It has now been four months since our last Update – and since the world began to be upended by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In that Update we suggested that disruptions from the pandemic would last “months”, and it is now clear that was a conservative estimate. Hundreds of millions of people across the world will be living with direct disruptions from the pandemic for many months still, and many of its indirect impacts will become ongoing parts of our lives.  
 
After taking decisive action to protect our staff here in the US and abroad, FSG actively adapted its operations to continue doing what it does best in this radically new environment – working with our partners across the world to generate information and perspectives on how public and private food system stakeholders can confront their development challenges. On April 1, FSG launched its COVID-19 website, featuring a range of perspectives on the challenge and drawing attention from across the world. FSG faculty have made several dozen presentations globally and at country level on the impact of the pandemic on food systems, and priorities for policy and programmatic action. Our group has also launched – through its Innovation Lab on Food Security Policy Research, Capacity, and Influence (PRCI) and with great leadership from Drs. Saweda Liverpool-Tasie and Nicole Mason-Wardell – a fully online technical training program bringing together dozens of partner researchers across Africa in participatory training sessions to improve their research skills. We’ve also engaged more broadly with our partners, with Dr. John Medendorp and Ms. Cait Goddard working with leadership of ReNAPRI (the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes) in an intensive, and again fully online, strategic planning effort for the network. And of course, FSG has done research – cellphone surveys in Nigeria and Myanmar, a set of cross-country surveys beginning to roll out as this Newsletter goes to press, and collaboration with academic and USAID colleagues on a major analysis of response priorities for addressing the impact of the pandemic on food systems.  
 
Of particular note is that, for the third time in the last five years, FSG faculty are providing technical leadership for AGRA’s annual African Agricultural Status Report (AASR), this year in the person of Dr. Steven Haggblade. Over these five years, FSG faculty have also contributed to 40% of all chapters in the AASRs. FSG is proud of its role in bringing top quality applied academic research to bear on practical development issues across the globe and in particular in Africa.  
 
This Update leads with a feature on Dr. Haggblade’s work on the AASR, and also features current work by FSG faculty on the benefits of sustainable seafood commoditization; on cutting edge research showing that what farmers do not know about pesticides can hurt them; and on how to develop a healthier worldwide population through the foods that we eat. Blog posts cover results of a survey on responses of men and women in Africa to COVID-19, and data and knowledge gaps that limit quick and precise responses to COVID-19. You’ll find information below on PRCI’s training efforts, and on recent webinars on PRCI’s platform. Notable personnel events include an MSU award to Dr. David Ortega for emerging leadership in international studies and programs. We close as always with links to FSG faculty’s peer review publications during the quarter, highlighting our group’s focus on high quality scholarly work to guide practical action to improve lives.  
 
Best to you all as you work to stay safe, and physically and mentally healthy during these very challenging times.
Aberkane, H., Payne, T., Kishi, M., Smale, M., Amri, A., & Jamora, N. (2020). Transferring diversity of goat grass to farmers’ fields through the development of synthetic hexaploid wheat. Food Security, 1-17. Read the Article

Arslan, A., Tschirley, D., Di Nucci, C., & Winters, P. (2020). “Introduction to the JDS special section on Youth Inclusion in Rural Transformation.” Journal of Development Studies, Forthcoming.

Arslan, A., Tschirley, D., and Egger, E.M., (2020). “Rural Youth Welfare along the Rural-Urban Gradient: An Empirical Analysis across the Developing World.”  Journal of Development Studies, Forthcoming.

Belton, B., T. Reardon, D. Zilberman. 2020. Sustainable commoditization of seafood. Nature Sustainability. May 18. Read the Article

Blanco, L., Mora, J., Olabisi, M., & Prieger, J. E. (2020). Synergies and Competition: Export Survival in Africa and Latin America. Forthcoming, Southern Economic Journal. Read the Article

Bozzola, M., & Smale, M. (2020). The welfare effects of crop biodiversity as an adaptation to climate shocks in Kenya. World Development, 135, 105065. Read the Article

Bro, A. S., Ortega, D. L., Clay, D. C., & Richardson, R. B. (2020). Understanding individuals’ incentives for climate change adaptation in Nicaragua's coffee sector. Climate and Development, 12(4), 332-342. Read the Article

Burke, W. J., Jayne, T. S., & Sitko, N. J. (2020). Do medium‐scale farms improve market access conditions for Zambian smallholders?. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 71(2), 517-533. Read the Article

Deininger, K., Nagarajan, H. K., & Singh, S. K. (2020). Women's political leadership and economic empowerment: Evidence from public works in India. Journal of Comparative Economics, 48(2), 277-291. Read the Article

Dolislager, M., Reardon, T., Arslan, A., Fox, L., Liverpool-Tasie, S., Sauer, C., & Tschirley, D. (2020). “Youth and adult agrifood system employment in developing regions: rural (peri-urban to hinterland) vs. urban.”  Journal of Development Studies, Forthcoming
 
Fanzo, J., Haddad, L., McLaren, R., Tschirley, D., et al. The Food Systems Dashboard is a new tool to inform better food policy. Nat Food 1, 243–246 (2020). Read the Article

Fung, W., Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O, Mason, N. & Uwaifo Oyelere R. (2020). Can crop purchase programs reduce poverty and improve welfare in rural communities? Evidence from the Food Reserve Agency in Zambia. Agricultural Economics. Read the Article

Goeb, J., Dillon, A., Lupi, F., & Tschirley, D. (2020). Pesticides: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 7(5), 801-836. Read the Article

Greenberg, M., Cox, A., Bier, V., Lambert, J., Lowrie, K., North, W., ... & Wu, F. (2020). Risk Analysis: Celebrating the Accomplishments and Embracing Ongoing Challenges. Risk Analysis. Read the Article

Chamberlin, J., Jayne, T. S., & Sitko, N. J. (2020). Rural in‐migration and agricultural development: Evidence from Zambia. Agricultural Economics.

Jayne, T. S., Adelaja, A., & Mkandawire, R. (2020). Africa’s Rapid Economic Transformation.  Rural 21, Volume 52 (2), 14-18. Read the Article

Kusunose, Y., Thériault, V., & Alia, D. (2020). Can Customary Land Tenure Facilitate Agricultural Productivity Growth? Evidence from Burkina Faso. Land Economics, 96(3), 441-455. Read the Article

Liverpool-Tasie, L. S., Pummel, H., Tambo, J. A., Olabisi, L. S., & Osuntade, O. (2020). Perceptions and exposure to climate events along agricultural value chains: Evidence from Nigeria. Journal of Environmental Management, 264, 110430. Read the Article

Nuthalapati, C. S., Sutradhar, R., Reardon, T., & Qaim, M. (2020). Supermarket procurement and farmgate prices in India. World Development, 134, 105034. Read the Article

Schmitt Olabisi, L., Ugochukwu Onyeneke, R., Prince Choko, O., Nwawulu Chiemela, S., Liverpool-Tasie, L. S. O., Ifeyinwa Achike, A., & Ayo Aiyeloja, A. (2020). Scenario Planning for Climate Adaptation in Agricultural Systems. Agriculture, 10(7), 274. Read the Article

Olabisi, M. (2020). Input–Output Linkages and Sectoral Volatility. Economica, 87(347), 713-746. Read the Article

Olabisi, M., & Sawyer, W. C. (2020). The Demand for Imports and Exports in Africa: A Survey. Journal of African Trade. Read the Article

Pelletier, J., Ngoma, H., Mason, N. M., & Barrett, C. B. (2020). Does smallholder maize intensification reduce deforestation? Evidence from Zambia. Global Environmental Change, 63, 102127. Read the Article
 
Reardon, T., Mishra, A., Nuthalapati, C. S., Bellemare, M. F., & Zilberman, D. (2020). Covid-19’s disruption of india’s transformed food supply chains. Economic and Political Weekly, 55(18), 18-22. Read the Article

Sanou, A., Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O. & Kerr, J. (2020). Threshold investment and firm viability: Evidence from commercial poultry farms in Nigeria". Agribusiness. Read the Article

Smart, J. C., Tschirley, D., & Smart, F. (2020). Diet Quality and Urbanization in Mozambique. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 0379572120930123. Read the Article

Wineman, A., Jayne, T. S., Isinika Modamba, E., & Kray, H. (2020) The changing face of agriculture in Tanzania: Indicators of transformation. Development Policy Review. Read the Article

Xia R, Schaafsma AW, Wu F, Hooker DC (2020). Economic impact of the improvements in Fusarium head blight and agronomic management on farm revenue and profit. World Mycotoxin Journal, in press. Read the Article


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