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Is Food Price Inflation Really Subsiding?: Almost a year after the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, fears of a period of sustained high global food prices have subsided somewhat, but there are continuing uncertainties for 2023. In the latest blog post in our series on the food systems impacts of the war in Ukraine, Rob Vos, Joseph Glauber, and David Laborde outline eight major concerns that remain for food security.
“Without major debt relief and additional financial support from the international community, food prices are likely to continue to climb in 2023, posing a continuing threat to the food security of vulnerable households around the world,” they conclude. (Read Blog)
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The Importance of Breastfeeding: Despite the proven health benefits of breastfeeding, only one in two newborns are put to the breast within the first hour of life, and formula milk sales are on the rise. Co-authored by IFPRI’s Purnima Menon, a new Lancet series calls for society-wide changes to achieve more effective promotion, support, and protection for breastfeeding. ( Read Series) ( Read Press Release)
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Food for Thought: Elisabetta Aurino, Aulo Gelli, Harold Alderman, and colleagues find that, after two years, the government of Ghana’s large-scale school feeding program led to increased math and literacy scores—especially for girls and disadvantaged children and regions. (Read Article)
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Tackling Invasive Species: Various strategies have been proposed to reduce the negative impacts of the Prosopis juliflora tree, an invasive alien species, on farms in Kenya. Martin Paul Jr. Tabe-Ojong examines the different approaches, arguing that a blend of management and eradication could offer a win-win solution to economic and environmental concerns. (Read Article)
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Cereal Business: Kibrom Abay, Lina Abdelfattah, Clemens Breisinger, and Khalid Siddig evaluate spatial market (dis)integration in cereal markets in Sudan, with a focus on wheat and sorghum. The findings have important policy implications for improving cereal market efficiency in Sudan and beyond. ( Read Article)
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Food Export Restrictions: In the weeks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, several countries imposed export restrictions on a variety of feed and food products, helping to fuel war-related disruptions in global markets, and contributing to higher prices and increased price volatility. At the peak of the export restriction trend in late May of last year, almost 17% of global food and feed exports (on a caloric basis) were affected by measures implemented by 23 countries.
As of January 2023, global market prices for key food items have returned to pre-war levels, and the share of exports affected by export restrictions has fallen by over 50% from the peak. Nevertheless, it is too early to declare the food crisis over, warn IFPRI researchers in their blog post examining the impacts of export restrictions on prices, supplies, and other indicators. ( Read Blog)
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International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Purnima Menon, Senior Director, Food and Nutrition Policy, IFPRI and CGIAR Systems Transformation Science Group, shares her story of how she developed as a scientist and thoughts about what is needed if we want to bring more women into science. (Read Interview)
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Food vs. Fuel: A recent IFPRI-AMIS policy seminar examined how biofuel production affects food supplies and food price inflation. Speakers emphasized the importance of flexibility as governments set their biofuel policies and mandates going forward, to ensure that production targets can be adjusted during times of market difficulties and supply-demand imbalances. (Read Blog)
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Get Ready to Be Schooled!: Getting children to school is only half the battle; how can we incentivize quality education and get learning up to par? In a blog post celebrating the International Day of Education, researchers highlight IFPRI’s rich body of evidence on this topic. (Read Blog)
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Africa’s Year of Nutrition: At IFPRI’s 32nd Annual Martin J. Forman Memorial Lecture in December, H.E. Minata Samaté Cessouma (the African Union Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development) reflected on the key outcomes and recommendations from the Year of African Nutrition (2022). An IFPRI blog post reports key takeaways from the event. (Read Blog)
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Bread for all and anti-inflation markets to rescue Egyptians from the economic abyss: El País quoted IFPRI findings from a recent issue post about food price shocks in Egypt. Although state-subsidized staples, such as bread, sugar, and oil, are providing important protection, a significant reduction in consumption of proteins, fats, vitamins, and micronutrients might have long-term consequences, commented Sikandra Kurdi, IFPRI research fellow based in Cairo.
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What ails the shrimp sector in Bangladesh?: The Dhaka Tribune reported about a recent workshop hosted by IFPRI in Dhaka, where preliminary findings of a new CGIAR study were presented. The study aimed to document the issues faced by the sector and included interviews with 25 diverse stakeholder experts.
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New Interactive Graphic: In India, common lands constitute one-fifth of the country’s landmass (66.5 million hectares), meet the critical subsistence and livelihood needs of more than 350 million rural people, and hold social and cultural significance for rural communities. These commons provide an economic value of US$ 90.5 billion per year (INR 7.5 lakh crore), but if the commons are not managed properly these services will decline by US$ 750 million annually (INR 6190 crore). Despite providing numerous ecosystem services, commons are at risk of degradation and decline as a result of human activities, insecure community rights, weak governance, and unfavorable national policies.
In a new interactive graphic, researchers walk us through their spatial and economic analysis of India’s common lands, emphasizing the need to use ecosystem services valuation in decision-making and policy to protect and sustainably manage commons. ( Explore the Interactive)
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After more than 15 years at IFPRI, David Laborde, former IFPRI Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Globalization and Markets research group, has joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as Director of the Agrifood Economics Division (ESA). We thank David for his tremendous contribution to IFPRI’s mission, congratulate him on this new exciting endeavor, and look forward to continued collaboration with FAO!
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 We are looking at large supplies of oilseeds in the current season, which is fortunate and a good sign for consumers […] but this is going to be matched by massive increases on the demand side, both for food and for fuel.” – Siegfried Falk, Co-editor, Oil World.
(Event: Food vs. Fuel V2.0: Impacts of Biofuels on Agricultural Markets and Food Security) (Read Blog)
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The agrifood system is under significant risk and uncertainties. What we have seen in the last three years is a piece of what could be coming in the future.” – Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
By thinking about desirable outcomes and futures [for food and agriculture], we can envision how to get there. Hopefully this [FAO] report will serve as a wake-up call for all of us to start planning how we can build a better future.” – Jocelyn Brown Hall, Director, FAO Liaison Office for North America.
(Event: The Future of Food and Agriculture – Drivers and Triggers for Transformation) (Read Blog)
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We find ourselves at a critical junction in terms of food system transformation in Africa. […] Demand is moving towards more processed foods—ready to cook, or even ready to eat—and that has changed the food value chains. That has led to an emerging and a stronger processing sector, which today is actually one of the most important elements shaping the dynamics of agricultural commercialization, structural change, and rural sector development. That is why this ATOR is, and the topic is, so important.” – Ousmane Badiane, Executive Chairperson and Acting Managing Director, AKADEMIYA2063.
(Event: Taking Stock of Africa’s Agrifood Processing Sector)
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