Avinash Kishore
International Food Policy Research Institute
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Featured researches published by Avinash Kishore.
Water International | 2015
Avinash Kishore; Pramod Kumar Joshi; Divya Pandey
Paddy – Bihar’s staple crop – is vulnerable to drought, primarily due to the high cost of irrigation. In 2008, the Bihar government launched a conditional cash transfer scheme to subsidize diesel for irrigation in drought-affected areas. We show that this scheme has not been effective in mitigating the impact of drought on paddy production. A primary survey of potential and actual beneficiaries shows that low awareness and penetration among smallholders, alongside uncertainties and delays in the disbursal of the subsidy, make it ineffective. We suggest that in states with limited capacity, such ad hoc subsidies are unlikely to protect smallholders from weather shocks.
Indian Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding | 2016
Devesh Roy; Avinash Kishore; Pramod Kumar Joshi; B. Mishra
Pulses though extremely important from a food security and nutrition perspective in India have lagged behind cereals and have been moved increasingly to marginal environments. The persistent demand supply gap in pulses poses several challenges including technological ones that stem from movement of pulses to difficult environments and its place in relation to the competing crops. Technologies in pulses have evolved in line with the needs such as short duration to meet intercropping requirements. Given the long history of technology development that lags behind principal crops marked by near absence of private sector in R&D in pulses, it may be time to rethink and try demand pull systems of research with Advance Marketing Commitments along the lines suggested for vaccines.
Maternal and Child Nutrition | 2018
Suman Chakrabarti; Avinash Kishore; Kalyani Raghunathan; Samuel Scott
Abstract The World Health Assembly called for a 50% global anaemia reduction in women of reproductive age (15–49 years of age) from 2012 to 2025. India accounts for the most cases of anaemia in the world, and half of all pregnant Indian women are anaemic. In India, the government implemented a 4‐year food‐based safety net programme from 2008 to 2012 involving the provision of fortified wheat flour through its public distribution system. We assessed programme impact on anaemia among pregnant women (n = 10,186) using data from the 2002–2004 and 2012–2013 Indian District Level Health Surveys. The difference‐in‐differences method was used to estimate the impact on haemoglobin (Hb) and anaemia in pregnant women living in northern India (Punjab) and southern India (Tamil Nadu), with pregnant women in neighbouring states without wheat fortification programmes serving as controls. In northern India, we found no impact on Hb (β = −0.184, P = 0.793) or anaemia reduction (β = −0.01, P = 0.859), as expected, given that the intervention targeted only nonpoor households and demand for fortified wheat was low. In southern India, where intervention coverage was high, we found no impact on Hb (β = −0.001, P = 0.998) but did see an impact on anaemia reduction (β = −0.08, P = 0.042), which was unexpected given low consumption of wheat in this predominantly rice‐eating region. Indias wheat fortification programmes were largely ineffective in terms of reducing anaemia among pregnant women. As policymakers expand fortification programs, it is critical to ensure that the fortified food is universally available and distributed widely through well‐functioning and popular outlets.
American Journal of Agricultural Economics | 2018
Suman Chakrabarti; Avinash Kishore; Devesh Roy
&NA; This paper provides evidence on the effectiveness of one of the most common policies to improve nutrition among the poor, that is, a food subsidy. We study the case of subsidies on pulses in select Indian states and their impact on consumption and ultimately nutrition (protein intake). As a natural experiment, we use the introduction of pulses into Indias Public Distribution System (PDS) where the variations in prices were brought about by the inclusion of pulses in the PDS in some states and not in others. Our difference in difference (DID) estimates show that change in the consumption of pulses because of their inclusion in the PDS, though statistically significant, was of a small order. The impact was not large enough to bring about any sizable difference in consumption of pulses or the total protein intake. The results withstand several robustness checks including randomized inference and triple differencing based on location and other consumer characteristics.
Water International | 2017
Avinash Kishore; Pramod Kumar Joshi; Divya Pandey
ABSTRACT In 2012, the government of Bihar revived 34 non-functioning public tubewells using solar panels. The performance of 16 of these wells over 12 months was tracked and analyzed using data from tubewell operators and 240 farmers. Access to affordable irrigation from solar pumps led to a 9–10% increase in productivity of rice and wheat. Furthermore, in a severe drought, farmers could grow paddy in the entire area irrigated by solar pumps, when nearly 40% of other land was left fallow. Solar pumps can help increase crop productivity, reduce the cost of irrigation, and make agriculture more resilient to climate change.
Food Policy | 2015
Avinash Kishore; Suman Chakrabarti
Archive | 2014
Avinash Kishore; Pramond Kumar Joshi; Divya Pandey
Archive | 2014
Avinash Kishore; Pramod Kumar Joshi; John F. Hoddinott
Archive | 2016
Md. Tajuddin Khan; Avinash Kishore; Pramod Kumar Joshi
Archive | 2016
Pramod Kumar Joshi; Avinash Kishore; Devesh Roy