|
|
The global food system is particularly vulnerable to the growing disruptions of climate change. Rising temperatures, large-scale shifts in rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events are challenging humanity’s ability to produce, distribute, and access food. Not only does this affect what’s on our plates, but it also has profound implications for public health, livelihoods, and the well-being of vulnerable populations.
In the run up to this year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in the United Arab Emirates, we have been spotlighting some of the key IFPRI and CGIAR research and insights on approaching the complex threat posed by climate change in a holistic way.
A new publication “IFPRI research and engagement: Climate change and agrifood systems” articulates IFPRI’s three-pronged approach that helps our experts and partners around the world identify, assess, improve, and adapt policy, institutional, and governance responses to climate change (read a summary blog post and download brochure).
In our COP28 blog series, IFPRI researchers have highlighted the importance of integrating gender perspectives to reduce climate crisis impacts and the acute issues of climate finance, both in terms of how funding can be increased and how a more virtuous cycle of climate finance can be established. Stay tuned for more in the coming days and please join IFPRI@COP28 in person or virtually.
|
|
|
On November 21, IFPRI was honored to hold the 33rd Annual Martin J. Forman Memorial Lecture, given this year by Dr. Simón Barquera, Director of the Center for Research in Nutrition and Health, National Institute of Public Health, México, and President Elect, World Obesity Federation, on the topic of “Tackling Obesity and Noncommunicable Diseases in Mexico: A Policy Approach.” (Watch Recording)
|
|
|
|
On November 14, IFPRI held a hybrid book launch event to explore how countries are working to transform their food systems to achieve healthier, more sustainable outcomes and to reflect on opportunities to pursue food system policy reforms in an increasingly polarized world. The new IFPRI/Oxford University Press book was edited by IFPRI’s Johan Swinnen and Danielle Resnick. (Watch Recording)
|
|
|
|
ICTforAg 2023: Cultivating Inclusion (November 6 – November 9, 2023, Conference)
|
|
|
African food systems transformation and the post-Malabo agenda: With 2025 approaching, the African Union, regional economic communities, and countries are embarking on the process of designing the next phase of implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), building on the significant successes of CAADP, as well as lessons learned in the past 20 years. The new 2023 Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR) co-published by AKADEMIYA2063 and IFPRI explores evidence on the implementation of the CAADP/Malabo agenda to inform and contribute to the design of the post-Malabo phase of CAADP implementation. (Read Report)
|
|
|
The power of partnership: Most news and international development organization reports examining food security in Yemen have emphasized the enormous scale of (publicly funded) food aid operations. Yet it is less well known that by far the largest share of food aid consumed in Yemen is imported by the private sector. Olivier Ecker, Sikandra Kurdi, and HSA Global colleagues Adra ElAzzouzi and Adeeb Qasem discuss findings from an IFPRI/HSA stakeholder workshop in Amman, Jordan, in May 2023, which examined the state and challenges of public, private, and third sector collaboration and explored opportunities for stronger partnerships to build more resilient food systems in Yemen. (Read Issue Brief)
|
|
|
AI-generated: Several factors have traditionally hampered the effectiveness of agricultural extension services, including limited institutional capacity and reach. Large language models (LLMs) have the capacity to simplify scientific knowledge and provide personalized, location-specific, and data-driven agricultural recommendations. Jawoo Koo and colleagues assess the potential of LLMs to transform agricultural extension using information from a real-life test of GPT to generate technical advice for Nigerian cassava farmers. (Read Article in Nature Food)
|
|
|
Cashing in: Many cash transfer programs include complimentary nutrition training to enhance child nutrition. Evidence shows that this bundling can effectively improve child nutrition, but the economic impacts of such interventions often remain unclear. Akhter Ahmed, John Hoddinott, Shalini Roy, and Esha Sraboni find, through their assessment of the Transfer Modality Research Initiative in Bangladesh (TMRI), that adding training increases both consumption and assets—potentially surprising, given unchanged transfer value. Evidence also suggests that training increases income generation—plausibly via social capital, agency, knowledge, and empowerment. (Read Article in World Development)
|
|
|
Decisions and diets: Women’s empowerment is one critical pathway through which agriculture can impact women’s nutrition; however, empirical evidence is still limited. Lilia Bliznashka and colleagues analyzed data from a cross-sectional study of 870 women engaged in homestead agriculture and evaluated the association of women’s participation, input, and decision-making in key agricultural and household activities with women’s diet quality in Tanzania. (Read Article in Frontiers in Public Health)
|
|
|
Micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron, and zinc are key to healthy diets. They strengthen the immune system and protect against blindness, poor pregnancy outcomes, and other physical and developmental impairments. Unfortunately, one in two children and two in three women worldwide are affected by preventable micronutrient deficiencies.
HarvestPlus helps these vulnerable populations by providing them with nutrient-enriched staple crops. Bred to contain higher levels of key micronutrients, these crops produce yields comparable to conventional varieties and do not cost farming households any more to grow. They have been scientifically shown to improve nutrition and health when eaten regularly—particularly for women and young children.
(Read new interactive story in our “Making a Difference” series)
|
|
|
Déjà vu all over again: Global sugar markets roiled by El Niño, biofuels, and trade policies: The global sugar market has seen large increases in prices due to El Niño-related production shortfalls in major exporting countries in South and Southeast Asia. At the same time, other factors are also constricting supplies. In recent weeks, these supply constraints have pushed global sugar prices to the highest level since September 2011. Joseph Glauber and Abdullah Mamun explore these factors and their potential impacts on supplies and consumption. (Read Blog)
|
|
|
Model: Sudan’s ongoing conflict could reduce economic output by half and push 1.8 million into poverty: The outbreak of war in Sudan on April 15 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) caused major disruptions in economic activities in the capital Khartoum and other areas of the country. More than six months later, the conflict continues, and its impacts on Sudan’s economy and on livelihoods are intensifying. Khalid Siddig, Mariam Raouf, and Mosab Ahmed explore how the war has affected Sudan’s economy. (Read Blog)
|
|
|
COVID-19 in South Asia: Lessons from a time of upheaval: The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the COVID-19 pandemic over, but it will be a while before we all forget the upheaval it caused in the early months of 2020 and how it slowed individuals’ lives to an almost complete standstill. Using South Asia as a focus, Kalyani Raghunathan discusses how the region could offer forward-looking lessons for conducting research in the developing world during times of upheaval. (Read Blog)
|
|
|
Changing the game: Experiential learning for triggering large-scale change towards sustainable water management in India: Residents in the Indian village of Rawaliya Khurd Panchayat in Udaipur, Rajasthan state face water shortages every summer. Despite groundwater depletion, community members believe that every farmer requires a borewell. Thomas Falk, Richu Sanil, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Pratiti Priyadarshini discuss how groundwater games in India can help villagers develop cooperative approaches to water governance. (Read Blog)
|
|
|
Informal trade in agricultural commodities along the Nepal-India border: Nepal and India share a porous open border where local citizens from either side are allowed to cross, usually without having to produce identity papers, purchase items, and return home. The economies in the border towns are highly dependent on these consumers—more so in case of Nepalese consumers patronizing Indian markets. Shalini Gupta and Devesh Roy explore possible drivers and dynamics of informal trade, its makeup and organization, how networks with customs authorities help shape it, and some of its economic outcomes. (Read Blog)
|
|
|
Scientists are racing to protect grass from climate change. Your cheap burger is at stake: Wall Street Journal (Australia) quotes Keith Wiebe, IFPRI senior research fellow, in an article analyzing how heat waves and drought are threatening pasture on farms worldwide. “If pasture becomes less productive, prices would be expected to rise, not just for meat, wool and dairy products but also for cereals and other food commodities that would see an increase in demand for use as feed,” said Wiebe.
India’s food system is under strain, and farmers are paying the price: Bloomberg spoke with Joseph Glauber, IFPRI senior research fellow, for an article on the challenges India’s farmers and food systems face, including a recent rice ban and the impact it has on other countries. “The price the producer is receiving is actually lower than an external or global price,” Glauber said, pointing out that the impact of price-depressing rules and trade policy outweighs that of input subsidies.
Is AI the answer to sustainable farming?: The Verge quotes IFPRI senior research fellow Jawoo Koo in an article on how new technology and AI could help farmers adapt to climate change. “To make this technology really impactful for those small-scale farmers, the large-scale farmers actually have to do a lot of different types of testing in the environment. It’s usually a time-consuming process, but now, we have a better way to do that,” Koo said. “That data is becoming a kind of predictive modeling to keep a better estimation around productivity potential for new seeds and also targeting those microenvironments.”
|
|
 IFPRI @ 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28)
November 30, 2023 9:00AM to December 12, 2023, 5:30PM GMT +4, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The E-FooD Dataset and Food Security Simulators for Kenya and Nigeria: Innovative Tools to Support National Policies and Strategies
Virtual Research Seminar | December 7, 2023, 8:00AM to 9:00AM EST
WFP Impact Evaluation Forum: What Difference Are We Making?
December 4, 2023 9:00AM to December 7, 2023 6:30PM CET
From Farm to Table: Agrifood Systems and Trade Challenges in the Southern Cone
Virtual Policy Seminar | December 12, 2023, 9:30AM to 11:00AM EST
Emerging Trends in the Global Soybean Complex
IFPRI-AMIS Seminar Series | December 14, 2023, 9:30AM to 11:00AM EST
Please check our Events page for most recent updates.
|
|
|
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative reached a new milestone on November 16, 2023, as it expands its global partnership to include four new partners—the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO)—and established a High Level Executive Committee (HLEC).
“With still rising global food insecurity, IPC’s work is more important than ever. We need sound and accurate early warning systems to adequately inform preventative action to end hunger and malnutrition. It is IFPRI’s mission and obligation to support IPC fulfil this immensely important duty for humanity,” said Johan Swinnen, Director General of IFPRI.
(Read Press Release)
|
|
|
|
|
STAY CONNECTED WITH IFPRI
 Facebook  Twitter  IFPRI  LinkedIn |
|
|
|
