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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.

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researcher spotlight

Samuel Benin

Samuel Benin is the Acting Director for Africa in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He conducts research on national strategies and public investment for accelerating food systems transformation in Africa and provides analytical support to the African Union’s CAADP Biennial Review.

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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partnerships

The International Growth Centre (ICG) encourages sustainable growth in developing countries by providing demand-led policy advice based on frontier research. ICG directs a global network of researchers and in-country teams in Africa and South Asia to create research and policy advice on vital growth challenges. ICG is based at the London School of Economics (LSE) and in partnership with the University of Oxford. The ICG is majority funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

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Publications

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Journal Article

A multi-sectoral community development intervention has a positive impact on diet quality and growth in school-age children in rural Nepal

2024Miller, Laurie C.; Neupane, Sumanta; Joshi, Neena; Lohani, Mahendra
Details

A multi-sectoral community development intervention has a positive impact on diet quality and growth in school-age children in rural Nepal

Poor diet quality (diet diversity and animal-source food [ASF] consumption) during childhood negatively affects growth, development, behaviour and physiologic function in later life. Relatively less is known about the impact of poor diet on the growth of school-age children compared to children <5 years of age, especially in low/middle-income countries. A better understanding of delivery strategies for effective interventions to improve diet and hence growth in school-age children is needed. A 36-month longitudinal controlled impact evaluation in rural Nepal assessed the nutrition and growth of children <5 years of age in families assigned via community clusters to full package intervention (community development, training in nutrition [during pregnancy and for children <5 years] and livestock husbandry), partial package (training only) or control (no inputs). Concurrent data were collected prospectively (baseline plus additional four rounds) on school-age children (5–8 years at baseline) in these households; the present study analysed findings in the cohort of school-age children seen at all five study visits (n = 341). Diet quality improved more in the full package school-age children compared to those in partial package or control households. full package children consumed more ASF (β +0.40 [CI 0.07,0.73], p < 0.05), more diverse diets (β +0.93 [CI 0.55,1.31], p < 0.001) and had better head circumference z-scores (β +0.21 [CI 0.07,0.35], p < 0.01) than control children. In conclusion, a multi-sectoral community development intervention was associated with improvements in diet and growth of school-age children in rural Nepal even though the intervention focused on the diet of children <5 years of age. The diet and growth of school-age children can be favourably influenced by community-level interventions, even indirectly.

Year published

2024

Authors

Miller, Laurie C.; Neupane, Sumanta; Joshi, Neena; Lohani, Mahendra

Citation

Miller, Laurie C.; Neupane, Sumanta; Joshi, Neena; and Lohani, Mahendra. 2024. A multi-sectoral community development intervention has a positive impact on diet quality and growth in school-age children in rural Nepal. Maternal and Child Nutrition 20(3). First published online March 15, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13637

Country/Region

Nepal

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Community Development; Diet Quality; Growth; Rural Communities; Schoolchildren; Animal Source Foods; Child Growth; Dietary Diversity; Nutrition

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13637 Source record

Project

Sustainable Healthy Diets

Record type

Journal Article

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Working Paper

Africa cannot achieve the Malabo Declaration commitments: Statistical impossibility or logical fallacy

2024Benin, Samuel
Details

Africa cannot achieve the Malabo Declaration commitments: Statistical impossibility or logical fallacy

The results of the recently released Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) 4th Biennial Review (BR) report indicate that Africa’s performance in 2023 toward achieving the Malabo Declaration commitments by 2025 has strayed farther away from being on-track. Using a scorecard method to review progress in 58 indicators that represent the commitments, previous BR reports show that the number of countries assessed to be on-track to achieve the commitments has dwindled over time, from twenty in 2017 to four in 2019 and only one in 2021. In the 4th BR in 2023, none of the 49 participating countries was on on-track. This seems to conflict with evidence of positive trends in other continent-level reports on related development indicators. According to the African Economic Outlook for example, the contribution of agriculture to overall economic growth in Africa has remained stable, especially as growth in the services and industry sectors has been irregular—and even negative in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest editions of the Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor, Africa Agriculture Status Report, and Annual Trends and Outlook Report5 also show substantial progress in terms of expansion of agricultural investments, trade, and growth and improvement in poverty and nutrition outcomes, amid challenges associated with the pandemic, climate change, conflicts, and epidemics such as the locust and fall armyworm infestations. The BR scoring method and data have some issues that contribute to the seemingly worsening performance.

Year published

2024

Authors

Benin, Samuel

Citation

Benin, Samuel. 2024. Africa cannot achieve the Malabo Declaration commitments: Statistical impossibility or logical fallacy. AFR Project Note 2. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute

Keywords

Africa; Development; Indicators; Agriculture; Economic Development; Covid-19; Trade; Climate Change; Conflicts

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Report

Impacts of Africa RISING in Ghana

2024Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Castaing, Pauline; Kizito, Fred; Vitellozzi, Sveva; Boukaka, Sedi-Anne
Details

Impacts of Africa RISING in Ghana

Sustainable intensification (SI) of the smallholder sector in Africa south of the Sahara is among the approaches pursued to build resilient food systems that can supply nutritionally adequate food in the face of rapid population growth and climatic changes. This study assesses the impact of Africa RISING, an SI program in Ghana implemented in the poorest and most food insecure areas of the country since 2012. The program first validated and then scaled up a wide range of SI interventions focused on improved agronomic management and crop cultivars; improved livestock feed, housing conditions, and species; crop-livestock integration; integrated natural resource management; vegetable production and nutritional education; and small-scale mechanization. Impact is estimated using two rounds of quasi-experimental panel data (conducted in 2014 and 2020), propensity score matching, and difference-indifferences techniques. The study design allows us to estimate the impact of Africa RISING by comparing outcomes among program beneficiaries with those of two different control groups—one residing in program villages (within village comparison) and another in non-program (control) villages (out-of-village comparison) on several indicators across five SI domains—environment, productivity, economic, human, and social. We also conduct a placebo test comparing non-beneficiaries in the two control groups. Results from panel data analyses show improvements in several indicators in the environmental and productivity domains. We also find a positive impact on use of conservation practices (fallowing, disc/moldboard ploughing, manure), groundnut yield, livestock, net crop income, and women’s likelihood of becoming members of farmers groups relative to non-beneficiaries. We do not find a statistically significant effect on consumption- and asset-based poverty rates, household dietary diversity, and several indicators of maternal and child nutrition. For both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, the share of monetary-based non-poor, dietary diversity, and food security have declined between baseline (2014) and follow-up (2020) likely due COVID-19. Our study highlights useful empirical lessons learned for informing future program design and impact assessments.

Year published

2024

Authors

Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Castaing, Pauline; Kizito, Fred; Vitellozzi, Sveva; Boukaka, Sedi-Anne

Citation

Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Castaing, Pauline; Kizito, Fred; Vitellozzi, Sveva; and Boukaka, Sedi-Anne. 2024. Impacts of Africa RISING in Ghana. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148741

Country/Region

Ghana

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Western Africa; Impact Assessment; Sustainable Intensification; Smallholders; Resilience; Food Systems; Climate Change

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Report

Events

Some Welfare Consequences of COVID-19 in Ethiopia
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

August 24, 2020, 4:00 – 5:30 pm

Some Welfare Consequences of COVID-19 in Ethiopia

Cross-country experience so far shows that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and responses to combat are multidimensional. It is thus reasonable to expect the occurrence of these effects in Ethiopia. Findings of several studies will be reported during this webinar. The presentations focus on the impact of COVID-19 on the welfare of mothers and […]

Blogs

Can sports and life skills programs improve labor force outcomes for vulnerable youth?
IFPRI Blog
 | 
February 11, 2021

Can sports and life skills programs improve labor force outcomes for vulnerable youth?

By Lori Beaman, Sylvan Herskowitz, Niall Keleher, and Jeremy Magruder

Analyzing impacts of a program in Monrovia, Liberia.

What happens when you incentivize primary education in Uganda
IFPRI Blog
 | 
March 15, 2019

What happens when you incentivize primary education in Uganda

By Daniel Gilligan, Naureen Karachiwalla, Ibrahim Kasirye, Adrienne Lucas, and Derek Neal

Incentives that hold teachers accountable for achievement can increase educational attainment when paired with adequate instructional resources, research shows.