Beyond the Farm: Unlocking Employment and Livelihoods in Africa鈥檚 Evolving Food Systems
Join us to hear from our visiting academic Dr Saweda Onipede Liverpool-Tasie
When: 27 April 2026
Time: 10.30-11.30am
Location: Space 11, Scarman Conference Centre, University of 糖心TV
This event is the first part of the joint Spotlights Food Seminars: Two Conversations. Please see the second part on: Cocoa, International Trade and Innovation in Africa: Lessons from Ghana鈥檚 Evolving Supply Chain
Please select [Health, BM&I and Sustainability] 27 APRIL 2026 Spotlights Food Series: Two Conversations on the registration form.
Dr Saweda Onipede Liverpool-Tasie
Professor, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University
is a Distinguished Research Foundation Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics (AFRE) at Michigan State University (MSU). Her research focuses on smallholder productivity and welfare within dynamic food markets in sub-Saharan Africa. She investigates how midstream value chain activities鈥攕uch as processing, trading, and logistics鈥攕hape the availability of safe and affordable food. With over 20 years of field experience across Africa, Saweda has led impactful research on agricultural input use and market systems in several countries across the continent. In Nigeria/Tanzania, she currently leads the Gates Foundation-funded RSM2SNF project (Research supporting African MSMEs to deliver safe and nutritious food), and co-leads INCATA (Linked Farms and Enterprises for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa and Asia), which explores inclusive agricultural transformation. Her work has informed policy and practice across multiple countries and earned recognition, including the AAEA Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize, MSU鈥檚 Leadership Award and the USA presidential appointment to the Board for International Development. She recently completed a Visiting Professorship at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria and is currently the Research Director for the MSU AFRE鈥檚 International Development Research.
Abstract: 鈥淏eyond the Farm: Unlocking Employment and Livelihoods in Africa鈥檚 Evolving Food Systems.鈥�
Agrifood value chains across low- and middle-income countries have expanded rapidly over the past three decades, significantly driven by the aggregate investments of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) operating in midstream and downstream segments such as wholesale, logistics, processing, and retail. Yet, despite this transformation, policy and research discussions on food security continue to focus predominantly on farms or, more recently, on consumers, overlooking the critical contributions of these midstream and downstream actors within both input and output supply chains. In this talk, Liverpool-Tasie highlights the essential but often underappreciated roles of these segments, drawing on rich primary data collected across several African countries. Her work underscores the need to recognize and analyze these interconnected midstream and downstream dynamics in order to design effective food systems, food security policies and interventions.