International Food Policy Research Institute

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Founded	1975; 49 years ago
Type	Non-profit
Focus	Ending hunger and poverty, Food security, Agriculture, Natural Resources, Nutrition, Policy analysis
Location	Washington, D.C., USA;
Area served	Global
Method	Social science research
Key people	Johan (Jo) Swinnen, Director General; Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Emorn Udomkesmalee
Revenue	US$101,753,000 in 2022
Employees	557
Website	www.ifpri.org

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is an international agricultural research center that provides research-based policy solutions to reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition throughout the developing world in environmentally sustainable ways. For nearly 50 years, IFPRI has worked with policymakers, academics, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, development practitioners, and others to carry out research, capacity strengthening, and policy communications on food systems, economic development, and poverty reduction.^[7]^[8]

IFPRI is a Research Center of CGIAR, the world’s largest international agricultural research network, and the only CGIAR center solely dedicated to food policy research. IFPRI’s researchers work on agricultural economics, political economy, rural poverty and transformation, social protection, women’s empowerment, food environments, digital innovations and practices, and policy analysis and modeling.^[9] The Institute collaborates with hundreds of local, regional, and national partners along the research and policy life cycle.^[10] IFPRI’s regional programs for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South Asia, as well as its country-level programs, respond to national demands for food policy research, strengthen local capacities for research and policy analysis, and support country-led development.^[11]^[12] The Institute publishes and shares its research and analysis through a range of publications, including peer-reviewed articles, books, briefs, and reports, blogs, and interactives, and different events, including conferences and seminars, among other activities.^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18]

IFPRI is recognized as a leader in global development research worldwide. The Institute is ranked #1 among all agricultural economics departments worldwide, #2 in the field of African economics, and #5 in development economics, and is listed in the top 1% of all institutions registered in Research Papers in Economics (RePEc). Independent, peer-reviewed assessments of IFPRI’s impact show that the Institute’s research work has benefited 270 million people worldwide, and just a few of its efforts—including work on Mexico’s Progresa social protection program, the liberalization of rice markets in Viet Nam, and Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program, among others—have been estimated to lead to more than US$1 billion in economic returns and environmental benefits. The Institute’s researchers and their activities have been recognized by several prestigious organizations, including the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association and the International Association of Agricultural Economists. IFPRI regularly contributes to major international meetings and events, such as the 28^th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) in 2023 in Dubai, where its researchers organized and participated in multiple events focusing on the nexus between climate change and food security and nutrition, social equity, gender equality, and resilience, among other topics.

Criticism

Evaluations from the early 2000s and late 1990s praise the Institute’s quality and quantity of work, but critique its priorities in selecting research topics and its efforts to undertake capacity-strengthening and other outreach activities. Critics have also questioned whether IFPRI focused too much on conducting world supply-demand projections and following technical pursuits to the detriment of doing analyses of applied policies, political economy, and the impacts of agricultural subsidies and incentives for investment in agricultural research and development.

IFPRI and CGIAR have also been criticized for receiving funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with critics fearing that the Foundation’s influence will lead to the promotion of an agribusiness agenda that ignores broader social and economic factors.

Critics argue that several efforts to improve collaboration, effectiveness, and efficiency among the CGIAR Research Centers have been too slow or inadequate, and some critiques have pointed to a perceived lack of clear research priorities, buy-in from the Global South, and diversity in leadership, as well as an overly bureaucratic, “business-as-usual” approach to restructuring.