian and Ethiopian firms

Recent growth accelerations in Africa are characterized by declining shares of the labor force employed in agriculture, increasing labor productivity in agriculture, and declining labor productivity in modern sectors such as manufacturing. To shed light on this puzzle, this study disaggregates firms in the manufacturing sector by average size, using two newly created firm-level panels covering Tanzania (2008–2016) and Ethiopia (1996–2017). The analysis identifies a dichotomy between larger firms with superior productivity performance that do not expand employment and small firms that absorb employment but do not experience much productivity growth. Large, more productive firms use highly capital-intensive techniques, in line with global technology trends but significantly greater than what would be expected based on these countries’ income levels or relative factor endowments.

In good times and in bad, in sickness and in health: The continuous rise in adoption of labour-saving agricultural technologies in Myanmar

Using best-worst scaling to inform agroecological interventions in Western Kenya

Both the demand for food and the environmental impacts of food production are estimated to significantly increase by 2050. Agroecological interventions have proven effective in facilitating the transition from current food production systems to more sustainable ones. These interventions can not only ensure more equitable food and nutritional security but also address poverty and reduce environmental impacts. As such, agroecological interventions can generate both private and public ecosystem services. Farmers play a key role in how food is produced, as the practices they use are linked with their preferences and expertise, as well as the constraints they face. Understanding farmers’ preferences for the adoption of different agroecological practices and their perceptions of the associated costs and benefits is critical to informing policies that can effectively support farmers in transitioning to more sustainable practices, including those that contribute to the generation of ecosystem services highly valued by broader society. To assess such preferences, we conducted a survey among farmers in Western Kenya which included a best-worst scaling experiment augmented by qualitative questions about the reasons for farmers’ views about the importance of the benefits arising from agroecological practices. Results show that farmers have strong preferences for adopting agroecological practices that generate private goods and are directly related to increasing productivity and food security, including improving health of household members. These may also include practices that have some public good elements as well, such as increasing agrobiodiversity. However, practices that generate broader public good benefits, including improved forest quality/coverage, reduced off-farm environmental impacts, greater community-level resilience to shocks, and improved landscape and wildlife management, were less important to farmers. Such findings can be used to inform policies that support farmer adoption of agroecological interventions best suited to different farming communities, as well as indicating the need for additional types of market-based incentives, such as through Payments for Ecosystem Service mechanisms.

Resilience in technical efficiency and enabling factors: Insights from panel farm enterprise surveys in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

The political economy of agroecological transitions: Key analytical dimensions

There is a growing global interest in agroecology, yet agroecological transitions remain fraught with challenges. These include the need to reconfigure the productive and reproductive agrarian relations of unsustainable food systems and to rethink how we work with ecosystems. Using a political economy approach, we propose five key interrelated dimensions for analyzing agroecological transitions: (i) social metabolism; (ii) labor dynamics; (iii) markets and resources; (iv) social organization; and (iv) policies and politics. While these dimensions are often analyzed separately and to varying degrees, we argue that together they contribute to a comprehensive analysis of the political economy of agroecological transitions.

Sustainable poverty reduction through social assistance: Modality, context, and complementary programming in Bangladesh

Social assistance programs can increase consumption and reduce poverty, but less is known about whether these impacts are sustained after programs end, or how design and context influence sustainability. Using data collected in two regions of Bangladesh four years after a randomized intervention ended, we find that combining cash transfers with complementary programming led to sustained increases in consumption and reductions in poverty. Combining food transfers with complementary programming showed similar patterns, to a lesser extent. Cash alone had context-specific sustained effects; food alone had no sustained impacts. Results suggest that context, modality, and complementary programming matter for sustained impacts.

Men can cook: Effectiveness of a men’s engagement intervention to change attitudes and behaviors in rural Ethiopia

Graduation model interventions seek to address multiple barriers constraining households’ exit from poverty, however, few explicitly target restrictive gender norms. Using a randomized controlled trial design, combined with three rounds of data, we investigate the impacts on gender equitable attitudes and behaviors of a graduation program that seeks to address multiple constraints for those in poverty and improve restrictive gender norms in Ethiopia. We find that at 1-year follow-up all treatment arms lead to improvements in men’s gender equitable attitudes and their engagement in household domestic tasks as reported by both men and women; but at 3-year follow-up, impacts are only sustained in the treatment arms that introduced men’s engagement groups after the 1-year follow-up survey to further promote improvements in equitable gender norms.

Neonatal mortality risk of vulnerable newborns by fine stratum of gestational age and birthweight for 230 679 live births in nine low- and middle-income countries, 2000-2017.

Objective We aimed to understand the mortality risks of vulnerable newborns (defined as preterm and/or born weighing smaller or larger compared to a standard population), in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Design Descriptive multi-country, secondary analysis of individual-level study data of babies born since 2000. Setting Sixteen subnational, population-based studies from nine LMICs in sub-Saharan Africa, Southern and Eastern Asia, and Latin America. Population Live birth neonates. Methods We categorically defined five vulnerable newborn types based on size (large- or appropriate- or small-for-gestational age [LGA, AGA, SGA]), and term (T) and preterm (PT): T + LGA, T + SGA, PT + LGA, PT + AGA, and PT + SGA, with T + AGA (reference). A 10-type definition included low birthweight (LBW) and non-LBW, and a four-type definition collapsed AGA/LGA into one category. We performed imputation for missing birthweights in 13 of the studies. Main Outcome Measures Median and interquartile ranges by study for the prevalence, mortality rates and relative mortality risks for the four, six and ten type classification. Results There were 238 143 live births with known neonatal status. Four of the six types had higher mortality risk: T + SGA (median relative risk [RR] 2.8, interquartile range [IQR] 2.0–3.2), PT + LGA (median RR 7.3, IQR 2.3–10.4), PT + AGA (median RR 6.0, IQR 4.4–13.2) and PT + SGA (median RR 10.4, IQR 8.6–13.9). T + SGA, PT + LGA and PT + AGA babies who were LBW, had higher risk compared with non-LBW babies. Conclusions Small and/or preterm babies in LIMCs have a considerably increased mortality risk compared with babies born at term and larger. This classification system may advance the understanding of the social determinants and biomedical risk factors along with improved treatment that is critical for newborn health.

Rural underemployment and urbanisation: Insights from a 9-year panel from Malawi

Rural labour markets in Africa are frequently characterised by underemployment, with farmers unable to fully deploy throughout the year one of their most important assets—their labour. Using a nine-year panel data set on 1,407 working-age adults from rural Malawi, we document changes in rural underemployment over this period and how they are associated with urbanisation. Nearby urban growth is linked to increased hours worked in casual labour (ganyu) and in non-agricultural sectors, at the expense of work on the household farm. Improved urban access is also associated with a small increase in wage labour and, at the intensive margin, with hours supplied in household enterprises. We draw lessons from these results for policies, investments and interventions to leverage urban growth for rural development.

Wholesalers and the transformation of Myanmar’s maize value chains

Wholesalers of agricultural crops have historically received limited attention in the literature on agricultural development, which has a strongly productivist focus. When wholesalers are considered, they are often framed as exploitative, taking advantage of information asymmetries, market failures, and unequal power relations to extract heavy surpluses from farmers. However, there is a growing appreciation that wholesalers may play important roles in facilitating agricultural development and rural transformation. This paper evaluates wholesaler conduct and performance using a survey of 218 maize wholesalers in 12 of the major maize-growing and trading townships of South Shan State, Myanmar and the cities of Lashio and Muse in North Shan. Hybrid maize emerged very rapidly in Myanmar over the past two decades to become a major cash crop, supplying domestic animal feed mills and becoming one of Myanmar’s most important exports to China and Thailand. Wholesalers have been central to the development of this supply chain and the sector. Contrary to recent literature from Myanmar that has cast maize wholesalers as exploitative, the survey finds that the rapidly growing wholesaler segment of the maize value chain is highly competitive, rapidly changing with respect to technology, and functions efficiently. Farmers obtaining maize inputs from wholesalers in the form of tied output credit sell their maize at prevailing market rates. The emergence of clusters of maize wholesalers and allied actors such as third-party logistics services occurred spontaneously and symbiotically with the expansion of hybrid maize cultivation, and with each set of actors essential to the emergence of the others.

What do urban consumers want? Findings from a discrete choice experiment on the preference for locally produced staple food in Central Africa: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Adoption and impact of hybrid rice in India: Evidence from a large-scale field survey

This paper aims at understanding the causes of low adoption of hybrid rice technology. The paper also assesses the impact of adoption of hybrids and modern varieties on crop yield, vis-à-vis the old or traditional varieties.Using unit-level data from a large-scale survey of farm households (19,877 paddy cultivators), the authors applied multi-nomial regression method to understand the factors for adoption of hybrid rice and instrumental variable method of regression to estimate its impact.The findings demonstrate that in India, hybrid rice is often grown on relatively poor soils, resulting in greater irrigation costs and for other inputs, such as fertilizers. Further, farmers’ poor access to information on the traits of hybrid rice and the associated agronomic practices, as well as poor access to financial resources, hampers efforts to scale up its adoption. More importantly, the findings reveal that the relative yield advantage of hybrids over open-pollinated modern varieties is not large enough to incentivize the rapid adoption of hybrid rice technology.Given the higher cost of hybrids than the inbred varieties, enhancing paddy cultivators’ access to financial resources can accelerate the adoption of hybrid rice in India.The study is based on unit level data from a large-scale, nationally representative survey of farm households, comprising a sample of 19,877 paddy cultivators, spread across states in India.

Economic impacts of large dams on downstream brickmaking in developing countries

Large dams have positive and negative impacts, including disrupting brickmaking on the floodplains downstream due to flow regulation and sediment reduction, affecting the supply of essential construction material, notably in developing countries. In this study, we introduce an analytical framework to assess the economywide effects of large dams on downstream brickmaking, focusing on Traditional Fired Clay Brick (TFCB). The framework includes three steps: characterizing the impacts on river flow and sediment load using river system modeling and secondary data, understanding the role of TFCB production in the economy based on survey and economic data, and quantifying the economywide impacts of changes in TFCB production using dynamic computable general equilibrium modeling. We demonstrate the functionality of the approach by conducting a case study of the impacts of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Sudanese economy due to changes in TFCB production by comparing two scenarios: “with GERD” and “no GERD.” Results show that Sudan’s accumulated (2023–2050) discounted (at 0.5% annually) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at factor cost would decline by US$ 6 billion (−0.38%) due to a reduction in TFCB production. Consumer flexibility regarding brick types and the ability of alternative brick sources to fill the demand gap are key determinants of the impacts.

Intensive and extensive margins of India’s agricultural trade: implications for export diversification and development

This paper aims to analyze relative contribution of intensive margin (IM) and extensive margin (EM) to growth in India’s agricultural exports for the period 2001 to 2020. It also analyses the determinants of IM and EMs through a standard gravity model.The study uses export data from United Nations Comtrade, which is accessed through World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) software. Data for the period 2001 to 2020 were compiled for analysis using the Harmonized System (HS) of commodity classification system at the six-digit level. This study decomposed the contribution of IM and EM in the growth of Indian agricultural trade by using Hummels and Klenow’s approach. After performing the export decomposition analysis, the authors analyze the factors influencing IM and EM by using the Tobit regression model and Poisson pseudo-maximum-likelihood (PPML) method of estimation.The EM grew at 1.24% per annum, while the intensive margin (IM) increased by 0.23%. The contribution of growth at the EM increased from 58.8% in 2001 to 70.2% in 2020. Export growth along the IM was relatively high for animal products and agricultural raw materials, while growth at the EM was an important contributor to the export growth of horticultural and processed agricultural products. There was a positive and significant effect of the free trade agreement (FTA) on export margins.More disaggregated commodity-specific studies on value chain analysis would provide valuable insights into the issues hindering exports and realizing the untapped export potential.There is a scarcity of holistic and recent studies illustrating the role of IM and EMs in agricultural trade growth, covering a large number of commodities and geographies associated with Indian agricultural trade. The study would be helpful to the stakeholders in facilitating informed policy decisions.

Technology intensification and farmers’ welfare: A case study from Karnataka, a semi-arid state of India

JEL Codes: Q16, Q54, Q55, C13

Information framing effects on diet choices among Chinese urban residents

Agribusiness innovation, value chain interventions, farmer input use, agricultural productivity, land access and asset ownership

JEL classification: Q12, Q13, D13

The costs of a multisectoral nutrition program implemented through a poultry value chain platform in Burkina Faso

Undernutrition in women and young children in Burkina Faso is a critical problem. Egg consumption is low despite many households raising poultry. The Soutenir l’Exploitation Familiale pour Lancer l’Élevage des Volailles et Valoriser l’Économie Rurale (SELEVER) project, an integrated agriculture-nutrition intervention, promoted egg consumption and sales to investigate the impact of poultry production on child nutrition. Multisectoral nutrition-sensitive agriculture programs address nutrition deficits but lack comparable cost information. This study estimates the costs of the SELEVER program, an integrated poultry and nutrition intervention. The study estimates the program’s economic costs using a standardized methodology from the Strengthening Economic Evaluation for Multisectoral Strategies for Nutrition (SEEMS-Nutrition) consortium, which aligns financial and economic costs along program impact pathways, allocating costs by activities and inputs. We conducted qualitative interviews and focus groups on time allocation and beneficiary out-of-pocket costs. Incremental economic costs were calculated by combining expenditures and economic costs. The total incremental program cost was USD$18,084,727.68 over 5 years, with annual incremental costs of USD$209.20 per direct beneficiary and $796.26 per household. Major cost drivers included overhead (18%), poultry extension (17%), training (16%), household counseling (7%), technical assistance (7%) and microcredit (6%). Total input costs were dominated by personnel (51%), supplies (13%), agricultural inputs (10%) and overhead (9%). We present the total incremental costs of a multisectoral nutrition intervention to generate revenue with poultry. The costs per beneficiary were higher than similar interventions, underscoring the need for cost-effectiveness evaluations of multisectoral nutrition programs. A standardized cost methodology facilitates comparisons with multisectoral nutrition interventions and builds the evidence base.

Assessing global price shocks and mitigation policies on welfare and food security in Nigeria

Variations in agricultural and energy prices have direct and cascading effects on economic and agri-food systems. In this study, we developed a dynamic general equilibrium model to simulate the impact of the global price shocks induced by the Russia-Ukraine war on welfare and food security in Nigeria. In addition, we analysed the effectiveness of different policy options, specifically a reduction in indirect taxes and an increase in cash transfers to affected households, in the short and long term. The results showed that the shocks create opportunities for Nigeria, particularly in the trade, livestock, and agricultural sectors. This leads to an increase in GDP, employment, and incomes. However, these effects fade over time due to the rise in food prices that negatively affects food consumption and some food security indicators. Moreover, the comparative analysis of mitigation scenarios revealed that targeted public cash transfers to households are more effective than reduction in consumption taxes on food in mitigating the negative effects on households.

Does participation in mining activities affect the profitability of food crops production? Evidence from Ghana

Educational responses to local and migration destination shocks: Evidence from China

Over the last 20 years, China has experienced substantial positive shocks to export-oriented industries—especially following its accession to the World Trade Organization—and these shocks have had major implications for human capital investment. One primary channel through which export expansion can shape choices about human capital accumulation is positive labor-demand shocks, and these shocks can be observed both at potential within-country migration destinations and in the locality of birth. Exploiting cross-county variation in the reduction in export tariff uncertainty post-WTO, both locally and at plausible migration destinations, this analysis finds that youth in China reaching matriculation age post-accession in counties experiencing a larger export shock (either locally or at those destinations) show a lower probability of enrolling in high school. This pattern is observed in a sample including both youth who ultimately migrate and youth who do not migrate. For urban youth, the effects of local shocks are larger than the effects of destination shocks, but the opposite pattern is observed for rural youth. A supplementary online appendix is available with this article at The World Bank Economic Review website. JEL classification: F14, F16, J24, O15, O18, O19

Vulnerability of Nigerian maize traders to a confluence of climate, violence, disease and cost shocks

Purpose We study five exogenous shocks: climate, violence, price hikes, spoilage and the COVID-19 lockdown. We analyze the association between these shocks and trader characteristics, reflecting trader vulnerability. Design/methodology/approach Using primary survey data on 1,100 Nigerian maize traders for 2021 (controlling for shocks in 2017), we use probit models to estimate the probabilities of experiencing climate, violence, disease and cost shocks associated with trader characteristics (gender, size and region) and to estimate the probability of vulnerability (experiencing severe impacts). Findings Traders are prone to experiencing more than one shock, which increases the intensity of the shocks. Price shocks are often accompanied by violence, climate and COVID-19 shocks. The poorer northern region is disproportionately affected by shocks. Northern traders experience more price shocks while Southern traders are more affected by violence shocks given their dependence on long supply chains from the north for their maize. Female traders are more likely to experience violent events than men who tend to be more exposed to climate shocks. Research limitations/implications The data only permit analysis of the general degree of impact of a shock rather than quantifying lost income. Originality/value This paper is the first to analyze the incidence of multiple shocks on grain traders and the unequal distribution of negative impacts. It is the first such in Africa based on a large sample of grain traders from a primary survey.

Does aid induce foreign direct investment: Updated evidence from a quasi-experiment

While the catalytic effect of aid on foreign direct investment (FDI) has long been an implicit consensus among many policymakers and practitioners, assessments of this causal relationship remain limited and are not always reliable. To mitigate this evidence gap, this study applies an instrumental variable approach that leverages the graduation of the International Development Association (IDA) income threshold as a quasi-experiment to identify the causal linkage between foreign aid and FDI. The analysis reveals that a 1 percent drop in the ratio of aid to gross national income leads to a decline in FDI relative to gross domestic product by 0.9 percent in 42 developing countries from 1987 to 2019. In face of the aid shock induced by IDA graduation, governments in recipient countries restrict their financial policy openness, through which aid could significantly impact subsequent foreign private investment. Results emphasize the necessity of concerted policy interventions to mitigate this negative aid shock.

Caste, religion and the labor force participation of women: Evidence from India

Rethinking responses to the world’s water crises

Disruptions and adaptations of an urban nutrition intervention delivering essential services for women and children during a major health system crisis in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Systematic crises may disrupt well-designed nutrition interventions. Continuing services requires understanding the intervention paths that have been disrupted and adapting as crises permit. Alive & Thrive developed an intervention to integrate nutrition services into urban antenatal care services in Dhaka, which started at the onset of COVID-19 and encountered extraordinary disruption of services. We investigated the disruptions and adaptations that occurred to continue the delivery of services for women and children and elucidated how the intervention team made those adaptations. We examined the intervention components planned and those implemented annotating the disruptions and adaptations. Subsequently, we detailed the intervention paths (capacity building, supportive supervision, demand generation, counselling services, and reporting, data management and performance review). We sorted out processes at the system, organizational, service delivery and individual levels on how the intervention team made the adaptations. Disruptions included decreased client load and demand for services, attrition of providers and intervention staff, key intervention activities becoming unfeasible and clients and providers facing challenges affecting utilization and provision of services. Adaptations included incorporating new guidance for the continuity of services, managing workforce turnover and incorporating remote modalities for all intervention components. The intervention adapted to continue by incorporating hybrid modalities including both original activities that were feasible and adapted activities. Amidst health system crises, the adapted intervention was successfully delivered. This knowledge of how to identify disruptions and adapt interventions during major crises is critical as Bangladesh and other countries face new threats (conflict, climate, economic downturns, inequities and epidemics).

Shocks and stability of risk and time preferences among poor rural households in Ethiopia

This paper examines the effects of shocks on temporal stability of risk and time preferences of rural households within a developing country context characterized by frequent droughts, chronic food insecurity, and low levels of education. Leveraging a three-wave large and diverse household panel data that elicits preferences every two years for more than 6,500 individuals from over 5,600 sample rural households in Ethiopia, we analyze the effects of droughts (self-reported) and rainfall shortfalls on household risk and time preferences. Our findings show that households become more risk-averse and impatient after experiencing drought and rainfall shocks; the change in risk preferences is more notable among households that experience recurrent droughts and multiple covariate shocks during the same period.

Combine harvester outsourcing services and seasonal rural non-farm employment in Myanmar

Prior research on mechanization outsource services has not explored seasonal variations in drivers and outcomes of adoption by smallholders. These omissions are important because seasonality of crop cultivation may influence intensity of demand for machines, while seasonality of demand for non-farm labor may influence the availability and cost of agricultural workers and the opportunity costs of on-farm self-employment. We analyze seasonal correlates of combine harvester outsource service use in Myanmar. Surprisingly, adoption is not associated with lower labor costs or higher net margins from paddy cultivation. Rather, using combines releases family labor into more remunerative dry season non-farm employment.

Food transfers, cash transfers, behavior change communication and child nutrition: Evidence from Bangladesh

This paper reports the results of two 2-year randomized control trials in two poor rural areas of Bangladesh. Treatment arms included monthly cash transfers, monthly food rations of equivalent value to the cash transfers, and mixed monthly cash and food transfers, and treatment arms—one with food and one with cash—that combined transfers with nutrition-behavior communication change (BCC). This design enables a comparison of transfer modalities within the same experiment. Intent-to-treat estimators show that cash transfers and nutrition BCC had a large impact on nutritional status, a 0.25 standard deviation increase in height-for-age z-scores and a 7.8 percentage point decrease in stunting prevalence. No other treatment arm affected anthropometric outcomes. Mechanisms underlying these impacts are explored. Improved diets—particularly increased intake of animal source foods in the cash plus BCC arm—are consistent with the improvements observed in this paper.

Identification, characterization, and determinants of dietary patterns of low-income urban adults in Vietnam and Nigeria

Understanding dietary patterns and their determinants can steer efforts to food systems transformations required to provide sustainable healthy diets. Based on 24-h recall data and using latent class analysis, we characterized dietary patterns of adults from low-income neighborhoods in Hanoi, Vietnam and Ibadan, Nigeria (n = 385 and 344, age 18–49 years). We examined sociodemographic determinants and diet quality (diversity, non-communicable disease risk, and micronutrient adequacy) of these patterns. Three dietary patterns were identified in each country. Vietnamese patterns differed in sociodemographic characteristics and diet quality. Nigerian patterns differed in diet quality but not in sociodemographics. Understanding different consumer groups and the drivers of consumption helps to identify tailored interventions to diversify diets and improve diet quality.

Diets, fruit and vegetables consumption, and nutritional status in Benin: A scoping review

Unhealthy diets, including low fruit and vegetables (F&V) intake, contribute to morbidity and mortality related to non-communicable diseases. Designing culturally appropriate interventions to improve diets and F&V intake requires an in-depth understanding of individual-level dietary patterns, household consumption patterns, and nutritional status resulting from inadequate F&V intake. In this scoping review, we summarised the literature on diets, F&V intake, and nutritional status in Benin. We searched PubMed from 2012 to August 2024 to identify articles on diets and nutritional status, and from 2002 to August 2024 to identify articles on F&V intake. We included 36 articles on diets, 27 on F&V intake, and 16 on nutritional status. Existing literature demonstrated that Beninese diets are cereal-based and monotonous, characterised by low diversity and low F&V intake across all population groups. Available evidence indicated a high burden of undernutrition in children <5 years of age, a rising prevalence of overnutrition in women of reproductive age, and a high prevalence of overnutrition in adults. Evidence on how diets and F&V intake vary by urban/rural location, season, and socioeconomic characteristics was limited and inconsistent. Two evaluations of garden irrigation programmes assessed impacts on women's dietary diversity and F&V consumption. Additional research is needed to improve our understanding of diets, F&V intake, and diet-related nutritional challenges and how they evolve over time and across different population groups. Understanding these gaps can help identify entry points and targets for interventions to improve diet quality and F&V intake in Benin.

The role of industrial clustering: From layoff to self-employment after the Chinese state-owned enterprise reform

Using a list experiment to measure intimate partner violence: Cautionary evidence from Ethiopia

While indirect response methods are increasingly used in surveys to measure sensitive behaviours such as intimate partner violence, important questions persist around how respondents understand and react to these methods. This article presents evidence from a list experiment measuring multiple forms of intimate partner violence in rural Ethiopia. We find that the list experiment does not generate estimates of intimate partner violence that are higher than direct response questions; rather, prevalence estimates using the list experiment are lower vis-à-vis prevalence estimates using the direct reports, and are sometimes even negative. We provide suggestive evidence that this pattern may reflect ‘fleeing’ behaviour by respondents who do not wish to be associated with statements indicating their exposure to intimate partner violence.

Prospects of crop insurance for sustenance of farmers’ livelihood during GM cotton crop failure in Indian Punjab

Despite the susceptibility of cotton crops to pest attacks in the Malwa Region of Indian Punjab, no crop insurance policy has been implemented there– not even the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), which is a central scheme. Therefore, this paper attempts to gauge the likely impact of the PMFBY on Punjab cotton farmers and assess the changes needed for greater uptake and effectiveness of PMFBY.The authors have conducted a primary survey to conduct this study. Initially, the authors compared the costs of cotton production with the returns in two scenarios (with and without insurance). Additionally, the authors have applied a logistic regression framework to examine the determinants of the willingness of farmers to participate in the crop insurance market.The study finds that net returns of cotton crops are conventionally small and insufficient to cope with damages from crop failure. Yet, PMFBY will require some modifications in the premium rate and the level of indemnity for its greater uptake among Punjab cotton farmers. Additionally, using the logistic regression framework, the authors find that an increase in awareness about crop insurance and farmers’ perceptions about their crop failure in the near future reduces the willingness of the farmers to participate in the crop insurance markets.The present study looks for the viability of PMFBY in Indian Punjab for the cotton crop, which can also be extended to other crops.Punjab could also use crop insurance to encourage diversification in agriculture. There is a need for special packages for diversified crops under any crop insurance policy. Crops susceptible to volatility due to climate-related factors should be identified and provided with a special insurance package.There exist very scant studies that have discussed the viability of a central crop insurance scheme in the agricultural-rich state of India, i.e. Punjab. Moreover, they do not also focus on crop losses accruing due to pest and insect attacks.

Methods for estimating beneficiary populations targeted by health and nutrition interventions for women, pregnant women, infants, and young children

Utilization of maternal and child interventions is typically tracked in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) using coverage estimates from population representative surveys. These estimates cannot be directly applied to assess resource gaps in intervention delivery for which data on the population eligible is required. Moreover, coverage improvements may not necessarily reflect an expansion in utilization because of a decline in the population eligible. We develop a method to estimate the populations eligible for interventions across the continuum of care. The method uses data from the World Population Prospects and the Demographic Health Survey, data sources which are available for most LMICs. Additionally, we develop a method to estimate the eligible population covered by each intervention. Using the illustration of India, we estimate populations eligible for, and covered by interventions during preconception, pregnancy, delivery, lactation, and childhood. We find that between 2015 and 2020, the eligible population declined for all beneficiary groups. Additionally, coverage expansion was not entirely driven by an increase in the population accessing an intervention, but rather also by a decline in the eligible population. Our illustration highlights the importance of including population estimates alongside coverage for interventions, particularly in LMIC contexts due to changing fertility dynamics.

Diets, fruit and vegetable intake and nutritional status among children, adolescents and adults in the Philippines: A scoping review

Suboptimal diets contribute to the risk of malnutrition and non-communicable diseases across the life course. Globally, intakes of fruit and vegetables (F&V) fall below recommendations, including in the Philippines. To promote F&V intakes, understanding the extent of inadequate intakes across population groups and key drivers of dietary patterns is needed. This narrative scoping review was conducted to map the diet, F&V intakes and nutritional status in the Philippines. PubMed was searched using keywords specific to diet, F&V intake, and nutritional status, with 50, 24 and 22 articles meeting the inclusion criteria for diet, F&V intake, and nutritional status, respectively. Available evidence indicates that across all population and sociodemographic groups, diets lacked diversity, with high intakes of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods, such as refined rice and sugar-based foods and beverages, contributing to inadequate micronutrient intakes. Intakes of F&V were especially low across all population groups. Stunting/short height, wasting and underweight were prevalent among children and adolescents, and micronutrient deficiencies (iron, zinc, vitamin A) were common among children < 5 years of age. More than one-quarter of adults were overweight or obese and demonstrated poor cardiometabolic health. A lack of published evidence identified through this search reported on pregnant and lactating women and women of reproductive age. Published evaluations assessing the impact of interventions or programmes to improve diets or F&V intake were limited. Additional research to fill these gaps will help design interventions and target entry points to improve diet diversity and F&V intakes across all population groups.

Conflicts, crop choice, and agricultural investments: Empirical evidence from Nigeria

Conflict remains a major driver of poverty in Africa. Conflicts and political instability in the region have been increasing recently and are drawing more attention in public discourse. While it is widely acknowledged that conflicts disrupt agricultural production and food systems, the full extent of the damage inflicted on the lives and livelihoods of farming households and the mechanisms to redress this harm remain poorly understood. In particular, the link between violent conflicts and households’ land allocation and related agricultural investment decisions remains understudied. In this study, we use geocoded longitudinal data along with detailed agricultural panel household surveys in Nigeria to assess the impact of violent conflicts on crop choice decisions and related agricultural investments. Specifically, we explore how farmers’ land allocation and agricultural investment decisions relate or respond to the outbreak and intensity of violent conflicts. We find that violent conflicts are associated with a reduction in the share of both land area cultivated and area harvested. We also find suggestive evidence that violent conflicts may shape farmers’ crop choices and related investments, as violent conflicts are associated with reduction in the share of land allocated to long-term crops (e.g., perennial crops, trees, roots and tubers). Overall, our findings suggest that violent conflicts can negatively influence farmers’ agricultural investments directly by affecting both land utilization patterns and portfolio allocation across activities with varying returns to investments.

Impacts of city life on nutrition: Evidence From resettlement lotteries in China

Urban environments are thought to improve food security, by offering enhanced access to markets and income opportunities. Yet this idea is hard to test empirically due to an abundance of confounding factors and selection issues. This study leverages a resettlement program in China to provide the first quasi-experimental estimate of city life on food consumption and nutrition among low-income households. Lottery-determined timing of resettlement enables causal inference. We base our empirics on a 3-year panel and a range of difference-in-differences and matching methodologies. We find that those who were resettled to towns significantly increased both food consumption and diet variety, with increased intake of several macro- and micro-nutrients. Diet quality mostly improved, but we also found signs of over-consumption, notably of carbohydrates. Our evidence further suggests that our impacts are primarily due to improved market access. This stands in contrast to recent literature that finds little or no effect of living environments on food consumption. Instead, we reveal a significant impact of urban environments in shaping diets, bolstering the notion that supply-side channels do matter in some contexts. JEL Classification: I15, O18, R23

Unpacking power dynamics and women’s economic empowerment in polygynous households in Burkina Faso

Objective We aim to describe power distributions in polygynous households and consider how these matter for the production and allocation of food-generating resources in western Burkina Faso, where there is a high prevalence of polygyny. Background Recent studies on polygyny focus on its likely negative consequences and mechanisms for explaining these outcomes using data from large multitopic surveys. These approaches fail to consider the underlying dynamics in polygynous households. Method As part of a 5-year mixed-methods evaluation of a nutrition- and gender-sensitive poultry value chain intervention in western Burkina Faso, we conducted a thematic analysis of 24 gender-disaggregated focus group discussions (265 individuals) and 24 semi-structured interviews in six communities. They focused on gender and power dynamics, food production, and food allocation with a specific focus on polygyny. Results Relationships among co-wives are often cooperative, though not necessarily warm, and typically hierarchical. Monogamous and polygynous marriage may support women’s empowerment in different domains. Polygynous co-wives may be able to divide care work, but first wives often control how labor is divided. In monogamous marriages, wives often make decisions jointly with their husbands, while in polygynous marriages, most co-wives are left out of decisions. In polygynous households, women are better able to maintain control over their earnings. Conclusion We discuss these findings in terms of their implications for studying polygynous households in quantitative surveys and in terms of how to better design and target interventions for this population.

Diet quality and micronutrient intakes in nutritional value chains: A synthesis and suggestions for further research

This paper provides an overview of a virtual collection of papers analyzing drivers of diet quality and micronutrient intakes, and what has been learnt from various interventions to address micronutrient malnutrition, the contexts in which they succeed, and factors that affect their impact. We frame this using a micronutrient value chain, to highlight the important linkages from farm to plate. Our focus is on representative studies along this value chain in low and middle income countries where micronutrient malnutrition is most prevalent. The papers reviewed suggest that (a) both production diversity and market access work hand-in-hand to improve dietary quality. (b) However, the evidence on whether commercialization improves or reduces diet quality is context-specific and depends on whether markets exist for goods to be sold and micronutrient-rich foods purchased. (c) Not surprisingly, incomes and prices emerge as key factors affecting consumption decisions, with the cost of a healthy diet remaining unaffordable for many. Furthermore, the poor are most sensitive to changes in the relative prices of micronutrient-rich foods. (d) Also important is how food is consumed within the household: the review suggests that social context matters greatly in assessing relationships between women’s empowerment and diet quality. We then review several supply and demand side interventions, and note that while many are successful, not all are easily transferable, and thus may need adaptation to local contexts. We conclude with a set of ten areas that remain open for further research.

Calculating the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) using Stata

Diets, Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Nutritional Status in Tanzania: Scoping Review

Globally, the intake of fruit and vegetables (F&V) is far below the recommended levels, contributing to various health challenges including micronutrient deficiencies and non‐communicable diseases. In Tanzania, where the triple burden of malnutrition persists, there is a need to identify gaps in evidence, better understand diets and F&V intake and identify promising interventions for improved intake. We conducted a scoping review to summarize the evidence on dietary intake, F&V intake and nutritional status in Tanzania. This included three separate literature searches in PubMed covering the years 2012–2023. A total of 62, 37 and 15 articles met predefined eligibility criteria for the review of overall diet, dietary intake of F&V and nutritional status, respectively. Identified studies suggest that overall dietary practices among all population groups were primarily based on carbohydrate‐rich foods, complementary feeding practices were suboptimal among young children and a low proportion of women of reproductive age (WRA) and pregnant and lactating women achieved minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD‐W). Across all population groups, F&V intake was below the recommended 400 g per day. Analysis of nutritional status in Tanzania in population representative surveys showed high stunting prevalence in children below 5 years of age, and a high prevalence of overweight and obesity among WRA, particularly in urban areas. Additional research is needed to understand better the complex interactions between diet and nutrition and health outcomes, and to identify efficient and cost‐effective strategies to improve overall dietary quality, including increasing F&V intake.

Nutrient-dense foods and diverse diets are important for ensuring adequate nutrition across the life course

The world faces a global challenge of how to meet the nutritional needs of a diverse global population through diets. This paper defines the relative nutritional needs across each stage of the life cycle to support human health and identifies who is nutritionally vulnerable. Findings in this paper suggest that there are biological nutritional vulnerabilities stemming from high micronutrient needs per calorie in certain phases of the life cycle, particularly for infants and young children, women of reproductive age, pregnant and lactating women, and older adults, particularly older women. The paper demonstrates the role of micronutrient-dense animal-source foods and plant-source foods important in meeting essential nutrient needs to support healthy growth, development, and aging across vulnerable stages of the life cycle.

Vitamin C-rich guava consumed with mungbean dal reduces anemia and increases hemoglobin but not iron stores: A randomized controlled trial of food-to-food fortification in Indian children

Background Adding vitamin C-rich fruit to staples containing iron could be an effective strategy to improve iron bioavailability and thereby reduce iron-deficiency anemia in children. Objectives We aimed to assess the effect of consuming a mungbean-based meal with or without guava fruit on body iron stores, hemoglobin concentration, and anemia of children as part of a school feeding program. Methods We conducted a 7-mo randomized, controlled trial with 6- to 10-y-old school children (n = 200; 46% anemic, 71% iron-deficient) from a rural community in Haryana, North India. Children were assigned to 2 treatment groups to daily receive either a meal of mungbean dal only (3.0 mg iron; vitamin C:iron molar ratio ∼0.5:1), or mungbean dal with fresh guava (3.2 mg iron; ∼170 mg vitamin C; molar ratio ∼18:1). Meals were served every school day under supervision. The primary outcome was body iron stores, whereas concentrations of hemoglobin and other iron indicators were secondary outcomes. Results Daily consumption of mungbean dal along with guava did not result in an overall improvement of body iron stores [mean treatment effect: 0.65 mg/kg body weight; 95% confidence interval (CI): −0.34, 1.63; P = 0.197]. However, compared with children who consumed mungbean dal only, children in the guava group showed a larger increase in hemoglobin concentration (3.7 g/L; 95% CI: 1.6, 5.6; P = 0.001), and a larger drop in the prevalence of anemia (−51%; 95% CIs: −74, −10; P = 0.022) and iron-deficiency anemia (−56%, 95% CI: −83, 13; P = 0.087). These effects were more pronounced in children who were iron deficient at study start. Conclusions Addition of guava to a mungbean-based meal containing a moderate amount of iron increased hemoglobin and reduced anemia but did not provide enough additional absorbed iron to also increase body iron stores. Food-to-food fortification by inclusion of vitamin C-rich fruits in iron-containing school meals may help alleviate the burden of anemia in children.

Defining and measuring policy coherence for food system transformation: A scoping review

Changes in food systems—across multiple sectors and through all levels of government—are essential for meeting many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other global environmental and health targets. Steering food systems towards common outcomes and ensuring that actions in one area do not undermine progress in another requires policy coherence. This scoping review examines how policy coherence has been broadly defined and measured in areas related to food system transformation to inform conceptualization, definition, and measurement specific to food systems transformation and provide insights for policy and program implementation. We reviewed literature published from January 2000 to December 2022 and identified 47 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. Results show that common features of definitions of policy coherence relevant for food systems are: an emphasis on minimizing tradeoffs and maximizing synergies; policy integration within different areas of government and food systems or across scales (horizontal or vertical coherence); alignment of objectives, interventions, and indicators within a given policy area; and complementarity and consistency of actions and goals within or across sectors of food systems. Measurement methods to date are mainly limited to qualitative policy document review and participatory assessment, with no examples of application at scale. This paper provides a first step towards a definition and measurement approach for policy coherence that can fill this important data gap in monitoring the governance of food systems transformation and synthesizes evidence to guide actions towards greater policy coherence in governing national food systems.

Leveraging unsupervised machine learning to examine women’s vulnerability to climate change

We provide an application of machine learning to identify the distributional consequences of climate change in Malawi. We compare climate impact estimates based on drought indicators established objectively from the k-means algorithm to more traditional measures. Young women affected by drought were 5 percentage points more likely to be married by 18 than those living in nondrought areas. Our approach generates robust results when varying the number of clusters and definition of treatment status. In some cases, we find the design using k-means to define treatment is more likely to satisfy the assumptions underlying the difference-in-differences strategy than when using arbitrary thresholds. Projections from the estimates indicate future drought risk may lead to larger declines in labor productivity due to women’s engagement in early age marriage than other factors affecting their participation rates. Under the extreme representative concentration pathway scenario, drought exposure encourages the exit of 3.3 million women workers by 2100.

Biofortification: Future challenges for a newly emerging technology to improve nutrition security sustainably

Biofortification was coined as a term to define a plant breeding strategy to increase the micronutrient content of staple food crops to reduce the burden of micronutrient deficiencies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In 2003, the HarvestPlus program, based in the centers comprising the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), was initiated to implement the biofortification strategy. This paper discusses what has been achieved, what has been learned, and the key challenges to embed biofortification in food systems and to expand its impact. Cost-effectiveness is key to the biofortification strategy. Biofortification piggybacks on the agronomically-superior varieties being developed at agricultural research centers. Central plant breeding research discoveries can be spread globally. Farmers have every motivation to adopt the latest high-yielding, high profit crops. High productivity leads to lower food prices. As a consequence, consumers can increase their mineral and vitamin intakes at no additional cost by substituting biofortified staple foods one-for-one for non-biofortified staple foods. After twenty years of investment, biofortified staple food crops are being produced by farmers in over 40 countries and are eaten by hundreds of millions of people. Published nutrition trials have shown nutrient-rich crops to be efficacious. The biofortification strategy is now recognized by the international nutrition community as one effective approach among several interventions needed to reduce micronutrient deficiencies. This is a promising beginning. However, biofortification is still a newly emerging technology. A limitation of biofortification as implemented to date is that densities of single nutrients have been increased in given staple food crops. To reach a higher trajectory, the impacts of biofortification can be multiplied several-fold using genetic engineering and other advanced crop development techniques to combine multiple-nutrient densities with climate-smart traits.

Monitoring biofortification program performance and potential for impact: Indicators, methods, and learnings from the commercialization of biofortified crops program in six countries across Africa and Asia

Background Biofortification of staple crops is a food-based strategy to reduce the high global burden of micronutrient deficiencies. Monitoring program performance is essential to ensure biofortification programs have high potential for impact; however, few indicators and methods for doing so are publicly available. Objective We documented the set of standardized indicators and methods used to monitor the Commercialization of Biofortified Crops (CBC) program and reviewed their strengths and limitations. Methods Following the CBC program impact pathway, we identified and defined a set of indicators and corresponding methods. Country-level implementation teams contextualized and operationalized them to monitor 9 country-crop programs (i.e., high iron beans in Kenya and Tanzania, iron pearl millet in India, vitamin A maize in Nigeria and Tanzania, vitamin A cassava in Nigeria, zinc wheat in Pakistan and India, and zinc rice in Bangladesh) from 2020 to 2022. Results Twenty indicators were defined across domains of seed supply, production, availability, awareness, capacity development, advocacy, and consumption of biofortified foods. Data collection methods included external and internal document review, farmer household surveys, rapid market assessments, and modeling. The strengths of these methods were that they were rapid to conduct, low cost, and simple to use. For some methods, the limitations were the potentially reduced accuracy of some results due to the use of external data sources or secondary data inputs and unavailability of data. Conclusions The indicators and methods used in the CBC program are practical and cost effective for monitoring the implementation of biofortification programs because they generate the range of information necessary to understand how effectively a program is delivered and bolster plausibility arguments for attributing observed impacts to program activities. Further testing is needed to confirm their generalizability when applied to different contexts and paired with impact evaluations with the aim of producing publicly available global guidance documents.

Consumption of fruits and vegetables by types and sources across urban and rural Senegal

This paper analyzes the consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV) in Senegal by: (1) urban and rural areas; (2) FV types (African-indigenous vs non-indigenous); (3) sources of FV (imports, purchases and own-production).The authors undertake descriptive and regression analyses on consumption of FV sourced from purchases, own-production and gifts. The data come from primary surveys in 2017/2018 of 6,328 rural and urban households in Senegal.The analysis showed that FV are important in urban and rural food consumption. A stunning 76% of rural FV consumption is from purchases, showing the importance of FV supply chains even into and among rural areas. Only 12% of national FV consumption is from imports. Most FV consumption in rural and urban areas is now of non-indigenous FV; African-indigenous FV have a minor share.A limitation of this paper is that it uses a cross-sectional dataset.There are few national survey-based studies of FV consumption in Africa. This is the first to disaggregate FV consumption between primary versus secondary cities and rural towns, and rural areas close to and far from cities, in such detail regarding types and sources of FV as outlined in the findings. The regressions contribute by including determinants beyond income, including gender, employment, spatiality and education.

Self-selection versus population-based sampling for evaluation of an agronomy training program in Uganda

One of the challenges in evaluating the impact of agronomy training programs, particularly on downstream impacts such as yield, is identifying a sample of farmers who are likely to participate in the training. We assess farmers’ participation in a farm business training activity before the agronomy training intervention as a sample identification mechanism. The screening activity was designed to appeal to the same group of farmers targeted by a coffee agronomy training program, while having minimal impact on the program’s goal of increasing coffee yields. A three-session training on farm business management was conducted in 22 study villages in central Uganda. Coffee agronomy training was then offered in half of these villages, based on random assignment. The results show that 52% of coffee farmers who attended the first business training session subsequently attended agronomy training, compared to 22% of those identified through a census. Applying these results to the design of a large ongoing randomised controlled trial, we find that using a self-selected sample reduces the minimum detectable effect of agronomy training on coffee yield to 15.83%, compared to 38% if population-based sampling were used.

Suboptimal nutritional status of school-age children in Addis Ababa: evidence from the analysis of socioeconomic, environmental, and behavioral factors

Background: School-aged children (6–14 years old) are susceptible to malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. Environmental and behavioral factors greatly influence their nutritional status. This study aimed to examine the association between dietary factors and the nutritional status of school-aged children attending public and private schools in Addis Ababa. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study design was employed from March to August 2023. A total of 309 study participants were randomly selected from 10 schools. Data were entered into Epidata version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 23.0 for analysis. WHO Anthro Plus 1.0.4 was used to assess the measurements of weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ), and BMI-for-age (BAZ) for overweight, stunting, and underweight, while wasting was assessed using MUAC. A Poisson regression model was used to determine the association between predictor variables and stunting, wasting, underweight, and overweight, with adjusted prevalence ratios (APR). APR and 95% CI were used to identify statistically significant variables. Results: Findings revealed the prevalence of wasting (15%), stunting (24%), underweight (36%), and overweight (19%) among school-aged children. Factors influencing stunting include marital status, house ownership, education level of parents/caregivers, child sex, and meal skipping. Wasting was linked to wealth index, child age, dietary diversity, dietary habits, water access, and toilet facilities. Underweight predictors include parent/caregiver age, marital status, and meal frequency. Moreover, school type appeared as a significant factor for overweight. Conclusions: The overall nutritional status of school-aged children is suboptimal, influenced by sociodemographic, environmental, and behavioral factors. Addressing these factors through targeted interventions is crucial, particularly for the most vulnerable groups.

Indicators for monitoring and evaluating research-for-development: A critical review of a system in use

Research-for-development (R4D) refers to research activities specifically designed to address critical social, environmental, and economic challenges and improve human well-being. It is essential to have well-designed indicators to monitor and evaluate progress, guide decision-making, and support learning and improvement. This paper reviews and compares two sets of indicators in use by a large international research consortium: i) ad hoc indicators developed by and for individual (non-pooled) projects, and ii) a standard set of indicators designed as part of a common results framework for a new portfolio of research initiatives. We assess both sets of indicators against the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) criteria, identify common errors in indicator formulation, compare the thematic coverage of the two sets of indicators, and derive lessons for improved indicator formulation. A large proportion of the non-pooled indicators fail to meet the SMART criteria. The indicators in the standard set are stronger, but with scope for improvement, especially in terms of relationship to the result of interest, specification of the indicator, measurability, standardization of outcome indicators, and impact indicators. We recommend having a balanced set of indicators of key outputs, outcomes, and impacts, based on clear and well-defined result statements.

Household resilience and coping strategies to food insecurity: An empirical analysis from Tajikistan

By applying Resilience Index Measurement Analysis to data from Tajikistan, this paper measures food insecurity resilience capacity. Another objective of this paper is to construct and integrate coping strategies into resilience discussions. The final objective is to analyze the role of resilience capacity and coping strategy in food security with an Instrumental Variable approach. Our results generally confirm that resilience and coping strategies increase food security, determined by food expenditure, household adequacy of fruit and vegetable consumption, and household food expenditure share. Moreover, resilience capacity has a moderating role in mitigating negative impacts of shocks on food security.

The economywide recovery measures in Rwanda during the COVID-19 pandemic: How useful a lesson?

Financial access of midstream agricultural firms in Africa: Evidence from the LSMS‐ISA and World Bank Enterprise Surveys

We use data from the Living Standards Measurement Study—Integrated Surveys on Agriculture and the World Bank Enterprise Survey from seven African countries, to identify agricultural midstream firms and assess their access to credit, comparing them to nonagricultural midstream firms. We find that the agricultural midstream firms are larger and more productive, and are less likely to report barriers to accessing credit, although overall access levels remain low. These findings help build our understanding about the financial needs of micro-, small-, and medium-size enterprises in the agricultural midstream and suggest that more targeted data collection could further this research agenda.

Sustainability considerations are not influencing meat consumption in the US

The consumption of animal-source foods, and particularly red meat from ruminants, is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater use, and loss of biodiversity. Reducing red meat consumption has been identified as a key strategy to mitigate climate change; however, little is known about how to effectively intervene to promote its reduction in the United States (US). This study aimed to examine meat (red, unprocessed, and poultry) and seafood consumption patterns, the factors influencing their consumption (including a reduction in their consumption over time), and how these differed based on socioeconomic variables. The study was conducted through an online survey with a representative sample of the US population (n = 1224) in 2021 using KnowledgePanel®. Overall, we found that most participants reported consuming red meat (78%), processed meat (74%), or poultry (79%) 1–4 times per week, with several differences in consumption patterns based on socio-demographic characteristics. A substantial proportion of the population reported reducing their red (70%) and processed meat (64%) consumption over the previous year, which was much higher than those that reported reducing poultry (34%) or seafood (26%). Key factors influencing red meat reduction were health and price, while environmental sustainability and animal welfare were less important, particularly among certain socio-demographic groups. These findings can help provide insight into how best to frame messaging campaigns aimed at shifting red meat consumption in the US to support climate change mitigation. Focusing on the factors that resonate more with consumers is more likely to lead to shifts in consumption patterns.

Analyzing hypertension and diabetes mellitus status among Bangladeshi adults: Evidence from Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) 2017–18 data

The technopolitics of agronomic knowledge and tropical(izing) vegetables in Brazil

This article critically analyzes the social and political factors behind the advancement of technoscientific development in modern Brazilian agriculture. In the second half of the 20th century, Brazil underwent a rapid industrialization in the agricultural sector by more than doubling productivity in key global commodities and a widespread migration of people from rural to urban areas. Most observers point to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) as the technological engine that drove the industrialization of Brazilian agriculture. Existing approaches to analyze technoscientific development tend to overlook the role of the environment and individual scientists in enacting change. I argue that, especially in the case of agriculture, technoscientific development hinges on the extent to which the environment is disregarded or embraced by those who have the institutional support and capacity to innovate. To support my argument, I draw on two contrasting cases of crop development spearheaded by Embrapa scientists: the tropicalization of the carrot and participatory research on non-conventional vegetables. Through those two cases, the article demonstrates how the general and specific, the transnational and local, and the industrial and agroecological are all key contrasting factors for understanding technoscientific development in agriculture. This research is based on extensive interviews and participant observation at Embrapa’s vegetable research center near Brasilia, Brazil.

Impact of adoption of climate smart agriculture practices on farmer’s income in semi-arid regions of Karnataka

Context Semi-arid regions are one of the most vulnerable regions of climate change to agriculture. Karnataka, a semi-arid state of India has warmed by 0.4 °C with declining trends in average annual rainfall by 10 % over the last century, is highly vulnerable to climate change. To adapt with this climate change impact, Government of Karnataka along with CGIAR institutes and agriculture universities had initiated the Bhoo-Samrudhi program in 2013 to promote climate smart agriculture practices in the state. The primary aim of this program was to enhance crop productivity by 25 % and farmers income by 20 %. Objective Firstly, this study aims to identify who adopts CSA practices and at what scale? Secondly, how much additional income farmers earn by adopting CSA practices as compared the non-CSA but improved agricultural practices, and the traditional practices. Thirdly, this study estimates marginal increase in farmers income at difference scale of adoption of CSA practices. Finally, this study identifies possible challenges and opportunities in upscaling the adoption of CSA practices in the state. Methods A primary survey using a semi-structured questionnaire was conducted among the selected 1466 farmer households in four districts of Karnataka (Bidar, Chikballapur, Dharwad, and Udupi). The sample consisted of 833 adopter farmers and 633 non-adopter farmers. Non-adopter farmers were those who were following traditional practice of crop cultivation and rest of the farmers are treated as adopters. The study used multinomial logistic regression to explore what made adopter farmers different from non-adopter farmers. Further, we had applied propensity score matching and inverse probability weighted regression adjustment methods to estimate the impact of scale of adoption of CSA practices on farmers income. Results and conclusions The results highlighted that landholding size, education levels, and asset ownership likely affect the adoption of various levels of CSA practice intensification. Moreover, the impact of adoption on farmers’ income is estimated to be Rs. 4845 for low intensified, Rs. 6801 for medium intensified, and Rs. 7858 for highly intensified farmers, in comparison to the improved technology adopters. Therefore, we can conclude that adoption of single technology may not be able to solve the problem, instead technology intensification can be a more effective mechanism to deal with the vulnerabilities and create resilience against climate change. Significance Technology adoption has been a proven method to improve agricultural productivity as well as income of the farmers in semi-arid regions across the globe. However, an upcoming method to improve food and livelihood security is through sustainable technological intensification. Thus, this study contributes to providing empirical and evidence-based policy suggestions to promote technology intensification instead of just promoting one single technology. Therefore, technology intensification can be considered as a package of multiple technologies for the farmers to improve their crop and land productivity, and to gain higher economic return.

Compliance with food safety measures and their economic impact on smallholder dairy farmers: Evidence from the Indo-Gangetic plains of India

This study examines the adoption and economic impact of compliance with food safety measures (FSM) using cross-sectional farm-level data from three key states in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, Bihar, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, in 2023. The majority of the farmers were operating on marginal and small plots. A Food Safety Index (FSI) derived from 71 distinct practices was used as a quantitative measure of adoption of compliance with FSM. The study assigns 0.60, 0.23, and 0.17 wt to microbiological, physical, and chemical safety measures, respectively, to derive FSI. Determinants of compliance with FSM were analysed using multiple linear regression and ordered logistic model, while Generalized propensity score (GPS) was used to assess the economic impact of compliance with FSM on farm-level performance indicators. The findings indicate that farmers are adopting a moderate level (0.48–0.58) of the FSI. Various socio-economic and demographic factors, such as education, income, marketing channel, training exposure, awareness level, and infrastructure, significantly influence the adoption of FSM. The impact assessment reveals that compliance with FSM correlates with milk prices, productivity, and profitability. However, a lower level of compliance may not yield significant improvements in milk productivity. The study suggests incentivization through pricing reforms, improving infrastructure, strengthening formal marketing channels, and raising awareness through training.

Improving crop type mapping by integrating LSTM with temporal random masking and pixel-set spatial information

Building resilience through integrated assistance: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Despite growing investment in resilience-building programs in conflict zones, limited empirical evidence exists on the effectiveness of integrated interventions in such contexts. This study examines the impact of a comprehensive resilience-building program in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (2017-2019), focusing on community infrastructure, farmer associations, and land access. Using propensity score matching and difference-in-differences analysis of primary panel data from 1,643 households, our research reveals that integrated interventions significantly improved households’ resilience capacity, primarily through enhanced market access and strengthened collective marketing systems. The program yielded a statistically significant positive impact on beneficiaries’ access to land and participation in community associations, though impacts on agricultural production and food security were limited. These findings highlight the importance of context-specific, multifaceted approaches in enhancing resilience in areas facing protracted crises, particularly emphasizing market access and social cohesion. Our results provide valuable empirical evidence for policymakers and development practitioners, suggesting that resilience-building in conflict zones requires sustained, locally-adapted interventions that prioritize market linkages and community networks alongside traditional agricultural support. JEL Classification Codes: C01, C23, D04

Assessing investment priorities for inclusive agricultural transformation in Tanzania

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.

Harness agrifood value chains to help farmers be climate smart: Incentives and structures exist to improve farming practices

Computer vision–assisted dietary assessment through mobile phones in female youth in urban Ghana: Validity against weighed records and comparison with 24-h recalls

Background Gaps persist in the data on diets and on the validity of dietary assessment methods in youth in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to costs constraints. Although computer vision–assisted dietary assessment tools have been proposed, limited evidence exists on their validity in LMICs. Objectives This study aimed to validate FRANI (Food Recognition Assistance and Nudging Insights), a mobile phone application with computer vision–assisted dietary assessment, against weighed records (WRs) and compare with 24-h recalls (24HR), in female youth in Ghana. Methods Dietary intake was assessed on 2 nonconsecutive days using FRANI, WR, and 24HR in females aged 18–24 y recruited at the University of Ghana, Accra (n = 64). Equivalence was examined by comparing intake mean ratios (FRANI/WR and 24HR/WR) with error margins of 10%, 15%, and 20%, using mixed-effect regression models adjusting for repeated measures. Agreement between methods was assessed using the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). Results Equivalence for FRANI and WR was found at 10% bound for riboflavin and vitamin B-6 intakes and at 15% bound for protein, fat, calcium, folate, iron, thiamine, vitamin C, and zinc intakes. Energy, fiber, vitamin A, and niacin intakes were equivalent at 20% bound. Comparisons between 24HR and WR found no estimates within a 10% bound. Protein, iron, niacin, riboflavin, and zinc intakes were equivalent at a 15% bound; folate, thiamine, and vitamin B-12 intakes were equivalent at a 20% bound. CCCs between FRANI and WR ranged from 0.45 to 0.74 (mean: 0.60) and between 24HR and WR ranged from 0.48 to 0.76 (mean: 0.63). Omission errors were 15% for FRANI and 22% for 24HR. Intrusion errors were 22% for FRANI and 18% for 24HR. Conclusions FRANI-assisted dietary assessment accurately estimates nutrient intake and performed as accurately as 24HR in female youth in Ghana. Although improvements in computer vision–assisted diet assessment are possible, emerging evidence on FRANI suggests its readiness for scale-up.