One tends to think of farmers, especially low-income smallholder farmers, as the recipients of public investment for agriculture. At an IFPRI event earlier this week, a panel of experts turned that perspective around, pointing to research that showed farmers themselves as the largest, most important, investors in agriculture. The question remains, then, how can development organizations help farmers raise the quality of their investments?

Today, about one billion of the world’s citizens go to bed hungry each night; malnutrition kills a child every 8 seconds. These are unacceptable statistics, but imagine the world in 2050 if such trends continue unchecked. At a recent conference in Dublin, “Feeding the World in 2050”, participants were asked to envision a better future, and what it would take to get there.

Policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders are gathering today in Dhaka, Bangladesh to discuss the country’s food security in at the workshop “The Feed the Future Zone and the Rest of Bangladesh: A Comparison of Food Security Aspects.” The workshop is organized by IFPRI and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Ethiopians have a saying: “Little by little, the egg begins to walk.” This is certainly true of step-by-step progress towards gender equality on the African continent. Sometimes, however, that little egg gets a boost when seemingly unrelated policy reforms act together to reinforce and strengthen their impact on women’s empowerment.