Saweda Liverpool-Tasie

Saweda Liverpool-Tasie

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MSU Foundation Professor
Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

Phone:
517-432-5418

Email:

Degrees:
Ph.D., University of Illinois
M.S., & M.A., University of Iowa
B.Sc. Hons., University of Jos, Nigeria

Publications on Google Scholar

Lenis Saweda  O. Liverpool-Tasie is an MSU Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.  Her current research focuses on emergent issues related to smallholder productivity and welfare within dynamic and transforming food markets in sub–Saharan Africa and alongside poorly functioning markets in the region. In addition to evaluating the heterogeneous effect of poverty reduction strategies (and social networks) on rural household behavior and livelihood, she has a keen interest in understanding input use and input markets as well as evaluating input policies. She teaches AFRE 861: Agriculture in Economic Development during the Fall Semesters.  Before joining MSU in 2012 she was a Post Doctoral fellow at The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).  With a PhD in Agriculture and Consumer Economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, she holds an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning and an MA in International Development, both from The University of Iowa. She also holds a BSc. (Honors) in Economics from the University of Jos, Nigeria. 

Her research work on poverty and food systems transformation in developing regions has taken her to several states in the USA, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Kenya, India, Tanzania, Malawi and The Gambia.  Saweda was a Norman Borlaug Research Fellow in Ethiopia during the 2006/7 academic year. Her work on input use contributed to Guiding Investments in Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in Africa - GISAIA and was part of a portfolio of research recognized when she (and other colleagues) received the 2017 AAEA Bruce Gardener Memorial prize for applied policy analysis, in recognition of contributions to rigorous policy research” that has impacted several countries. She is a 2016 recipient of the Michigan State University John K. Hudzik Emerging Leader in Advancing International Studies and Programs Award and a 2018/19 winner of the MSU Teacher-Scholar Award.

 In 2022 she was appointed by the President of the USA, to the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD), a USAID advisory organ and in 2026, she received the University of Berkeley Development Practitioner Award in recognition of impactful scholarship.

She is currently the Research Director for the AFRE’s International Development Research Group and lead Principal Investigator on a multi-million-dollar project, Research Supporting African MSMEs to Provide Safe and Nutritious Food (RSM2SNF) in Nigeria and Tanzania. Previously, she was the Principal Investigator for Feed The Future Innovation Lab For Food Security Policy: Nigeria, which focused on strengthening capacity among Nigerian researchers and other stakeholders to support the agriculture policy processes with evidenced based policy recommendations. As the 2017-18 chair of the Africa section of the AAEA (professional association of agricultural economists in the USA) she launched an innovative continent-wide initiative that paired African scholars with mentors at top American research universities and centers. She served on the advisory boards for Michigan State University’s African Studies Center and the Alliance for African Partnership; a flagship program of Michigan State University’s International Programs.

Research and Outreach Interests

  • Understanding the role of micro, small and medium-scale enterprises  (MSMEs)in food systems in low and middle-income countries
  • Poverty reduction strategies
  • Agricultural input markets
  • Food security and agricultural productivity

 

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