New from IFPRI on South Asia

Commentary - High food prices and dietary quality: Who pays?

Howarth Bouis — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:47:55 -0400

This post by Howarth Bouis, Director of HarvestPlus, which is coordinated by IFPRI and CIAT, is part of a series produced by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs marking the occasion of its annual Global Food Security Symposium in Washington, D.C., which was held on May 21st. For more information on the symposium, click here. Follow @globalagdev and #globalag on Twitter to join the conversation.

Better Development through Diaspora Engagement?

Rebecca Sullivan — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:11:01 -0400

For many developing countries, remittances—the money sent from expats back home to their families—are a major source of revenue, in some instances comprising upward of 20 percent of GDP. Over the last decade, remittances to the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) eclipsed even foreign direct investment. Remittances are not only stable; they are growing, despite the recent financial crisis that brought the global economy to its knees. Progressively, capital-scarce developing countries are recognizing the importance of harnessing this source of income, knowledge, and investment to spur better economic development.

The Status of Food Security in the Feed the Future Zone and Other Regions of Bangladesh

Indira Yerramareddy — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:49:14 -0400

This report presents results of analyses of the IFPRI household survey data on various topics that, combined, represent the current food security situation in Bangladesh. Specifically, the study examines how that situation varies between the FTF zone of influence in the southern region and other regions throughout the country.

PDF file:

bihstr.pdf(6.4MB)

The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI)

Indira Yerramareddy — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:03:44 -0400

The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a new survey-based index designed to measure the empowerment, agency, and inclusion of women in the agricultural sector in an effort to identify ways to overcome those obstacles and constraints (Alkire et al. 2012). This technical report, prepared by researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), presents the WEAI, computed for the Feed the Future zone as well as rural Bangladesh as a whole.

Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index

PDF file:

weaitr.pdf(1.3MB)

VC4D: Value Chain for Development

Xinyuan Shang — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:32:10 -0400

We live in a fast changing world with fast changing trends: urbanization, globalization, industrialization, and more, all of which have a profound impact on the way food moves from field to fork along the agricultural value chain. Understanding the chain, and how to make it work for smallholder farmers, is a central theme in research that seeks to find solutions to poverty and malnutrition.

Sharing knowledge on transforming agriculture in Asia

Yifei Liu — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:55:54 -0400

Some of the world’s fastest growing economies are in Asia. Yet the region is still home to two-thirds of the world’s poor and the highest proportion of undernourished children. The sustainability of the region’s growth and development is persistently challenged by problems of food insecurity, and increasingly, by climate change and global financial turmoil.

The policy landscape of agricultural water management in Pakistan

Indira Yerramareddy — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:10:24 -0400

Irrigation is central to Pakistan’s agriculture; and managing the country’s canal, ground, and surface water resources in a more efficient, equitable, and sustainable way will be crucial to meeting agricultural production challenges, including increasing agricultural productivity and adapting to climate change. The water component of the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Pakistan Strategy Support Program (PSSP) is working to address these topics through high-quality research and policy engagement.

Pakistan Strategy Support Program

Review of input and output policies for cereals production in Pakistan

Mapping the contemporary fertilizer policy landscape in Malawi

Mapping the policy process in Nigeria

Tracing power and influence in networks

PDF file:

ifpridp01265.pdf(2.4MB)

New Food Security Data Unveiled at Bangladesh Workshop

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:37:20 -0400

Despite its transformation from a country of chronic food shortages to one of food self-sufficiency, Bangladesh still faces food-security challenges. This is the conclusion of a massive IFPRI-designed survey on agriculture, consumption, and nutrition in the country.

Playing games to save water

Ruth Meinzen-Dick — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:01:23 -0400

World Water Day 2013 begins the International Year of Water Cooperation. Today, we highlight an innovative research project that helps strengthen cooperation to protect and conserve this precious natural resource.

Recently, villagers in India and Colombia have been regularly gathering for a “game night.” But instead of Monopoly or charades, they play a game that simulates real-life decisionmaking about water use.

Rising wages in Bangladesh

Indira Yerramareddy — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:14:52 -0400

Using data from multiple sources, we show that in Bangladesh, the increase in real wages, particularly female wages, has accelerated since the late 2000s, suggesting that the Lewis turning point (the point at which the labor market starts to shift in favor of workers) has arrived in Bangladesh. Rising wages are likely a result of a combination of more ample job opportunities in the nonfarm sector, especially in the manufacturing sector for females, and a greater amount of remittances, primarily from male workers overseas.

Bangladesh rice trade and price stabilization

Short- and long-term effects of the 1998 Bangladesh flood on rural wages

PDF file:

ifpridp01249.pdf(861.5KB)