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Faculty & Research

Faculty & Research

Vidya Vemireddy

Biography

Prof. Vidya Vemireddy is faculty at the Centre for Management in Agriculture (CMA), Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA). As a trained applied economist, her teaching, researchand consulting assignments cut across the domains of agriculture, food systems, climate, agricultural finance, and gender. She currently chairs the Gender Centre at IIMA and has led several research grants on gender and agriculture. She has led several projects examining farmer behavior, technology adoption in Indian Agriculture across ten states in India [Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Government of India], pathways through which women’s empowerment can enhance household and intra- household nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa and India; pathways to make agriculture climate resilient at the household level [CGIAR institutions]. With the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) at Cornell University, she has examined food consumption patterns at the intra-district level in India and continues to provide policy recommendations. Further, she has contributed to research and interventions on; adapting metrics of women’s empowerment index to the Indian context; examining financial inclusion of women in agriculture and integrating women self-help groups in food fortification initiatives. 

In the domain of agriculture and food systems, she has written case studies, ranging from blockchain applications in agriculture; receivable financing; adoption of digital technologies; viability of Farmer Producer Organizations, the role of price discovery mechanisms and risk and resilience in agri-food systems. She has published her research in reputable international journals, policy papers and editorial columns.

Before joining IIMA in 2019, Prof. Vemireddy received her doctoral degree in Applied Economics and Management from the Cornell University, USA. During her Ph.D., She has been a TCI scholar at Cornell University. Prior to her Ph.D., she earned her master’s degree in Economics from Boston University and a Bachelor’s (Hons.) degree in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University.

Area

Primary Area : Centre for Management in Agriculture

Contact

Email : vidyav@iima.ac.in

Phone : +91-79-7152 4953

Secretary : Vanitha Mudaliar

Phone : +91-79-7152 7912

Website : Personal Website

Education

PhD, Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, 2014-2019

M.A. , Economics, Boston University, 2013-2014

B.A.(Hons.) , Economics, Lady Shri Ram College for Women (University of Delhi), 2009-2012

Research Area

Agriculture and Food Policy, Nutrition, Gender

Agricultural Economics, Gender, Food and Nutrition Policy

Applied Microeconomics, International Development

Fieldwork Methods

Professional Experience

Assistant Professor, Centre for Management in Agriculture, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Ahmedabad, [July 2019 – present]

Chairperson, Gender Centre, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Ahmedabad, [April 2022 – present]

Selected Publications

Soumya Gupta, Payal Seth, Vidya Vemireddy, Prabhu Pingali (2024) Women’s empowerment and intra-household diet diversity across the urban continuum: Evidence from India's DHS

Shehzala, Jaiswal, A. K., Vemireddy, V., & Angeli, F. (2024). Social media “stars” vs “the ordinary” me: influencer marketing and the role of self-discrepancies, perceived homophily, authenticity, self-acceptance and mindfulness. European Journal of Marketing, 58(2), 590-631.

Singh, S., & Vemireddy, V. (2023). Transitioning diets: a mixed methods study on factors affecting inclusion of millets in the urban population. BMC Public Health, 23(1), 2023.

Vemireddy, Vidya, and Anjali Choudhary. "A systematic review of labor-saving technologies: Implications for women in agriculture." Global Food Security, 29 (2021): 100541.

Vemireddy, V., & Pingali, P. L. (2021). Vemireddy, V., & Pingali, P. L. (2021). Seasonal time trade-offs and nutrition outcomes for women in agriculture: Evidence from rural India. Food Policy, 102074, 102074

Gupta, S., Vemireddy, V., Singh, D. K., & Pingali, P. (2021). Ground truthing the cost of achieving the EAT lancet recommended diets: Evidence from rural India. Global Food Security, 28, 100498.

Vemireddy, V., & Pingali, P. L. (2021). Seasonal time trade-offs and nutrition outcomes for women in agriculture: Evidence from rural India. Food Policy, 102074.

Vemireddy, V. (2021). A systematic review of labor-saving technologies: implications for women in agriculture (Accepted- Global Food Security)

Gupta, S., Vemireddy, V., Singh, D. K., & Pingali, P. (2021). Ground truthing the cost of achieving the EAT lancet recommended diets: Evidence from rural India. Global Food Security, 28, 100498).

Irani, L., & Vemireddy, V. (2020). Getting the measurement right! quantifying time poverty and multitasking from childcare among mothers with children across different age groups in rural north India. Asian Population Studies, 1- 23.

Irani, L., & Vemireddy, V. (2020). Getting the measurement right! quantifying time poverty and multitasking from childcare among mothers with children across different age groups in rural north India. Asian Population Studies, 1-23

Gupta, S., Vemireddy, V., & Pingali, P. L. (2019). Nutritional outcomes of empowerment and market integration for women in rural India. Food Security, 11(6), 1243-1256.

Gupta, S., Vemireddy, V., Singh, D., & Pingali, P. (2019). Adapting the Women's empowerment in agriculture index to specific country context: Insights and critiques from fieldwork in India. Global Food Security, 23, 245-255.

Vemireddy, V. S. R. (2019). Pathways from agriculture to nutrition in India: the role of women's time trade-offs and empowerment (Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University).

Gupta, S., Vemireddy, V., & Pingali, P. L. (2019). Nutritional outcomes of empowerment and market integration for women in rural India. Food Security, 11(6), 1243-1256.

Gupta, S., Vemireddy, V., Singh, D., & Pingali, P. (2019). Adapting the Women's empowerment in agriculture index to specific country context: Insights and critiques from fieldwork in India. Global Food Security, 23, 245-255.

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Research and consultancy projects (selected)

  • Enhancing women’s resilience and empowerment [International Rice Research Institute]
  • Mechanization and labor-saving technologies for women in agriculture [Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Government of India]
  • Assessing skill gap for micro-irrigation technologies [Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Government of India]
  • Studying the linkages of Farmer producer organization to markets [Funded by Swedish Research Council, FORMAS]
  • Facilitating Access to Financial Services: Understanding Barriers to Mobile Phone Usage among Rural Women [Bharat Inclusion Grant- CIIE]
  • UNSDSN-FABLE (under FOLU): Designing Evidence-Based Pathways for Achieving the SDGs on Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land Use and Energy [Led by United Nations-Sustainable Development Solutions Network and funded by Norwegian Initiative on Climate and Forests] – Ongoing
  • Case studies , reports and policy briefs
  • Report: Vemireddy, V., Nagarajan, H., & Vishwanath, D. (2023). Assessing Skill Gap In Micro Irrigation Across India [link]
  • Report: Vemireddy, V., Choudhary, Anjali. (2023). Mechanization in Agriculture: Assessment of skill development gap and adoption of labour-saving technologies [link]
  • Vemireddy, V., Deb, S., Yadav, S., & Choudhary, A. (2023). Sahyadri Farms: A 21st Century Farmer’s Enterprise. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
  • Vemireddy, V., Deb, S., & Yadav, S. (2021). Whrrl: Facilitating Agricultural Finance through Block-Chain Technology. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
  • Vemireddy, V., Deb, S., & Yadav, S. (2021). Aggois: Last-Mile Financing for Small-Holder Farmers. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
  • Setia, P., Vemireddy, V., & Rathi, M. (2022). Alternate Pathways for Leveraging Digital Technologies in Agriculture. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
  • Vemireddy, V., & Bajoria, P. (2023). More women’s agency on farms relates to better household nutrition—but differs by the type of production system.
  • Vemireddy, V., & Choudhary, A. (2021). Labor-saving technologies designed for women can reduce their drudgery. CGIAR Gender Platform Evidence Explainer.
  • Irani, L., & Vemireddy, V. Time Poverty and Multi-tasking Among Women with Young Children in India.

Collaborations

Tata Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutriiton (TCI), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (GoI), TARINA (Technical Assistance and Research for Indian Nutrition and Agriculture); Population Council, IIM- Ahmedabad, India, Cornell University and Boston University, Center for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM Ahmedabad, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), United Nations-Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN-SDN), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) Uppsala, Sweden.

Teaching

Courses for MBA students

1. Agricultural Finance:

This course is a compulsory course offered to the final year MBA graduates in IIMA’s flagship Food and Agribusiness Management Program. This course seeks to develop an understanding of the agricultural finance environment, the major institutions involved, and the strategic financing issues. Besides introducing the agricultural finance environment, students get exposed to various new innovations in financial instruments and agribusiness valuation. Topics of risk management are also included within this course specifically designed for the agricultural context in India.

2. Food Systems Approach to Indian Agribusinesses:

This course is an elective offered to final year MBA graduates at IIMA. Given the issues related to malnutrition that plague India, connecting agriculture and nutrition is critical. This course introduces students to this framework and presents various existing and potential agribusiness opportunities. This course intends to develop systems thinking among students of agribusiness.

3. Food and Agribusiness (FAB)

Courses for PhD students

1. Applied Microeconomics for Food and Agribusiness:

The course focuses on advanced microeconomic theory and applications within the domain of food and agriculture. It aims to develop the understanding of the core concepts in consumer and producer theory and applications. Topics such as estimating demand and production function, welfare analysis, interdisciplinary applications etc. are discussed through a mix of lectures, empirical exercises and presentations. Students are exposed to current topics in the literature and equipped with tools to analyse (experimental, quasi-experimental, panel data methods etc.) complex empirical problems across different contexts. This course is an advanced level course and designed for students from second year onward with a background in microeconomics and econometrics.

2. Agricultural Management I & II

The objective of this course is to introduce advanced concepts of consumer behavior, demand, supply, economic systems, water and input management, agricultural marketing, risk analysis, development and institutional economics.
 

Panels, Presentations and others

  • [Selected papers and posters] International Agricultural Economics Association Conference, 2024, New Delhi.
     
  • [Selected paper presentation] Meeting of Young Minds in Frontiers of Economics, a conference by the Institute of New Economic Thinking- Young Scholars Initiative at IIT Bombay , 2024
     
  • [Selected paper presentation] Doctoral Colloquium at Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), 2023 
     
  • [Selected paper presentation] Annual International Research Conference at IIM Lucknow, 2023
     
  •  [Selected paper presentation] Annual Economics conference on growth and development at Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi, 2023
     
  • [Selected paper presentation] Economics and Public Policy Conference at Ahmedabad University, 2023
     
  • [Panelist – Women in agribusiness Summit 2024, by Godrej Agrovet Pvt Ltd]
     
  • [Panelist – Mainstreaming Agriculture in School curriculum]
     
  • [Selected paper presentation – 15th October, 2021] “Women’s empowerment, structural transformation andintrahousehold food allocation: evidence from India” at the conference Cultivating Equality: AdvancingGender Research in Agriculture and Food Systems 
     
  • [Panelist] 2021 UN food systems dialogue: Nourishing South Asia in a post-COVID-19 world: Reinvigorating
     
  • rural communities through climate-resilient agriculture and food systems transformation
     
  • [Panelist and speaker] COVID-19 and nutrition security: Findings from Tata-Cornell Institute research on Gender and Nutrition in India, CMIE presentations series.
     
  • Research and Publications seminar, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
     
  • [Selected paper presentation] 2021 American Marketing Association “Is more always better? Product availability, consumption and marketing influences at the Bottom of the Pyramid in India” with Shehzala
     
  • [Session chair] 2021 American Marketing Association Summer Academic Conference- Emerging Topics in Sustainability
     
  • Stakeholder consultations workshops: UN food systems dialogues, mapping evidence in gender and food systems.
     
  • [Selected presentation] “Women's time allocation in agriculture, nutritional trade-offs and seasonality:
     
  • evidence from rural India” at Global Food Security Symposium, University of Gottingen, 2020
     
  • [Selected paper presentation] at the American Agricultural Economic Association conference, 2020
     
  • Selected posters [2] in Global Food Security conference, 2020

Membership and reviewer services

Agricultural Economics Research Association- India (AERA) [Executive Committee 2024, member], Indian Association for Agricultural Economics (International Association of Agricultural Economics (Member), American Economic Association (Member); American Agricultural Economic Association [present] Reviewer: Oxford Development Studies, Economic Modelling, Nature Food, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Food Security, Food Policy, Global Food Security, World Development, Applied Economics and Policy Perspectives, World Development

Doctoral Supervision

Chair of the committee
Muddasir Ahmad Akhoon [Three Essays on Agricultural Productivity and Technical Efficiency] Disha Bose [Non-farm employment & gender] Suruchi Singh [consumer behavior & marketing] Jannet John [Farmer Producer Companies] [co-chair]


Member of the committee
Shehzala [consumer behavior & marketing] Bhanu Pratap Singh [consumer behavior & marketing]

Working Papers & Projects

Vemireddy,V., Bajoria,P., Puskur,R., Seasonal dietary diversity and gender control in sub-Saharan Africa: a comparison across production systems.

Conference 'From Research to Impact: Towards just and resilient agri-food systems' New Delhi, India, 9-12 October 2023. International Food Policy Research Institute

Alvi, Muzna; Vemireddy, Vidya; Ringler, Claudia; Tank, Nikita. 2023. Developing a women’s empowerment in energy index: Conceptual framework and empirical evidence. Poster. Presented at the CGIAR GENDER

Gupta, S., Vemireddy, V., Seth, P., & Pingali, P. L. (2024). Bridging the intrahousehold dietary gap–the role of economic growth and women’s nutritional empowerment: Evidence from India.

Akhoon, Muddasir Ahmad, Abhishek Shaw, and Vidya Vemireddy. "Policy Evaluation in the Absence of Survey Data: Customised border designs with satellite data." (2023).

Chaudhary, Anam; Sharma, Rajat; Vemireddy, Vidya, Consumer Perspectives on Food Traceability—A Systematic Literature Review

Bose, D., & Vemireddy, V. (2023). Resilience strategies of rural households in India: A behavioral perspective.

Vemireddy, Vidya; Vishwanath, Drishti; Choudhary, Anjali; Tank, Nikita. Examining climate resilience strategies and adaptation measures through a gendered lens in India.

Akhoon, Muddasir Ahmad, Vidya Vemireddy; Do women’s time constraints affect processed food intake?-Panel data evidence from India

Akhoon, Muddasir Ahmad, Vidya Vemireddy; Is organic farming better than conventional farming for productivity gains and environment? Evidence from satellite data in a natural experiment setting

Bose, Disha; Vemireddy, Vidya; Rommel, Jens; Gosh, Ranjan, Intangible outcomes of women’s empowerment: Evidence from India

Bose, Disha; Vemireddy, Vidya: Women in non-farm work and diet quality: Evidence from rural Indian households

Recipe based conceptualization for diets in India- Measurement and trends (draft available on request)

Getting the measurement right! Quantifying time poverty and multitasking from childcare among mothers with children across different age groups (With Laili Irani) (Submitted)

Gendered analysis of time allocation, work effort and nutritional outcomes – evidence across seasons from rural India. (draft available on request)

Does an increase in women’s empowerment in agriculture lead to better nutritional outcomes? (Soumya Gupta and Prabhu L. Pingali) (draft available on request)

Is There a Trade-Off between Women’s Time in Peak Season Agricultural Activities and Nutrition? Evidence from Rural India (submitted)

Risk estimates through time use data: an analysis using panel data

Labor-saving technologies for women in agriculture: a review

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Awards & Honors

2014-2019 - Tata Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition.

2016-2018 - PhD dissertation field research, Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, Cornell University.

2016 - Next generation delegate, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

IIMA