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Spotlight on IFPRI-Africa: IFPRI research in Africa has been going from strength to strength for over 40 years, and there have been some exciting developments recently.
On September 10th at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) Summit, we launched the 2021 Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor (AATM). This is the fourth edition of a collaborative report between AKADEMIYA2063 and IFPRI which analyzes the latest continental and regional trends in African agricultural trade flows and policies—with a focus on COVID-19 and the AfCFTA this year. Our Director General, Johan Swinnen, and other experts participated in a high-level panel discussion at the launch event.
CGIAR was also well represented at the AGRF 2021 Summit with a dynamic participatory session on Accelerating Resilience and Recovery through One Health, featuring rapid presentations from three CGIAR system researchers, an insightful Q&A, and engaging social media commentary.
And last but not least, IFPRI’s Africa office has a new website! It’s the go-to place for updates on our work at the continental level, all of which integrates gender and social inclusion, a political economy approach, and data for evidence-based decision making.
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Quick Wins: Research in rural Myanmar by Catherine Ragasa and colleagues finds that adding simple nutrition education and gender messaging to social protection programs during COVID-19 improved women’s dietary quality, showing that behavioral change communication can be an effective tool even in times of crisis. The long-term impacts are yet to be studied. (Read Article)
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Follow the Leader?: In rural Malawi, a study by Kate Ambler and colleagues investigated the role of social influence in risk taking among farmers. Results show that decisions of random peers are most influential, followed by formal leaders, followed by external leaders. Their exploratory analysis suggests why this may be the case. (Read Article)
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The Meat of It: Adam Komarek, Shahnila Dunston, et al. projected demand for livestock-derived food according to three socioeconomic scenarios for the future. According to the mid-range trajectory, between 2020 and 2050, per person global demand for livestock-derived foods will increase by 14% while total global demand for those products will increase by 38%. (Read Article)
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Moving Umbrella: Using records of business registration in China, Xiaobo Zhang and colleagues found that the bureaucratic transfer of a local leader to another city is associated with a significant increase of interregional investment along that direction of transfer, as well as other interesting patterns. The findings demonstrate the influence of personal connection between firms and bureaucrats. (Read Article)
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Reasons to Relocate: Research in Mali by Melissa Hidrobo, Valerie Mueller, and Shalini Roy finds that men tend to migrate for employment reasons, whereas women move to rural areas for marriage and urban areas for employment. There is also evidence suggesting that cash transfers can encourage men to move beyond subsistence agriculture, but may also affect women’s marital migration. (Read Article)
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Financing South Africa’s COVID-19 Recovery: In their new COVID-19 blog post, Sherwin Gabriel and colleagues present results from modeling the near-term economic impacts of extending South Africa’s social support programs in the face of new waves of COVID-19 infection and pressure on public expenditures. After analyzing two alternative interventions and three funding mechanisms, they illustrate the associated macroeconomic impacts and provide useful policy recommendations. ( Read Blog)
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All Hat and No Cattle?: How can we ensure that Food Systems Summit actors follow through on their commitments and mobilize sufficient resources? With the Summit just days away, that is the question on everyone’s mind. In our recent blog post, Namukolo Covic and coauthors outline what they see as the necessary characteristics for a robust UNFSS accountability mechanism. (Read Blog)
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Investing in our Future: A total of $15.2 billion annually toward research and innovation for sustainable agriculture intensification could make major progress towards global climate and hunger goals—for only a fraction of the estimated $700 billion spent annually on subsidizing global agriculture! Uma Lele and Mark Rosegrant discuss these investments and other details of the new CoSAI Investment Gap report on the IFPRI blog. (Read Blog)
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Overcoming Siloes: Stefan Uhlenbrook and Claudia Ringler remind us of the interconnectedness of the world’s water, land, energy, forest, and biodiversity systems, demonstrating the importance of systems-based approaches. A new CGIAR research initiative for sustainable water use leads by example, with plans to consider impacts across sectors for improved water, energy, and food security in three key international river basins. (Read Blog)
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More than a Meal: Groundbreaking new IFPRI research in India shows that free school feeding programs improve health and nutrition outcomes not only for the women participating, but later for their children! Our researchers report on the intergenerational benefits of the Mid-Day Meal scheme and warn of the potential consequences of India’s COVID-19 school closures. (Read Blog)
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Pandemic Disruptions: COVID-19 lockdowns disrupted health and nutrition services in Uttar Pradesh, India, and demand for these services decreased post-lockdown due to the fear of pandemic health risks. Phuong Hong Nguyen and coauthors discuss the need to strengthen delivery of routine services and what can be done about communities’ lingering reluctance to seek assistance. (Read Blog)
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Making Insurance Accessible to Smallholders: We continue to highlight CGIAR’s 50 years of innovations in 2021! The current theme, “Innovations to change the world,” asserts that we can change our food systems and change the world through research.
Our recently featured innovation, the Picture-Based Insurance (PBI) project, tests whether a smartphone camera can help make insurance products more attractive for smallholder farmers. By relying on visible crop characteristics observed in farmers’ smartphone pictures of their crops, the project aims to minimize the costs of loss verification and detect damage at the plot level, without relying on in-person visits by insurance agents. ( Learn More)
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IAAE Honorary Life Member Awards: IFPRI’s Johan Swinnen, Agnes Quisumbing, and Claudia Ringler were named Honorary Life Members of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) at the International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE) in August. The award is the highest honor granted by the association, bestowed in recognition of career achievements and contributions to the field of agricultural economics generally as well as to the association itself. ( Read More)
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 COVID disrupted the impressive streak of economic growth in South Asia. It has been a huge blow to the region, but the shock also offers an opportunity for us to integrate food systems transformation to the overall development strategies,” – Shahidur Rashid, Director South Asia, IFPRI. (Event)
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The AATM is a unique and vital resource that provides all of us who are committed to enhancing trade with the latest trends and in depth analysis we need to inform our efforts and programs,” – James Oehmke, Acting Division Chief, Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, USAID. (Event)
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As food prices soar, big agriculture is having a field day:
The Economist published an article about the current trend of rising food prices caused by transport issues and paltry harvests. The author highlights IFPRI data: corn had been on our high excess price variability alert for nearly four months, and wheat and coffee prices have also been volatile.
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What is a healthy diet — and how can it help end world hunger?:
Global Citizen quoted IFPRI’s Namukolo Covic in a piece about how local food systems can ensure healthy diets everywhere: “When people say we have enough food for everyone, I think the important question is: What food is being talked about? Where is it grown? And also, the type of food that they are generally referring to — who, and how many people, can actually access it?“
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Zambia has an election this week. Here’s what you need to know:
Washington Post published an op-ed by IFPRI’s Danielle Resnick about the elections in Zambia. “ Voters aren’t happy about the country’s economic outlook or its external debt problem,” she explained, going on to give a succinct analysis of the country’s political environment at the time of writing.
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Food systems: seven priorities to end hunger and protect the planet:
An op-ed in Nature, by the UNFSS Scientific Group Chair (and former IFPRI Director General) Joachim von Braun and other leaders, outlines how the Summit should harness science and technology to improve nutrition and safeguard the environment. They think back to how previous global food summits have created change, noting that IFPRI was born out of the 1974 World Food Conference.
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