Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

Saweda Liverpool-Tasie has had a storied career in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and  Resource Economics (AFRE)  at Michigan State University (MSU) thus far and she isn’t finished. Liverpool-Tasie was recently named the new Research Director for the Food Security Group (FSG) within AFRE.

Liverpool-Tasie joined AFRE in 2012 after a post-doctoral program with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Since joining AFRE, she has devoted much of her international work to the African region and received distinguished honors such as MSU Foundation Professor, 2017 AAEA Bruce Gardener Memorial Prize, and MSU John K. Hudzik Emerging Leader in Advancing International Studies and Programs.

FSG is “a team of faculty and graduate students from AFRE and other departments who believe that good food and nutrition policy, informed by solid empirical evidence that is generated jointly with local partners, can transform economies and lives in low income countries.” In her new role as FSG Research Director, Liverpool-Tasie will be leading the next wave of FSG’s research from a large group of established researchers and partner groups located around the world.

Liverpool-Tasie shared, “This position, I think, is hopefully going to allow me to contribute my own knowledge and ideas about how I've been able to build such a research program and to brainstorm with others about how we can do this at a larger level.”

She added, “I'm hopeful that some of the strategies and the approaches that have been used where I've worked can be applied more broadly. I also think that the research director and the task is more about supporting an already well-established group of scholars to continue to do what they're doing and then maybe to do it better.”

Liverpool-Tasie recognizes that her strategy in this new role may not work for everybody and remains open to learning from what others are doing. For her, it comes down to two words: focus and intentionality.

“I think my goal is going to be more to just be a bit focused and intentional about the different strategies that are existent within FSG and then try to bring those together for us to identify what are some winning strategies and then elevate that for the group,” she explained.

She also recognizes that in this current climate of uncertainty around funding, that FSG faces some challenges ahead.

“The majority of FSG faculty and also the share of the total number of projects that are led by FSG team members are funded by the U.S. government and particularly USAID,” Liverpool-Tasie explained. “So, diversifying our funding sources in FSG is a key challenge that we face. We must do it. It is part of my responsibility to support this process of working with Dave Tschirley for us to diversify our sources of funding. But I think that this challenge has become even more pertinent and immediate, given the current situation we're in where there's so much uncertainty around the future of a lot of our faculty because we don't know what's going to happen by April 20th.”

FSG Director Dave Tschirley is excited about Liverpool-Tasie’s new role as research director for exact reason that she will work hard overcome this major challenge facing FSG. He looks forward to what they will be able to accomplish.

Tschirley explained, “Saweda brings incredible strengths to this position: she is a rigorous and prolific researcher and publisher; she does this from a “get your feet dirty” perspective, spending a lot of time in the field talking to farmers, traders, food processors, and policy makers; she is deeply committed to working equitably with local partners and making sure they are full participants in the process; she brings her work to bear in highly productive ways with stakeholders and policymakers; she is a wonderful teacher and student research supervisor; and she does all of this from a background of having grown up in Nigeria and maintaining strong personal, not just professional, ties to the continent. To top if off, she is a great person who works well with everyone.  She will be a huge asset to FSG and we are grateful that she has taken on this position – I personally am delighted to be able to work with her in this role.”

AFRE Chairperson, Chad Cotti added, “Saweda’s expertise in agricultural economics and food security is shaping policies that empower smallholder farmers and strengthen global food systems. Her research at Michigan State University drives innovative solutions to enhance resilience, equity, and sustainability in agricultural markets. I am thrilled to be able to partner with Saweda in this new role.” 

Liverpool-Tasie is excited about this position and the new opportunities that await FSG.

“It's a new opportunity to learn to grow and then also to hopefully support the group as we come together to identify strengths in our unique and individual strategies towards elevating the group of faculty that identify with the FSG,” Liverpool-Tasie shared.