Contributor Biographies | Enabling Environment Risk in Rice

Alvaro Durand-Morat, Fundación PROARROZ, Argentina.

Dr. Durand-Morat graduated as an Agricultural Engineer at the National University of Entre Rios, Argentina, and as a M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics and Ph.D. in Public Policy both from the University of Arkansas, U.S. His research has been predominantly in international trade and trade policy with a special interest in rice. More specifically, he develops and maintains partial and general spatial equilibrium models use for simulating potential impacts of agricultural policy changes, climate change, and technological advances such as hybrid and GM rice, all topics so relevant for rice.

Dr. Durand-Morat currently works as a consultant for the PROARROZ Foundation, a non-profit organization that for more than 2 decades has focused on advancing rice scientific work in Argentina, primarily in the area of agronomy and now expanding into rice economics. Furthermore, Dr. Durand-Morat continues working with the rice economic team at the University of Arkansas, which led by Dr. Eric J. Wailes maintains a number of rice modeling tools and provides research services to numerous institutions around the world.   

Dr. Peter Timmer

Dr. Peter Timmer is highly regarded around the world as a leading authority on agriculture development and structural transformation during the process of economic growth, as well as on the causes and impact of food price volatility.  He has served as a professor at Stanford, Cornell, Harvard, and the University of California, San Diego, where he was also the dean of the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. A core advisor on the World Bank's World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development, Timmer also works with several Asian governments on domestic policy responses to instability in the global rice market. In 1992, he received the Bintang Jasa Utama (Highest Merit Star) from the Republic of Indonesia for his contributions to food security.  In 2012, he received the Leontief Prize from Tufts University for advancing the frontiers of economic thought. He is also an advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on agricultural development issues.

Timmer's work focuses on three broad topics: the nature of "pro-poor growth" and its application in Indonesia and other countries in Asia; the supermarket revolution in developing countries and its impact on the poor (both producers and consumers); and the structural transformation in historical perspective as a framework for understanding the political economy of agricultural policy. He also continues his longstanding interest in stabilizing the world rice market.

Jean-Martin Bauer

Jean-Martin Bauer leads WFP’s food security monitoring team, within WFP’s Rome-based Food Security Analysis Service. Much of his work focuses on tracking trends in household food security in vulnerable countries, and capacity building for national information systems. Until recently, Jean-Martin worked in WFP’s West Africa regional bureau, where he was responsible for market analysis, undertaking field assessments that supported the design of humanitarian programs. Jean-Martin has also had long-term field assignments with WFP in Niger, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau. A native of Washington D.C., Jean-Martin holds a Masters in Public Policy.