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Cornell University

Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition

Research Area: Agriculture Transformation, Food Systems & Nutrition Transition

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Does Non-farm Income Affect Food Security? Evidence from India

Abstract Livelihood diversification through greater non-farm activities has been considered as an important mechanism to propel growth, lower rural poverty and augment farm income across developing countries. Little, however, is known about its implications for nutritional outcomes such as dietary diversity. Using a nationally representative...
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India’s Rural Transformation and Rising Obesity Burden

Abstract While obesity across rural India has doubled in the last decade, research explaining such an unprecedented change is sparse. This paper shows that the rise in the incidence of rural obesity is associated with the process of structural transformation, especially within rural spaces. As...
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Ground Truthing the Cost of Achieving the EAT Lancet Recommended Diets: Evidence from Rural India

Abstract In this paper, we quantify the divergence in the cost of current diets as compared to EAT Lancet recommendations at the subnational-level in India. We use primary data on food prices and household food purchases, and secondary data on food expenditures for a period...

Agriculture & Food Systems to 2050: Global Trends, Challenges and Opportunities

This book features a comprehensive foresight assessment, exploring the pressures — threats as well as opportunities — on the global agriculture & food systems between now and 2050. The overarching aim is to help readers understand the context, by analyzing global trends and anticipating change...
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Transforming Food Systems for a Rising India

The Indian growth story is a paradoxical one. Despite economic progress over the past two decades, regional inequality, food insecurity, and malnutrition problems persist. Simultaneously, recent trends in obesity along with micro-nutrient deficiency portend to a future public health crisis. This book explores various challenges...

TCI Briefing: Spatial Trends in Indian Agriculture 1960s to 2000s

Using almost half a century of data on area and production of major crops at the district level from ICRISAT’s VDSA database, TCI has mapped the evolution in farming. Download the report (PDF)
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Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in India 2020: Leveraging Agriculture to Achieve Zero Hunger

TCI’s 2020 report on Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in India (FAN 2020) provides an analysis of India’s progress towards achieving the second sustainable development goal—zero hunger. Using district-level data and maps, the report highlights stark spatial differences in the extent of the hunger problem and identifies potential...

Kiera Crowley

Kiera Crowley is a PhD student in the field of soil and crop sciences and a FLAS fellow studying Hindi. Kiera is interested in innovation diffusion and the adoption of conservation agriculture technologies among farmers in India’s Indo-Gangetic Plain. She…

Dr. Vidya Bharathi Rajkumar

Vidya Bharathi Rajkumar earned her PhD in applied economics and management from Cornell University in 2021. She is now an assistant professor of economics at Krea University in Sri City, India. Her research interests lie in the field of development…

Dr. Sunaina Dhingra

Sunaina Dhingra is an associate professor in the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy at O.P. Jindal Global University in India. She was a postdoctoral associate at TCI. Her research addressed the extent to which early childhood (pre-school) exposure…