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COP27 and Climate Change: The UNFCCC 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) is underway in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, November 6–18, 2022. This year, CGIAR, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and The Rockefeller Foundation are co-hosting the first ever pavilion dedicated to food and agriculture. Visit the Food & Agriculture Pavilion website for the schedule of events, livestream, video recordings, and daily recaps.
IFPRI develops adaptation and mitigation strategies as well as computer models that show how policy alternatives, institutions, and investments to address climate change can benefit agriculture, food and nutrition security, and poor people. Visit the IFPRI and COP27 page to learn more about our climate-related research and engagement at COP27.
Of Note: IFPRI’s 2022 Global Food Policy Report on Climate Change & Food Systems outlines the growing threat climate change presents to our food systems, with particularly grim implications for food and nutrition security, livelihoods, and overall well-being, especially for poor and vulnerable people around the world. It sets out a broad range of policies and investment options to support climate change adaptation, mitigation, and increased food systems resilience. (Learn More)
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No Water, No Food: Water resilient food systems will be critical for meeting future food demands under changing climates. Nathanial Matthews, Claudia Ringler, and colleagues stress the importance of elevating the role of water resilience in food system dialogues and propose six foundational elements of good governance to reduce future water insecurity. ( Read Article)
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Innovation for Agribusiness: Market system development (MSD) approaches aim to address market failures and frictions that impede the adoption of modern yield-enhancing agricultural practices. In a new policy brief, Mulubrhan Amare, Helder Zavale, Jenny Smart, and Hosaena Ghebru examine the impact of an MSD intervention (InovAgro) in Mozambique. (Read Policy Brief)
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The Plot Thickens: Kibrom Abay, Lina Abdelfattah, Clemens Breisinger, and colleagues investigate the implications of plot size on sustainable intensification in smallholder irrigated agriculture in Egypt. The findings show that smaller plot size is associated with overapplication of nitrogen fertilizer, higher labor use, and lower mechanization rates. (Read Article)
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Let Me Count the Ways: Investments in international agricultural research often have multiple objectives, seeking sustainable wins on several fronts. Using quantitative economic models, Keith Fuglie, Keith Wiebe, and colleagues examine the potential multidimensional impacts of agricultural productivity gains in the Global South. ( Read Article)
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Natural Defenses: In a new synthesis paper, Kris Wyckhuys, Wei Zhang, and colleagues showcase the value of bolstering “tritrophic defenses” (interactions between plants, herbivores, and natural enemies) against crop pests, pathogens, and weeds as a more ecologically sound alternative to pesticide-centered crop protection. ( Read Article)
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Sanctions on Russia and Belarus: Are Agriculture Exceptions Working? In a new post in IFPRI’s High Food/Fertilizer Prices and War in Ukraine blog series, Joseph Glauber and David Laborde explore how the sanctions on Russia and Belarus have affected exports of agricultural products and fertilizers. The picture is mixed, with exports of some items initially affected by the war’s outbreak, then recovering, while others have slowed significantly.
The figure above provides an overview of the findings for Russia: Most exports are down compared to 2021, except for phosphate products, which are up in part due to reduced exports from China, which restricted phosphate exports during the first part of 2022. However, the largest effects occurred in the first four months of the year—affected by the beginning of the war, the large disruptions in Black Sea shipping, and Russia’s own export restrictions. Data from the next four months, from April to August, show more limited decreases and even some increases, even though enforcement on most sanctions was starting in earnest during this time. ( Read Blog)
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Call for Climate Justice: Aditi Mukherji and colleagues outline how the devastating Pakistan floods are affecting the global climate justice debate, examine policy options for the country’s difficult path toward recovery, and consider implications for other countries facing similar problems. (Read Blog)
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Southern Cone Exports: If Southern Cone countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay) could boost their agricultural production enough to offset the loss of Ukraine exports, it would go a long way toward stabilizing markets and world food security. Joe Glauber and colleagues consider the prospects. (Read Blog)
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Accelerating Adoption: A recent dissemination event in Uganda highlighted the potential of targeted video-based extension to boost women’s adoption of key climate-smart technologies. Moses Lule shares insights from the Reaching Smallholder Women with Information Services and Resilience Strategies to Respond to Climate Change project event. (Read Blog)
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G20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting: The G20 Agriculture Ministers meeting at the end of September underscored the importance of food system sustainability, open and fair trade, and digital innovations as long-term food crisis responses. With current geopolitical tensions, achieving urgent, collective action under the G20 is proving difficult. (Read Blog)
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Dampening Price Spikes: The recent food and fuel price crises demonstrate that food and energy systems are interlinked. Encouraging small-scale actions to tackle these crises is key, and solar-powered irrigation pumps are a promising technology in this regard. (Read Blog)
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Multiple-Win Solutions: A CGIAR side event at the 2022 Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue focused on both rapid responses to the current food crisis and longer-term solutions for climate resilience and sustainable food systems, highlighting the crucial role that CGIAR and partners play in this effort. (Read Blog)
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How Men with Guns Aggravate Global Hunger: The Economist examines the implications of the Black Sea Grain Deal suspension, looking at how Putin’s attempt at grain blackmail highlights a wider problem: food supplies are often disrupted by men with guns. The article quotes IFPRI senior research fellows Joseph Glauber, who said that the deal has always been “one rocket away from termination,” and David Laborde, who stressed that “farmers need peace to produce.”
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Food Security at Risk as Prices Soar: In a video interview with Bloomberg’s Daybreak Asia, IFPRI senior research fellow Joseph Glauber discusses the impacts of the war in Ukraine, the Black Sea Grain Agreement, and climate change on global food prices. “The world needs more wheat and other commodities. Unfortunately, because markets are so tight, and because of all the recent climatic events, we haven’t been able to replenish global stocks,” says Glauber.
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India’s Rice Farmers Find Themselves on Front Line of Water Crisis: The Financial Times writes about India’s struggle to wean itself off subsidies that encourage water overuse. Avinash Kishore, an IFPRI senior research fellow based in New Delhi, comments that while the government “seems to have given up” on reorganizing the system of subsidies that push farmers to grow water-intensive crops, at least one project—promoting clean (solar) energy, and saving power and water—has shown some scaling success that could break the deadlock.
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New CGIAR Senior Director Appointment: Teunis van Rheenen, IFPRI’s Director for Business Development, has been selected as Senior Director for Science Group Innovative Finance and Resource Mobilization for CGIAR.
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New Econometric Society Fellow: IFPRI’s Alemayehu Seyoum Tafesse, Senior Research Fellow and Program Leader for the Ethiopia Strategy Support Program, was elected as one of The Econometric Society’s new fellows.
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Celebrating Antoine Bouët’s Career at IFPRI: During Antoine Bouët’s 17-year tenure as a Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI, his economics work informed civil society and policymakers and provided evidence for heated debates. As Bouët moves on to new professional endeavors, an October 12 policy seminar explored the topic of globalization and food security through the lens of his research.
“[Bouët’s] work has had a major impact on the way in which analyses of these [trade and food security] issues are undertaken, as well as the way we think about trade agreements,” said Tom Hertel, Distinguished Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University.
IFPRI congratulates Bouët on becoming the Director of CEPII and looks forward to ongoing collaboration with CEPII under his leadership.
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 Words on paper mean nothing without implementation. Accountability mechanisms like this [Global Food 50/50] report make sure that those great words on paper are actually measured and monitored.” – Sarah Hawkes, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Global Health 50/50.
Global Food 50/50 is not just a report—it is both an accountability and a change mechanism.” – Jemimah Njuki, Chief, Economic Empowerment, UN Women.
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Our aim [with Egypt’s COP27 Presidency] is to act as a bridge between the global North and the global South, and to keep the momentum going from COP27 to the next COP to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates.” – H.E. Ambassador Ayman Tharwat, Minister Plenipotentiary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt.
(Event: Accelerated action for food systems resilience: Egypt’s plans for COP27 and the role of CGIAR) (Read Blog)
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First and foremost, you need to organize women as farmers. […] Our experience has shown that, during the pandemic, those local, decentralized supply chains owned and managed by the women farmers themselves were able to not only sustain but ensure food security during the lockdown.” – Reema Nanavaty, Director, Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA).
(Event: Ensuring a focus on women and girls in the global food crisis response)
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This is the right moment to consolidate agriculture as one of the main issues in climate conversations […] We need the voices of the Ministries of Agriculture in Latin America to have a voice [at COP27].” – Federico Villarreal, Director of Technical Cooperation, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
(Event: La agricultura de las Américas en el camino a la COP27: desafíos y oportunidades de la política pública) (Read Blog)
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