Food and Fertilizer Price Trends: Impacts on global food security
Agricultural commodity prices are reaching levels close to those witnessed in 2007/08 and 2010/11, and fertilizer prices have also increased significantly. Repercussions from the invasion of Ukraine are creating significant additional pressures on prices. IFPRI is convening a series of policy seminars on food and fertilizer prices to set forth the trends, prospects, and policy implications and to examine likely impacts on food security and nutrition.
- The series begins with an examination of global commodity price trends. The first seminar, Global commodity prices and food security: Navigating new challenges and learning from the past (March 09), will present global data on key agricultural commodities, energy, transportation, and fertilizer markets to paint a comprehensive picture of price trends and their underlying causes and will include a comparison to the earlier price spikes of 2007/08 and 2010/11.
- The second policy seminar, Retail food prices at the country level and implications for food security (March 29th), will examine how global commodity price trends, as well as other country-specific factors, are impacting food retail prices at the national level, with a look at selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South Asia.
- The third seminar, Fertilizer Availability and Affordability: Implications for agricultural productivity and food security (May 04 ), will take a closer look at developments in the fertilizer sector and examine the implications of increased prices on fertilizer demand, usage and productivity, and soil health, as well as the fiscal constraints faced by countries offering fertilizer subsidies.
- The fourth seminar, Are healthy diets affordable? Using new data on retail prices and diet costs to guide agricultural and food policy (July 15), will examine the relationship between prices and the costs of healthy diets around the world and draws attention to a new Food Prices for Nutrition project (Tufts University, IFPRI, and the World Bank) intended to inform agricultural and food systems interventions by equipping governments and development agencies with accurate, updated metrics to monitor diet costs and affordability.
- The fifth seminar, Addressing the global food security crisis: Strengthening research and policy responses (July 25), will analyze the impacts of the war in Ukraine on food security in low- and-middle-income countries, highlight GAFS, and showcase how CGIAR’s immediate and longer-term responses can support policy initiatives.
- The sixth policy seminar, The Ukraine crisis: Unraveling the impacts and policy responses in low- and middle- income countries (August 31), will review IFPRI researchers work on modeling the impacts of prices of the fuel, fertilizer, and food price shocks on GDP, employment, poverty, hunger, and diet quality in 19 countries in Africa and Asia, and discuss how policymakers and other key actors are addressing the challenges created by this crisis in specific countries.
- The seventh policy seminar, Ensuring a Focus on Women and Girls in the Global Food Crisis Response, will look at worsening gender inequalities in the context of the global food crisis. IFPRI’s Gender, Climate Change, and Nutrition Integration Initiative, concerned donors, academics, and practitioners will discuss recommendations for charting a course toward more resilient and equitable food systems that create more opportunities for women and girls and lead to greater gender equality and prosperity for all.