Research

This report is a guide to shape investments by IFAD and other international donors in climate change mitigation actions in the East and Southern Africa region.

This paper presents the findings of a literature review of the main drivers of overweight and obesity, described using a food systems framework and illustrated with examples from five countries.

China has experienced rapid rural transformation in the past four decades, accompanied by a rise in rural household income and a fall in rural poverty. This paper examines provincial rural transformation and its major outcomes.

This paper discusses which climate variables to collect, and from which sources, when incorporating them into an impact assessment.

This paper focuses on activities targeting improved pasture management, supplemental feed sources and livestock value chain development.

This paper outlines a methodological strategy for incorporating weather and long-term climate conditions into impact assessments, based on an IFAD-supported project that invested in grain storage in Chad.

This paper applies a methodological framework for incorporating current period weather and long-term climate conditions into impact assessments.

Moving to a process that contributes to improving rather than endangering livelihoods is the challenge that climate change adaptation and resilience-building efforts currently face.

In this review, the role of farmed animals in circular food systems in the tropics is presented in four case studies.

In this report, we highlight past trends and explore possible future trajectories of smallholder farming to predict who the farmers of the future are.

Using a food systems approach, this paper reviews existing evidence and discusses the conditions, rural population segments, and timelines needed to achieve desired outcomes.

This paper explores the role of water in Egypt’s food system and the dilemma the country faces: raise food self-sufficiency by allocating freshwater resources from the Nile to food production, or rely on food imports from water-abundant regions worldwide.

The paper finds that short- to medium-term interventions are most effective for improving the livelihoods of poor farmers, including food security and health, off-farm employment, and social assistance.

In this paper, the certification requirements and schemes of two export commodities—banana and cocoa—are discussed using food system analysis.

This paper explores the rise of SMEs in transforming food systems—from traditional, to transitional, to modern.

Developing competitive and inclusive food value chains requires domestic macroeconomic policies to improve the agricultural sector’s business environment and create outside opportunities, and sector-specific targeted measures to promote smallholder participation in competitive value chains by reducing market access costs.

This paper explores how traditional processing of fermented foods can be scaled up while enhancing functional food properties and strengthening local value chains.

This paper argues that food systems transformation should incorporate a dietary perspective that is guided by information on diets, dietary trends, consumer motives, and the food environment characteristics.

This background paper examines the linkages and interactions between women’s empowerment, food systems, and nutrition.

This paper provides a framework for assessing the dynamics of rural wellbeing and food systems change.

This article reviews how food system activities contribute to climate change and how dietary changes affect food systems. It shows that while emissions from food production are increasing in most regions, emissions from land use change are decreasing.

This paper shows that while anticipated increases in food demand by 2050 can largely be met regionally, potential yield increases or diversification will not contribute automatically to inclusive rural transformation. Instead, urbanization may potentially increase rural inequality and poverty.

Although the importance of inclusion in food system transformation is gaining traction, this paper argues that recent research and discourse on the topic is insufficient and that specific actions are needed to ensure that this transformation does not take place on the backs of the rural poor.

Using country-level data from 85 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), this paper outlines a food systems index (FSI) and analyses the linkages between food systems and structural and rural transformation, as well as population distributions.

This paper explores the prospects for a food system index (FSI) capturing several key components that influence differences in food system performance at the country level.

This paper highlights five fundamental paradigm shifts that are required to overcome trade-offs and build synergies between health and nutrition, inclusive livelihoods, environmental sustainability, and food system resilience.

This report offers a consolidated analysis of pre-COVID food security and nutrition challenges across the Pacific Islands and outlines key actions needed to respond to the current impacts, inform medium- to long-term recovery planning, and better prepare for future crises.

This report describes the findings of the country study carried out for the design of IFAD project on Livelihood and Productivity Enhancement of Smallholder Farmers (PROSPER) in Ghana.

This literature review report explores the conceptual linkages between climate change and nutrition using a food system approach.

This report describes the findings of the country study carried out for the design of IFAD Smallholder Agriculture Cluster Project (SACP) in Zimbabwe.