James Allen IV

Can the global drone revolution make agriculture more sustainable? Rapid growth in drone use is upending expectations but also inducing trade-offs

Authors: Ben Bolton, Leo Baldiga, Scott Justice, bart minten, Sudha Narayanan & Thomas Reardon
Paper Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Blog: www.ifpri.org/blog/the-glo...

Figure from Belton, B., Baldiga, L., Justice, S., Minten, B., Narayanan, S., & Reardon, T. (2025). Can the global drone revolution make agriculture more sustainable?. Science, 389(6764), 972-976.

Drones are now pervasive in💥warfare &🎆lightshows, but what about🌾agriculture? In just the last 5 years, millions of farmers—mostly in Asia—have started using drones for farming.

New Science commentary discusses the rapid early rise and possible implications of drone farming: (links below)

🖼️ Wall Art at International Food Policy Research Institute (@ifpri.org) (c. 2013) 🎨

😙🤌

📢TMRW @ 10:00 AM EDT

📌 The Economy-wide Impacts of School Meal Programs: Generating evidence on return on investment

💬 Speakers include IFPRI’s Aulo Gelli and Harold Alderman and GCNF’s Arlene Mitchell

🎫 Register to attend 👉 bit.ly/SchoolMeals-

@gcnf.org @cgiar.org

"What is the most important metric to judge whether a cash transfer program is successful?" 🆕 paper asks high-level policymakers to rank 7 outcomes and their answer: food security!

And... 87% (accurately) believe that CTs increase #foodsecurity.

Paper: lnkd.in/emVXx72i

Mozambique to Introduce HIV Prevention Injection Lenacapavir in 2026 - African Times Mozambique is preparing to introduce Lenacapavir, a long-acting injectable medication for the prevention of HIV infection, starting in January 2026. Health

🩸🎗️ New long-lasting #HIV prevention (#PrEP) is coming to #Mozambique! Yay! But what will be the barriers to adherence?

😬My 2023 JDE article w/ @deanyang.bsky.social & others identifies two for HIV testing: #misinformation and #stigma: doi.org/10.1016/j.jd...

www.atnews.co.za/mozambique-t...

Today's @ifpri.org Applied Micro & Development speaker is Douglas Gollin (Tufts University)!

w/ @jwolfersberger.bsky.social studies impact of new roads on #deforestation in #Brazil via spatial GE model. Falling transport costs since 1995 --> 7% of total forest loss

Great seminar!

Does Inequality Affect the Needs of the Poor? Abstract. We investigate how inequality affects what is considered most necessary to purchase. Combining detailed consumption surveys in India with an inst

Does #inequality affect what poor households consider "necessities"? Yes, a 🆕 study finds, with implications for understanding the decline in caloric consumption over time in #India.

Very insightful!
Paper: doi.org/10.1093/jeea...
Authors: @clement-s-bellet.bsky.social @eve-colsonsihra.bsky.social

IPA Mali Office: A Legacy of Innovation and Impact While closing our Mali country office, IPA carries forward innovations and lessons from more than 15 years of influential research in agriculture and other sectors.

Sad news that @poverty-action.bsky.social is closing its #Mali office after 15 years but admirable that they remained long after others left.

As a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali, I say to the IPA Mali staff: I ni baara! Ala ka baara numan soro i fe!

poverty-action.org/mali-office-...

Without USAID, Conservation and Tourism Projects Have Ground to a Halt From the Colombian Amazon to Malawi's Kusango National Park, grants from the US government have been ended leaving local development projects in the lurch.

Colombian pink dolphins 🐬 and Malawian hippos 🦛 are other likely casualties of USAID's dismantling. That, and locals' trust that ecotourism might drive economic growth better than poaching, deforestation or conflict.

Good article in @cntraveler.com.web.brid.gy: www.cntraveler.com/story/withou...

Food policy: Lessons and priorities for a changing world What can 50 years of policy research tell us about the future of food (in)security?

IFPRI’s @jo-swinnen.bsky.social and @pmenon1.bsky.social
were featured this new episode of VoxDevTalks, where they discuss the landmark 2025 Global Food Policy Report, which reviews 50 years of progress and setbacks in global food systems.

🎧 voxdev.org/topic/health...

@voxdev.bsky.social

⭕ "Development economics is economics that takes place developing countries."

First definition that I was taught and, IMO, the de facto definition in economics.

I love it for its inclusivity within the field but hate it for how it excludes from other fields.

Others agree?

Keep Moving

🎶 To go with the first day of fall classes, what song(s) got (or are getting) you through grad school?

Mine was "Keep Moving" by Jungle: open.spotify.com/track/4rf0IV....

Just keep moving. And if you keep moving long enough, you get your PhD, and then get to keep moving some more. 🫠

🆕 paper gives hopeful evidence that rebuilding agricultural infrastructure can restore farming in post-conflict settings, evaluating large-scale #irrigation rehabilitation in #Afghanistan 2010-2016.

Paper in EDCC: doi.org/10.1086/733269

Striking parallels to #Gaza...

📣 Attn PhD students: 🆓 virtual PhD-level non-credit course on #socialprotection!

I did the 2022 course & found it very beneficial. Instructors are experts & many are editors at top economic journals. So their perspective is informative & helpful for generating research ideas.

Highly recommend!

Gaza's catastrophe will have long-lasting impacts on lives and livelihoods A looming famine and ruined livelihoods.

🚨New on our blog:

#Gaza's catastrophe will have long-lasting impacts on lives and livelihoods.

@cgiar.org

www.ifpri.org/blog/gazas-c...

How do get the world (e.g., my children) to eat more fruits 🍎 and vegetables 🥦 (F&V)?

A 🆕 scoping review of 223 studies published between 2012-2022: doi.org/10.1177/0379...

My takeaway: More evidence is needed on #socialprotection impact on F&V consumption in LMICs!

a man is covering his mouth in front of a screen that says big money no whammys ALT: a man is covering his mouth in front of a screen that says big money no whammys

Writing grant proposals all month like...

IPC ALERT: Worst-case scenario of Famine unfolding in the Gaza Strip The worst-case scenario of Famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip. Conflict and displacement have intensified, and access to food and other essential items and services has plummeted to unp...

Source: www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-webs...

"Famine" is classified when an area has:
🥣 20% of households facing an extreme food shortage
🥣 30% of children acutely malnourished
🥣 2 adult or 4 child hunger-related deaths for every 10,000 people each day

Then it's up to governments & organizations to take action.

Today, the The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) issued an "Alert" for famine risk in #Gaza. This "does not constitute a Famine classification" but says "a new IPC analysis is to be conducted without delay."

So what would classify it as a #famine? See 👇

How can we meet this increasing demand while considering its impacts on #poverty, #nutrition, #gender, the #environment, #climate, #agrobiodiversity, #land, #water, #energy, #trade and #urbanization?

Chapter link: hdl.handle.net/10568/175534
Book link: hdl.handle.net/10568/175019

“Global demand for food commodities is expected to grow faster than popula­tion between 2020 & 2050, with a more rapid increase in LMICs compared to HICs."

From Ch. 36 on 🆕 @IFPRI book on “Future of Food Systems”. Motivation for #UNFFS2025 & #FoodSystems research.

Links 👇

🍽️ 🌍🌐This new book, edited by Keith Wiebe and Elisabetta Gotor, presents a collection of short chapters on the current state of knowledge about different aspects of the future of food systems:

📘 www.ifpri.org/ifpri-book/w...

📹 www.ifpri.org/event/what-d...

@cgiar.org @bioversityciat.bsky.social

😷 Ugh, I have Covid, but at least no big decision to make like last time.

For my first Covid, I got symptoms the night of my job offer from IFPRI! No 🍾, straight to 🛏️. Woke up with brain fog & a life-changing decision... accept or not? Thankfully I made the right decision!

3/3 takeaways:
💸 It's about more than cash, but rather for anyone interested in food policy (noted discussant Harold Alderman), the nature of poverty, or society's relationship to the poor.

Worth checking out!

2/3 takeaways:
🛞 With this long view, Ugo identifies a common cycle of support for social protection that still very much applies today (shared with permission below).

1/3 takeaways:
🏛️ As far back as 483 BC in Athens, #socialprotection in the form of cash transfers, food aid, pensions, child support, you name it, has been fiercely debated over centuries and around the world as a tool for helping the poor.

Last week, @ugentilini.bsky.social visited to talk about his 🆕 book "Timely Cash: Lessons From 2,500 Years of Giving People Money".

My takeaways 👇

📕🔗: academic.oup.com/book/58850
🎧🔗: open.spotify.com/show/5n20asB...

📸 w/ @jo-swinnen.bsky.social, D Gilligan & H Alderman at @ifpri.org

The Future of Youth Jobs in Agrifood Systems in Africa Also streaming on Please type your questions into the chat box with name, affiliation, and country. The event video, presenter slides, and podcast will be

For this reason, I will tune in tomorrow for this seminar on the "Future of Youth Jobs in Agrifood Systems in #Africa": bit.ly/Youth-Africa

Hosted by: @ifpri.org @cgiar.org @ilri.org AGRA, World Bank and others