IIA Faculty

Dan Clay, Ph.D.

Director, Institute of International Agriculture
Professor, Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies

Contact information:
319 Agriculture Hall
Michigan State University
E. Lansing, MI 48824

Phone: (517) 355-0174
Fax: (517) 353-1888

Email: clay@msu.edu

Dan Clay

Education:

Ph.D., Michigan State University, Demography/Rural Sociology, 1982
B.A., Hartwick College, Social Science, 1974


International Experience:

  • Has worked in agricultural and rural development for over 25 years, focusing on issues of food and agricultural value chain development (high value exports), food safety/SPS, food security, food aid impacts, household livelihood strategies, relief-development linkages, conservation investments, agricultural productivity, and household survey methodologies.
  • Countries in which he has maintained applied research, training, and outreach activities include: Burundi, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, and Zambia.
  • Serves regularly as an advisor to the World Bank as an expert in food security, export market development, science and technology, and agricultural policy.  Has served in a similar capacity as an advisor to the World Trade Organization in Geneva on matters of developing export markets for low income countries.
  • Lived and worked in Rwanda as the Director of Michigan State University’s Food Security research program there during the crisis years 1992-1994.
  • Originator and six-year Director (2000-2006) of the Partnership to Enhance Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages (PEARL) project. PEARL demonstrated phenomenal success at assisting rural communities to improve livelihoods through coffee and horticulture export value chain development—by connecting farmers to markets and meeting quality and safety standards at every step in the value chain.  
  • Lead developer of the Partnerships for Food Industry Development in Fruits and Vegetables (PFID-F&V) at Michigan State University (2000 to present). PFID-F&V is an exciting program committed to strengthening horticulture value chains around the world.
  • International Technical Advisor for the International Statistical Programs Center implementing household surveys and analysis programs throughout Africa (1979-1987). 


Current projects:

Burundi Agricultural Program (BAP): Coffee and horticulture value chain development focusing on privatization of the coffee sector, improvements in coffee quality (production and processing), and building market linkages.

Rwanda Horticulture Export Standards Initiative (RHESI): Provides technical assistance and training to the Rwanda Horticulture Development Authority (RHODA) aimed at meeting plant health standards for export of horticulture products.

Sustaining Partnerships to enhance Rural Enterprise and Agribusiness Development (SPREAD): Field base program and partnership in support of coffee and horticulture value chains in Rwanda with a focus on improving product quality and market access for small holders and micro enterprises.



Selected Publications:

Coffee Sector Reforms, Poverty, and Development in Burundi.  By Quentin Wodon and Daniel C. Clay. World Bank. (forthcoming 2008).

“Heterogeneous Constraints, Incentives and Income Diversification Strategies in Rural Africa.” By Christopher Barrett, Mesfin Bezuneh, Daniel Clay, and Tomas Reardon. Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture. Special Issue. (2005).

“How Accurate is Self-Targeting of Food-for-Work in the Presence of Imperfect Factor Markets?  Evidence from Ethiopia.” By Christopher Barrett and Daniel Clay. Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 39, No. 5. 2003.  Article awarded the Dudley Seers Memorial Prize (cash prize for best article in Volume) for Volume 39.

“Can Food-For-Work Programs Reduce Vulnerability?” By Christopher Barrett, Stein Holden and Daniel Clay. In Stefan Dercon, Editor, Insurance against Poverty. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (forthcoming, 2003).

“Input Use and Conservation Investments among Farm Households in Rwanda: Patterns and Determinants.” By Daniel C. Clay, Valerie Kelly, Edson Mpyisi, and Thomas Reardon. In Natural Resource Management in African Agriculture: Understanding and Improving Current Practices, by C.B. Barrett, F. Place, and A.A. Aboud. 2002.

"Food Aid Targeting in Ethiopia: A Study of Who Needs it and Who Gets it." By Daniel C. Clay, Daniel Molla, and Debebe Habtewold. Food Policy, Vol 24 (4). 1999.

"Population and Sustainability: Understanding Population, Environment and Development Linkages." By Daniel C. Clay and Thomas Reardon, in G. D'Souza and G. Gebremedhin (eds.), Sustainability in Agricultural and Rural Development. Aldershot, England: Ashgate (1998).

"Sustainable Intensification in the Highland Tropics:  Rwandan Farmers' Investments in Soil Conservation and Fertility."  By Daniel C. Clay, Thomas Reardon, and Jaakko Kangasniemi.  Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol 46 (2): 351-377. 1998.

"Land Use, Soil Loss and Sustainable Agriculture in Rwanda."  By Daniel C. Clay and Lawrence A. Lewis.  Human Ecology, 18 (2), 1990, pp. 147-161. Reprinted in D.G. Bates and S.H. Lees (eds.), Case Studies in Human Ecology. New York: Plenum Press. 1996.

"Fighting an Uphill Battle: Population Pressure and Declining Land Productivity in Rwanda."  By Daniel C. Clay.  In H.K. Schwarzweller and T.A. Lyson (eds.) Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Vol. 6.  Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press, Inc., 1995.