IFPRI is participating in the Rural Development and Food Security Forum 2019.

Although 1.1 billion people have moved out from extreme poverty since 1990, poverty incidence remains high in the rural areas of most countries in the Asia and Pacific region. There is still widespread unemployment; limited access to education, healthcare, and financial services, particularly for women; and lack of rural roads, power supply, water and sanitation facilities, and other infrastructure services. Information and communication technologies have yet to penetrate majority of the rural areas. Many rural communities also remain increasingly vulnerable to climate change, disasters, and natural calamities. 

The forum aims to seek knowledge—from global, regional and local stakeholders, experts and practitioners, including ADB staff and Management—on enabling policies, technologies and investments that will assist DMCs/ADB in responding to farmer income crisis; food security and malnutrition; rural distress and prosperity challenges; and gender equity, climate change, and natural resource degradation challenges to food security and rural development in the region in coming decades.

Session 1: Farming Crisis (October 28, 2019 — 8:50am – 10:00am)

• Shenggen Fan, Director General, IFPRI

Session 2: Dysfunctional Agriculture Markets and Malnutrition (October 28, 2019 — 2:00pm – 2:10pm)

• Howarth Bouis, Founder and Interim CEO, HarvestPlus

Publications Launch (October 29, 2019 — 11:00am – 12:00pm)

Investment Requirements to Achieve Food Security in Asia and the Pacific in
2030: Regional Report and Case Studies in Indonesia and People’s Republic of
China

• Mark Rosegrant, Research Fellow Emeritus, IFPRI