For many developing countries, remittances—the money sent from expats back home to their families—are a major source of revenue, in some instances comprising upward of 20 percent of GDP. Over the last decade, remittances to the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) eclipsed even foreign direct investment. Remittances are not only stable; they are growing, despite the recent financial crisis that brought the global economy to its knees. Progressively, capital-scarce developing countries are recognizing the importance of harnessing this source of income, knowledge, and investment to spur better economic development.

Beginning in 2007, the world has suffered three rounds of high food prices. These crises were caused by a variety of factors—from extreme weather events to civil conflict—but poor policies by affected countries exacerbated the problem, according to an expert on the subject who spoke at IFPRI last week.

Decades of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have led to an estimated death toll of 5.4 million and rising, decimated rural infrastructure and institutions, and a chronically underperforming agricultural sector. In 2011, the DRC ranked at the bottom of a list of 81 countries in IFPRI’s Global Hunger Index and dead last of 187 countries in the United Nation’s Human Development Report.

The world food situation continues to be vulnerable.