COVID-19 and other food shocks facing PNG (Papua New Guinea National)

Papua New Guinea National published an op-ed by IFPRI staff—Research fellow Emily Schmidt, Senior Research Fellow Xinshen Diao, and Division Director Paul Dorosh (Development Strategy and Governance Division)– on ways COVID-19 has impacted urban and rural households throughout Papua New Guinea (PNG). Looking ahead, policymakers and development practitioners must continue to mitigate COVID-19 impacts on PNG households, as well as monitor other potential agricultural production shocks (such as El Niño, African Swine Fever, etc.) that could substantially decrease household income and food consumption.  Our recent study, Effects of COVID-19 and other shocks on Papua New Guinea’s food economy: A multi-market simulation analysis simulates the impact of a suite of COVID-19 shocks on the PNG food economy, as well as a set of potential agricultural production shocks. The model is designed to evaluate how the impact of these shocks differ by geographic region, income level and rural or urban area. (Reach 9K), Post Courier (Papua New Guinea) Dev Policy Blo