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Who we are

With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Kalyani Raghunathan

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

Where we work

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Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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Research by country and region

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TOPIC

Governance

Governance refers to how power and authority are used to manage the collective affairs of a community, society, or nation. Institutions are the systems of formal and informal rules that enable the development of policies, cooperation, and innovation. While there is no singular definition of ‘good governance,’ it usually refers to governance systems that are capable of delivering on objectives, are socially inclusive, responsive to information and needs, efficient, and accountable to citizens.

Sound institutions and good governance—from the local to the global level—are central to the effective functioning of food systems, and more broadly to reducing rural poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and social inequality, as well as conserving natural resources. They are equally important for promoting civic participation in political affairs and mutual accountability between leaders and citizens. Poor governance can contribute to economic and social inequities, conflict and a lack of social cohesion, unsustainable and inefficient resource use, poor delivery of public services and infrastructure, and lack of accountability for governments and leaders, all of which can worsen food insecurity and poverty. Governance systems worldwide, meanwhile, are also under increasing pressure from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, debt and fiscal crises, climate change, and inequality.

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IFPRI’s governance research focuses on property rights, collective action, and service delivery, as well as government accountability and elevating the voices and inclusion of marginalized groups in governance, including women. Our work analyzes the role of institutions and governance arrangements, as well as the related policy processes, in promoting food security and nutrition, poverty reduction, resilience to climate change, social cohesion, gender equality, and environmental health. These include policies for strengthening property rights (including land tenure), inclusive and effective collective action, multi-stakeholder deliberations and platforms, pro-poor public investments and policies, and how to improve service delivery. IFPRI’s work also analyzes the political economy of climate change governance and food systems transformation.

governance

topics

Publications

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Book Chapter

Dietary quality and nutrition: Past progress, current and future challenges

2024Mahrt, Kristi; Headey, Derek D.; Ecker, Olivier; Comstock, Andrew; Tauseef, Salauddin
Details

Dietary quality and nutrition: Past progress, current and future challenges

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the military coup in 2021, Myanmar was experiencing a period of rapid economic growth and transformation in the wake of economic and political liberalization. Between 2005 and 2017, average annual growth in real GDP per capita was 7.8 percent, making Myanmar the fastest growing economy among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. Strong growth was accompanied by a halving of the national poverty rate between 2005 and 2017 from 48.2 to 24.8 percent (CSO, UNDP, and World Bank 2019). COVID19 and the economic and political shocks affecting the country since 2021 have led to an economic contraction: 2021 saw an 18 percent drop in real GDP per capita; in 2022, real GDP per capita was estimated to be 15 percent lower than in 2019 (World Bank 2022). The impacts on poverty were even more dire. A high-frequency panel phone survey of mothers and young children in urban Yangon and the rural Dry Zone revealed incomes collapsing during the COVID-19 lockdowns and further income losses in the wake of the February 2021 military takeover (Headey et al. 2022). Prices rose dramatically, with the consumer price index rising by 20 percent between July 2021 and July 2022 (MOPF 2022), while food prices rose by 34 percent over the same period and by about 50 percent between December 2021 and December 2022. Nationally, a variety of different poverty indicators suggest that between 40 and 50 percent of the population was living in poverty in 2022 —poverty rates similar to those found between 2005 and 2010.

Year published

2024

Authors

Mahrt, Kristi; Headey, Derek D.; Ecker, Olivier; Comstock, Andrew; Tauseef, Salauddin

Citation

Mahrt, Kristi; Headey, Derek; Ecker, Olivier; Comstock, Andrew; and Tauseef, Salauddin. 2024. Dietary quality and nutrition: Past progress, current and future challenges. In Myanmar’s agrifood system: Historical development, recent shocks, future opportunities, Duncan Boughton, Ben Belton, Isabel Lambrecht, and Bart Minten, eds. Chapter 4, Pp. 79-120. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155148

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Agrifood Systems; Development; Diet Quality; Economic Shock; Governance; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Book Chapter

A historical and regional perspective on Myanmar’s agrifood system

2024Boughton, Duncan; Haggblade, Steve; Minten, Bart
Details

A historical and regional perspective on Myanmar’s agrifood system

Agriculture and the related input supply, processing, trade, and retail distribution activities that make up national food systems are a major driver of rural economic transformation in low- and middle-income countries (Mellor 2017). As Chapter 2 shows, in addition to directly contributing to rural employment and GDP in Myanmar, the growth of the agrifood system has high multiplier effects on the broader rural economy. Yet in Myanmar, as Warr (2016) argues, lack of agricultural productivity growth combined with dependence on extractive sectors, such as jade, teak, and natural gas, has held back the transformation of the economy.

Year published

2024

Authors

Boughton, Duncan; Haggblade, Steve; Minten, Bart

Citation

Boughton, Duncan; Haggblade, Steve; and Minten, Bart. 2024. A historical and regional perspective on Myanmar’s agrifood system. In Myanmar’s agrifood system: Historical development, recent shocks, future opportunities, Duncan Boughton, Ben Belton, Isabel Lambrecht, and Bart Minten, eds. Chapter 3, Pp. 43-78. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155150

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Agricultural Productivity; Agrifood Systems; Development; Economic Shock; Governance

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

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Book Chapter

The agrifood system: structure and contribution to development goals

2024Diao, Xinshen; Masias, Ian; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; Boughton, Duncan
Details

The agrifood system: structure and contribution to development goals

As countries develop, agrifood systems (AFS) are expected to evolve beyond primary agriculture. The earliest stages of development are typically characterized by subsistence farming; as agricultural productivity rises, farmers begin to supply surplus production to markets, which creates employment opportunities for workers in the off-farm economy. Rising rural incomes generate demand for more diverse products; this leads to more nonfarm activities such as processing, packaging, transporting, and trading. In the early stages of transformation, the agriculture sector serves as an engine of rural—and even national—economic growth. Eventually, urbanization, the nonfarm economy, and nonagricultural incomes play more dominant roles in propelling AFS development, with urban and rural nonfarm consumers creating most of the market demand for agricultural outputs via value chains that connect rural areas to towns and cities. The exact nature of this transformation process varies across countries because of the diverse structure of their economies and the unique growth trajectories of their various agrifood and nonfood subsectors. A focus solely on primary agriculture without an understanding of its linkages to off-farm components of the economy masks the importance of AFS to the overall economy and its potential contribution as a driver of development going forward. In this chapter, we first measure the size, structure, and historical contribution of the AFS to economic growth and transformation in Myanmar. Second, we assess the potential for AFS growth led by productivity gains in different agricultural value chains to contribute to development outcomes in Myanmar using the Rural Investment and Policy Analysis (RIAPA) model (IFPRI 2023b). We measure AFS using national accounts and employment statistics to either track or simulate growth and employment changes over time. We disaggregate AFS into several value chain groups, which allows the analysis to offer a unique and useful perspective on the drivers of AFS growth and transformation. Finally, we discuss the implications of the recent crises for the future of the AFS and propose both short- and long-term policy recommendations to help steer recovery.

Year published

2024

Authors

Diao, Xinshen; Masias, Ian; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; Boughton, Duncan

Citation

Diao, Xinshen; Masias, Ian; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James; and Boughton, Duncan. 2024. The agrifood system: structure and contribution to development goals. In Myanmar’s agrifood system: Historical development, recent shocks, future opportunities, Duncan Boughton, Ben Belton, Isabel Lambrecht, and Bart Minten, eds. Chapter 2, Pp. 19-42. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/155145

Country/Region

Myanmar

Keywords

Asia; South-eastern Asia; Agrifood Systems; Development; Economic Growth; Economic Shock; Governance

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Book Chapter

Blogs

The impact of innovative evidence-to-policy approaches on accelerating nutrition-related SDGs: Can the NiPN model lead the way?
IFPRI Blog
 | 
November 15, 2024

The impact of innovative evidence-to-policy approaches on accelerating nutrition-related SDGs: Can the NiPN model lead the way?

By Taddese Zerfu

Bridging the gap between research and policymaking.

World Cities Day 2024: Building more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient urban food systems
IFPRI Blog
 | 
October 31, 2024

World Cities Day 2024: Building more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient urban food systems

IFPRI researchers on urbanization.

Unleashing the potential of Generation Z for food system transformation in Africa
IFPRI Blog
 | 
October 28, 2024

Unleashing the potential of Generation Z for food system transformation in Africa

By Kibrom Abay, Clemens Breisinger, Harriet Mawia, Joyce Maru, Dorah Momanyi, and Boniface Munene

A new research agenda.

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Events

Food for All: International Organizations and the Transformation of Agriculture
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

March 22, 2022, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Food for All: International Organizations and the Transformation of Agriculture

Virtual Event: March 22, 2022 – 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM EDT. This event features a panel discussion on global governance, food security and nutrition, poverty reduction, and gender.

Can agricultural policies deliver better value for money for people, the planet, and the economy?
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

February 2, 2022, 9:30 – 11:00 am

Can agricultural policies deliver better value for money for people, the planet, and the economy?

Virtual Event: Feb 02, 2022 – 09:30 AM to 11:00 AM EST. This policy seminar will present a summary of the latest IFPRI-World Bank research findings and feature speakers discussing the need for more rapid adoption of technological solutions that foster less emissions-intensive productivity growth across developed and developing countries alike.

Innovation for Agribusiness (InovAgro) Project Impact Evaluation Results Dissemination Workshop
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

October 28, 2021, 2:00 – 3:30 pm

Innovation for Agribusiness (InovAgro) Project Impact Evaluation Results Dissemination Workshop

Virtual Event: OCT 28, 2021 – 02:00 PM to 03:30 PM CAT. This workshop will disseminate the results of the impact evaluation of the InovAgro project's interventions. 

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News

October 07, 2024 | Press Release

Steven Were Omamo joins IFPRI as the new Director of the Development Strategies and Governance Unit

IFPRI is pleased to announce that Steven Were Omamo joins IFPRI as the new Director of the DSG Unit.

July 02, 2024 | Press Release

Global crisis: 1.7 billion people in urban and peri-urban areas face food insecurity

New UN report highlights urgent need to strengthen urban and peri-urban food systems for global food security and nutrition.

February 27, 2024 | In the News

What’s driving the farmer protests sweeping Europe? (CNN)

Senior research fellow Danielle Resnick was interviewed by CNN on the reasons behind farmers’ protests throughout Europe. Resnick says, “These protests reflect some complex political economy dynamics, especially as European governments are trying to navigate the fiscal and climate crisis. Farmers have a lot of grievances, but one that they noted was their own returns on investment has really shifted over […]

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Our experts

Purnima Menon

Purnima Menon

Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, CGIAR and IFPRI, Markets,
Trade, and Institutions, Nutrition, Diets, and Health, Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion

Steven Were Omamo

Steven Were Omamo

Director, Development Strategies and Governance (DSG), Development
Strategies and Governance

Suresh Babu

Suresh Babu

Senior Research Fellow / Head of Capacity Strengthening, Development
Strategies and Governance

Moogdho Mahzab

Moogdho Mahzab

Associate Research Fellow, Poverty,
Gender, and Inclusion

Ryan Nehring

Ryan Nehring

Associate Research Fellow, Natural
Resources and Resilience

Durjoy Dey

Durjoy Dey

Research Analyst, Development
Strategies and Governance

Hagar ElDidi

Hagar ElDidi

Senior Research Analyst, Natural
Resources and Resilience

Soyra Gune

Soyra Gune

Research Analyst, Nutrition,
Diets, and Health

Edward Kato

Edward Kato

Senior Research Analyst, Natural
Resources and Resilience