International Food Policy Research Institute

About: International Food Policy Research Institute is a nonprofit organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Food security & Agriculture. The organization has 1217 authors who have published 4952 publications receiving 218436 citations.

Policies for livestock development in the Ethiopian highlands.

Abstract: Since 1991, there have been significant changes in utilization of feed resources in the Ethiopian highlands: while use of communal grazing lands and private pastures has declined, use of crop residues and purchased feed has increased. In addition, although use of animal health services and adoption of improved livestock breeds and modern management practices have increased, ownership of various types of livestock has declined. Rapid population growth has contributed most to the declining trends in grazing resources and ownership of livestock, showing the negative effects of increasing pressure on already degraded resources in the Ethiopian highlands. Land redistribution, increased participation in credit and extension programs targeting livestock, and improvement in access to markets, on the other hand, have had significant positive impacts on adoption of improved livestock technologies and ownership of livestock. Thus, reducing population growth and improving access to markets and credit and extension programs targeting livestock can enhance the role of livestock in improving food security and reducing poverty, especially in the mixed crop-livestock farming systems as exist in the East African highlands.

Urban Poverty and Party Populism in African Democracies

Abstract: 1. Urbanization, voting behavior, and party politics in African democracies 2. Drivers of voting behavior among Africa's urban poor: why populist strategies prevail 3. The bite of 'King Cobra': populist strategies in the Zambian context 4. Gorgui's gamble: the rise and fall of populist strategies in Senegal 5. The view from below: how the urban poor react to political party strategies 6. Beyond the city: building coalitions with rural voters 7. Political parties and populist strategies in other African democracies 8. Conclusions, contributions, and implications.

Value Chains and Nutrition: A Framework to Support the Identification, Design, and Evaluation of Interventions

Abstract: Income growth alone cannot solve the problem of malnutrition and may in fact create problems linked to overweight and obesity. The challenge from the nutrition perspective is how to sustainably improve the quality of diets, as well as other health-nutrition related behaviours, across different populations and age groups? In nutrition debates in developing countries there is growing interest in the capacity of the private sector to contribute to improved nutrition outcomes. Discussions have incorporated thinking around value chain frameworks, which emerged in the late 1990s to help development actors design interventions that responded to the needs of the private sector and contributed to development outcomes.Value chain approaches can provide useful frameworks to examine the food system and the potential to achieve improved nutritional outcomes by leveraging market-based systems. However, understanding the links between value chains, the overall business environment in which they operate, and nutrition among targeted populations is complex, involving actors and activities working across agriculture, health and nutrition, and very little evidence exists on the potential or the trade-offs involved.In this paper we explore how a value chain framework can inform the design of interventions for achieving improved nutrition. Conceptually, there are three main channels for value chains to improve nutrition: (1) through increased consumption of nutritious foods (a demand side pathway); or (2) through increased incomes from value chain transactions (a supply side pathway) or (3) through increased nutrition value-addition in the chain transactions. These three pathways are interlinked and involve complex dynamics that are not straightforward to understand.We also highlight how these pathways are context specific, and introduce typologies based on supply and demand profile of the specific value chain. Where adequate supply and demand for a specific food exists, interventions would focus on optimising the efficiency and flow of nutrition added-value along the chain. Where demand is constrained or overconsumption is a problem, interventions would work primarily to change consumption patterns, either directly (for example, food transfers) or indirectly (such as, social marketing) shaping market demand. Where supply is constrained, interventions would focus on enhancing supply-side capacity by improving production practices, organising production and post-harvest activities to increase efficiency, and facilitating the expansion of market opportunities. We conclude with a summary of key research areas in this emerging field.

The Current High Prevalence of Dietary Zinc Inadequacy among Children and Women in Rural Bangladesh Could Be Substantially Ameliorated by Zinc Biofortification of Rice

Abstract: Rural Bangladeshi populations have a high risk of zinc deficiency due to their consumption of a predominantly rice-based diet with few animal-source foods. Breeding rice for higher zinc content would offer a sustainable approach to increase the population's zinc intakes. The objectives of the study were to quantify usual rice and zinc intakes in young children and their adult female primary caregivers and to simulate the potential impact of zinc-biofortified rice on their zinc intakes. We measured dietary intake in a representative sample of 480 children (ages 24-48 mo) and their female caregivers residing in 2 rural districts of northern Bangladesh. Dietary intakes were estimated by 12-h weighed records and 12-h recall in homes on 2 nonconsecutive days. Serum zinc concentrations were determined in a subsample of children. The median (25th, 75th percentile) rice intakes of children and female caregivers were 134 (99, 172) and 420 (365, 476) g raw weight/d, respectively. The median zinc intakes were 2.5 (2.1, 2.9) and 5.4 (4.8, 6.1) mg/d in children and women, respectively. Twenty-four percent of children had low serum zinc concentrations ( < 9.9 micromol/L) after adjusting for elevated acute phase proteins. Rice was the main source of zinc intake, providing 49 and 69% of dietary zinc to children and women, respectively. The prevalence of inadequate zinc intakes was high in both the children (22%) and women (73-100%). Simulated increases in rice zinc content to levels currently achievable through selective breeding decreased the estimated prevalence of inadequacy to 9% in children and 20-85% in women, depending on the assumptions used to estimate absorption. Rural Bangladeshi children and women have inadequate intakes of zinc. Zinc biofortification of rice has the potential to markedly improve the zinc adequacy of their diets.