The Bangladesh Integrated Food Policy Research Program is one of the key components of the Modern Storage Facilities Project being implemented by the Ministry of Food with a World Bank investment. The project is designed to undertake three sets of activities: (1) enhance institutional capacity of the FPMU and DG-Food to carry out their mandates, (2) identify analytical gaps and carry out collaborative research with cutting edge methods; (3) help develop an evidence-based policy framework to improve the efficiency and performance of the country’s overall food storage system and management systems.

Through a competitive bidding process, the contract was awarded to an IFPRI-led JV in partnership with the BIDS and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. The assignments stipulated in the signed contract fall under three thematic areas: Theme 1 - Storage and Transport Logistics; Theme 2 - Market and Policy Analysis; and Theme 3 - Capacity Strengthening and Outreach. While the Storage and Transport Logistics theme has six sub-clusters, the Market and Policy Analysis theme and the Capacity Strengthening and Outreach theme each has seven sub-clusters.

Under the collaborative agreement, BIDS will adjust and adapt the work plan depending on the mutually agreeable changes in the project priorities with the following specific deliverables:

a) Collaborative Research: BIDS will lead or co-lead research on assessment of the FPMU and DG-Food, food quality and safety, food price stabilization, and alternative public investments.

b) Training and outreach: BIDS will serve as the key partner in carrying out in-country training and outreach in collaboration with IFPRI-Dhaka. The BIDS involvement will include both conducting training with direct BIDS staff involvement and making its facilities for outreach/training events.

c) In-country facilitation: BIDS will support IFPRI and its partners in carrying out field works, meeting with the policy makers/stakeholders, as well as other challenges or emergencies that researchers from the partner institutions might confront.

Study Team: Mohammad Yunus, K A S Murshid, Mainul Hoque, and Mohammad Riaz Uddin

Duration: January, 2017-December, 2020