NATURAL
RESOURCES
INSTITUTE

Knowledge for a sustainable world

Professor Apurba Shee

BE, MS, PhD
Biography

Dr Apurba Shee is a Professor of Applied Economics in the Food and Markets Department within the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) at the University of Greenwich and an ESRC Policy Fellow at the UK Ministry of Justice. Apurba holds an M.S. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University and a PhD in Applied Economics from Penn State University. Before joining NRI in 2017, he worked as an economist for six years in the CGIAR institutions, first at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and then at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability for rural populations in developing countries.

Apurba's research interests are in the fields of applied microeconomics, development economics, agricultural finance, and applied econometrics. He is an experienced researcher on innovative climate risk financing, adaptation, and food systems resilience. Apurba undertakes research to identify what works in real-world contexts and their social and economic impacts to inform and shape effective public policy. His research relies on experiments and observational data. Having been based in Africa (2012-2017), he has extensive experience conducting research throughout the continent (Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast). In addition, he has extensive experience in promoting microfinance and women empowerment collectives in India. His research has been published in leading agricultural economics journals and policy forums.

He has led or co-led many internationally recognised research projects as the Principal Investigator or a Co-Investigator in the UK, Asia, and Africa. His research projects have been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the African Union, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). Apurba is currently leading (Principal Investigator) two major three-year research projects: The project “Economic and Empowerment Impacts of Millet Enterprises by Women Collectives”, funded by 3ie under the Swashakt program supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he is leading a large international team of researchers from UK and India. He is co-leading the project “Risk Contingent Credit for Resilience and Food Security” in Kenya and Ethiopia in partnership with IFPRI, funded by GIZ.  

Apurba has contributed to improved policymaking by translating complex research information through clear communication both in the UK and overseas in addressing economic and social problems by developing innovative evidence-based research. Along with his NRI role, he is an ESRC Policy Fellow at the UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ), working across several civil service analyst teams to provide evidence-based policy advice to reduce reoffending and protect the public; specifically, provide expert advice and review various experimentation and evaluation projects to make better decisions to improve justice outcomes in the UK.

  • Poverty, agricultural development and sustainable intensification

  • Research/Scholarly InterestsAgricultural Finance and Production Economics

  • Innovative microinsurance and risk-contingent credit instruments

  • Impact Evaluation of socio-economic programmes

  • Agriculture and food value chain analysis

  • Applied Econometrics  

  • Principal Investigator, ESRC Policy Fellowship; “Ministry of Justice - Experimentation and Evaluation Fellowship” 2022- Current and Previous Funded Research Projects
  • Principal Investigator, “Economic and Empowerment Impacts of Millet Processing and Value Addition Enterprises by Women SHGs in Tribal Areas of Odisha” funded by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2020-  
  • Principal Investigator, “Developing Price Risk-Protected Warehouse Receipt System in Promoting Resilient Food Supply Chains in Africa” funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Food Network+, 2020-2021
  • Project co-leader and Co-Principal Investigator, “Promoting Resilience and Food Security through Risk-Contingent Credit in Africa” funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, 2020-
  • Project leader and Principal Investigator, Uptake and Evaluation of Innovative Insurance Linked Credit for Promoting Resilience and Livelihoods for Farmers in Kenya, 2017-
  • Project co-leader and Principal Investigator, Satellite Technologies, Innovative and Smart Financing for Food Security (SATISFy), 2016 – Aug 2017
  • Monitoring and evaluation specialist, Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) projects in Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Ethiopia, Ghana and Mali, 2015-17
  • Principal Investigator, “Piloting Risk-Contingent Credit for Weather and Market Price Risks in Kenya”, funded by BASIS Assets and Market Access Collaboration Research Support Program (USAID), 2013-14
  • Product design lead, Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) in arid and semi-arid regions of Northern Kenya, 2012-15
  • Turvey, C. and Shee A. (2023) Inclusive Finance and Agricultural Development in Africa, Handbook of Microfinance, Financial Inclusion and Development. World Bank Handbooks in Development. Edward Elgar. ISBN 978178990386.
  • Shee, A., Ndegwa, M.K., Turvey, C. G. and You, L. (2023) Transforming Food Systems through Risk Contingent Credit in Rural Africa: Development, Experimentation, and Evaluation; Food Systems Transformation in Kenya: Lessons from the Past and Policy Options for the Future. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Book. (In Press)
  • Shee, A., Parmar, A., Rout, S., Strum, B. and Bennett, B. (2023). Assessing the Measurement Methods of postharvest Food Loss and Waste: Opportunities and Challenges, Forthcoming Journal of Enterprise Development and Microfinance
  • Oyetunde-Usman, Z. and Shee, A. Abdoulaye, T. (2023). Does Simultaneous Adoption of Drought Tolerant Maize Varieties and Manure Impact Productivity and Welfare Outcomes? Evidence from Rural Nigeria Forthcoming Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics.
  • Ngwenyama, P., Siziba, S., Nyanga, LK., Stathers, T., Bechoff, A.,Shee, A., and Mvumi, BM. (2023). Determinants of smallholder farmers’ maize grain storage protection practices and understanding of the nutritional aspects of grain postharvest losses. Forthcoming Food Security
  • Bechoff, A., Shee, A., Mvumi, B. et al. (2022). Prediction of nutritional postharvest losses along the crop value chain: a case study with three key food-security crops in sub-Saharan Food Security https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-021-01238-9
  • Ndegwa, M.K., Shee, A., Turvey, C. G. and You, L. (2021) Sequenced crop evapotranspiration and water requirement in developing a multi-trigger rainfall index insurance and risk-contingent credit. Weather, Climate, and Society. 14(1): 19-38.
  • Shee, A., Turvey, C., and Marr, A. (2020). Heterogeneous Demand and Supply for an Insurance-Linked Credit Product in Kenya: A Stated Choice Experiment Approach Journal of Agricultural Economics https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.12401
  • Ndegwa, M.K., Shee, A., Turvey, C.G., You, L. (2019). Uptake of Insurance-Embedded Credit in Presence of Credit Rationing: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Kenya, Agricultural Finance Review, https://doi/10.1108/AFR-10-2019-0116
  • Shee, A., Azzarri, C., Haile, B. (2020). Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Agricultural Technologies: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Tanzania. Sustainability, 12, 216. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010216
  • Turvey, C.G., Shee, A., and Marr, A. (2019) Addressing Fractional Dimensionality in the Application of Weather Index Insurance and Climate Risk Financing in Agricultural Development: A Dynamic Triggering Approach. Weather, Climate and Society, https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-19-0014.1
  • Shee, A., Mayanja, S., Simba, E., Stathers, T., Bechoff, A., and Bennett, B. (2019). Determinants of postharvest losses along smallholder producers maize and sweetpotato value chains: An ordered probit analysis Food Security, 11: 1101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-019-00949-4
  • Shee, A., Turvey, C., and You, L. (2019). Design and Rating of Risk-Contingent Credit for Balancing Business and Financial Risks for Kenyan Farmers. Applied Economics, 51:50, 5447-5465
  • Rajandran, S., Afari-Sefa, V., Shee, A., Bekunda, M., Dominick, I. and Lukumy, P. (2017). Does crop diversity contribute to dietary diversity? Evidence from integration of vegetables into maize-based farming systems in Tanzania. Agriculture & Food Security 6:50
  • Shee, A. and Stefanou, S. E. (2016). Bounded Learning-by-doing and Sources of Firm Level Productivity Growth in Colombian Food Manufacturing Industry. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 46(2): 185-197
  • Woodard, J., Shee, A., and Mude, A. (2016) A Spatial Econometric Approach to Designing and Rating Scalable Index Insurance in the Presence of Missing Data, The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance-Issues and Practice, 41(2): 259-279
  • Shee, A. and Stefanou, S. E. (2015). Endogeneity Corrected Stochastic Production Frontier and Technical Efficiency. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 97(3): 939-952
  • Shee, A., Turvey, C. G. and Woodard, J. A. (2015). Field Study for Assessing Risk-Contingent Credit for Kenyan Pastoralists and Dairy Farmers. Agricultural Finance Review 75 (3): 330-348
  • Vrieling, A., Meroni, M., Shee, A., Mude, A. Woodard, J. de Bie, Rambold, F. (2014). Historical Extension of Aggregated NDVI from Operational Products for Livestock Insurance in Kenya. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 28 (238-251).
  • Leeuw, J.D., Vrieling, A., Shee, A., Atzberger, C., Hadgu, K.M., Biradar, C., Keah, H., Turvey, C. (2014). The Potential and Uptake of Remote Sensing in Insurance: a review. Remote Sensing 6, no.11: 10888-10912
  • Shee, A. and Turvey, C. G. (2012). Collateral Free Lending with Risk-Contingent Credit for Agricultural Development: Indemnifying Loans against Pulse Crop Price Risk in India. Agricultural Economics 43, 561-574

Recent Conference Presentations

  • Agricultural and Applied Economics Association conference (AAEA), Farmer preferences for adopting drought-tolerant maize varieties: evidence from a choice experiment in Nigeria, Aug 16, 2021 Online
  • Agricultural and Applied Economics Association conference (AAEA), Does Simultaneous Adoption of Drought Tolerant Maize Varieties and Organic Manure Impact Productivity and Welfare Outcomes of Farm-households in Nigeria? Aug 17, 2021 Online
  • STFC Food Network+ 4th Annual Conference, Developing Price Risk-Protected Warehouse Receipt System in Promoting Resilient Food Supply Chains in Africa, 27 May 2021 Online
  • International Seminar on Food and Nutrition Security in Africa, FaNSI Conference (Keynote speech) “Assessing the Measurement Methods of Food Loss and Waste: Opportunities and Challenges” 27 Jn 2021 Online
  • AAEA 2019 conference “Heterogeneous Demand and Supply for an Insurance-Linked Credit Product in Kenya: A Stated Choice Experiment Approach” Jul 22, 2019, Atlanta, USA
  • Agricultural Economics Society Conference 2019 “Fractional Dimensionality of Weather and a New Approach to Risk Financing in Agriculture: Evidence from Kenya” Apr 15, 2019, Warwick, UK
  • AAEA 2018 conference “Heterogeneous Impacts of Credit Rationing on Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from Kenya” Aug 6, 2018, Washington DC, USA
  • ICAE 2018 conference (session chair and presenter) “Design and Rating of Risk-Contingent Credit for Balancing Business and Financial Risks for Kenyan Farmers” Jul 31, 2018, Vancouver
  • Innovate for Climate Conference (I4C) (Presenter and panel discussion) “Risk-Contingent Credit: An Innovative Solution for Climate Risk Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa” May 23, 2018, Frankfurt, Germany
  • UTK Research Seminar Presentation “Heterogeneous Impacts of Credit Rationing on Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from Tanzania” University of Tennessee, Jan 10, 2017 Knoxville, TN, USA
  • International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) TW13 Inception Workshop, “Uptake and Evaluation of Innovative Insurance Embedded Credit for Promoting Resilience and Livelihoods for Smallholder maize and wheat farmers in Kenya” 3-4 November 2016, New Delhi, India
  • Africa RISING ESA Project Phase 1 Legacy Review Meeting, Presented two papers “Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Agricultural Technologies: Results from Field Experiment in Tanzania” and “Heterogeneous Impacts of Credit Constraints in the Presence of Risk Rationing: Evidence from Tanzania” 30 June- 2 July 2016, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • IFPRI RISE Research Day “Heterogeneous impacts of credit constraints in the presence of risk rationing” March 16, 2016 Washington DC
  • SCC-76 Annual Conference on Economics and Management of Risks in Agriculture and Natural Resources, “Heterogeneous impacts of credit constraints in the presence of risk rationing” 17-19 March 2016 Florida, USA
  • Africa RISING West Africa Project Annual Review and Planning Meeting, “Africa RISING Baseline Survey Data Summary for Ghana and Mali” 24 March 2015, Accra, Ghana

Responsibilities include implementation and delivery of externally funded projects, supervising PhD students and teaching.

External Recognition

  • Platform for Agricultural Risk Management (PARM) Advisory Committee member, 2023-
  • Associate Editor/ Editorial Board– Agricultural Finance Review, 2015- Present External Recognition
  • National Research Committee (NRC) Lead Reviewer, 2022-
  • Membership affiliation – UK Evaluation Society, American Economic Association (AEA), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA), Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD), International Association for Agricultural Economists (IAAE), American Risk and Insurance Association (ARIA)
  • Reviewer- Journal of Applied Econometrics, World Development, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Finance Review, Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics, Food Security, AAEA Annual meeting 2017 contributed papers, ICAE 2018 contributed papers

Awards

  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Policy Fellow at the UK Ministry of Justice, 2022
  • University of Greenwich Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship, 2018
  • Ford Foundation International Fellow, 2005
  • AIARD (Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development) Future Leaders Scholarship, 2009
  • Competitive International Tuition Grant-in-Aid, Penn State University, 2011
  • Gamma Sigma Delta, The Honor Society of Agriculture, 2011
  • Penn State nominee for the AAEA Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, 2013

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1836-9637

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