32nd International Conference of
Agricultural Economists

The CGIAR Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA) will hold this full-day workshop with a mix of plenary and parallel sessions – drawing on the body of methodological developments and impact assessment research it has commissioned over the past six years, complemented by additional selected invited speakers. The workshop will feature a keynote address by a high-profile international researcher; a total of nine parallel sessions organized in three distinct tracks; and a final panel plenary with a focus on interpretation and use of the evidence for decision-making in policy.

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South Asia is home to about one-fourth of the world’s population. Food security remains a challenge in this region. Simultaneously, sustainability of agricultural production with a changing climate has emerged as an additional challenge in recent times. Collectively, this region has high average tariffs on agricultural and non-agricultural goods. Economic integration, regionally and globally, has been limited, affecting a key pathway to efficiency and productivity growth with implications for both food security and sustainability. This Workshop will explore the important role of economic integration, regionally and globally, to South Asian food security on a sustainable basis. The workshop will feature two keynotes by David Laborde and Uma Lele, two sessions with presentations by mostly South Asian authors, and a concluding panel discussion.

The bioeconomy presents a promising pathway toward sustainable and circular economy globally. The focus of this Workshop is to analyze the diverse policies and regulatory frameworks established worldwide to support and enhance the bioeconomy. The presentations are on the current bioeconomy policies in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Across different regions, we witness a wide array of methods and plans put in place to tackle the urgent issues surrounding sustainable development goals. Despite current obstacles like the need for coherent policies, worldwide collaboration, and incomplete data, noteworthy advancements have been achieved thanks to the bioeconomy strategies and initiatives. Panelists will share insights, and critical comparative analyses of various bioeconomy policies, identifying and characterizing the challenges, the effectiveness of the policies, reviewing their potential for fostering innovation, sustainable and circular economic growth.

South Asia is home to more than 2 billion people. More than half of them are employed in food production, trade, processing, and distribution. However, by almost any measure of undernutrition, the region is home to the largest share of the world’s global burden of undernourished people. South Asia is highly vulnerable to climate change and agriculture-induced depletion and contamination of natural resources like soil and water, as well as air pollution. Transforming South Asia’s agri-food systems is therefore critical to the wellbeing of its people and of its environment, as well as for attainment of the SDGs at global level. This full-day Workshop will synthesize the latest research on different components of food systems in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The objectives are twofold. First, to present research from a new initiative on food systems and nutrition in South Asia. Second, to foster discussion on critical data and evidence needed to support relevant and effective food systems transformation.

Grappling with the complexity of challenges of transforming agri-food systems to be equitable and sustainable in a context of climate change requires going beyond conventional disciplinary approaches; achieving positive impact even requires going beyond interdisciplinary approaches. There is thus increased attention to “transdisciplinary” approaches. But what does that mean in practice? And what are the roles for agricultural economics in this new landscape? This Workshop will review the concepts of transdisciplinary research, reflect on motivations for integrating diverse actors, and then provide examples of such work from ongoing CGIAR Initiatives to draw lessons that workshop participants can apply to their own work. The examples will be presented in a World Café format, allowing participants to rotate through several stations to discuss three cases of their choice (from the 5 cases being presented) in small groups.

Rural transformation involves rising agricultural productivity, commercialization and diversification of production patterns and livelihoods, which also involves expanded off-farm employment. The process has consequence of inclusion and sustainability. In the past several decades, many Asian developing countries have experienced significant transformation, but the speed and consequences (e.g., income growth, inclusiveness and sustainability) differ largely between countries and among regions within a country. The goals of this Workshop are to share the current knowledge and experience of successful rural transformation in Asian developing countries and identify key issues for future studies. We will present and discuss the paths, consequences and policies of rural transformation in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam in the past several decades. We will also explore the impacts of policy tools such as institutions, policies and investment on the successful rural transformation.