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Strengthening School Meal Programs Through Data and Evidence
Nearly 300 million schoolchildren lack access to nutritious food. School meal programs play a critical role in addressing food security, improving children’s nutrition and academic performance, and driving food systems transformation.
Despite their proven benefits, data on large-scale school meal programs has been limited. Recognizing the need for evidence-driven strategies, IFPRI, in collaboration with partners, recently hosted two policy seminars that examined the effectiveness of school meal programs and their broader benefits across education, nutrition, health, agriculture, social protection, and environmental sustainability.
In case you missed them, the recordings of the seminars are available on our website:
School Meals in the 21st Century: Emerging Evidence and Future Directions, co-organized with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition.
Official Launch of the Third School Meal Programs Around the World Report, co-organized with the Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF).
Read the report School Meal Programs Around the World: Results from the 2024 Global Survey of School Meal Programs © here.
Photo: Speakers at the Official Launch of the Third School Meal Programs Around the World Report on February 4, 2025, at the IFPRI office in Washington D.C. See album.
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Can growth monitoring and promotion accurately diagnose or screen for inadequate growth of individual children? A critical review of the epidemiologic foundations: Jef Leroy, Rebecca Brander, Marie Ruel, Rasmi Avula and co-authors examine the effectiveness of growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) in diagnosing or screening for inadequate growth in children. The study raises important questions about the current practice of GMP, which is widely implemented in low- and middle-income countries. (Read the article in Advances in Nutrition) (Read press release)
Estimating the direct and indirect effects of improved seed adoption on yields: Evidence from DNA-fingerprinting, crop cuts, and self-reporting in Ethiopia: Farmers’ adoption of improved crop varieties could increase yields in low-income countries. However, the presence of measurement error in household surveys poses a challenge to estimating true returns. Nina Jovanovic and co-author analyze the impacts of how measurement error in household surveys affects maize yields and input use. (Read the article in the Journal of Development Economics)
The minimum dietary diversity for women indicator can be extended to children and adolescents aged 4–15 years as a proxy population indicator for good micronutrient adequacy of diets in low- and middle-income countries: Loty Diop, Aulo Gelli, Lieven Huybregts, Lilia Bliznashka, Erick Boy, Deanna Olney, Elodie Becquey and co-authors aimed to validate the food group score (FGS-10), the minimum dietary diversity for women and validated proxy population indicator for better micronutrient intake adequacy, against micronutrient intake adequacy in 4–15-year-old children/adolescents in low- and middle-income countries. (Read the article in Current Developments in Nutrition)
The political economy of agroecological transitions: Key analytical dimensions: There is a growing global interest in agroecology, yet agroecological transitions remain fraught with challenges. Ryan Nehring and co-authors used a political economy approach to propose interrelated dimensions for analyzing agroecological transitions. (Read the article in The Journal of Peasant Studies)
Front-of-pack labels and young consumers: An experimental investigation of nutrition and sustainability claims in Chile: Front-of-package labels can be useful tools to improve young consumers’ food choices. Gabriela Fretes and co-authors assessed youth’s purchasing behavior by conducting an online discrete choice experiment in Santiago, Chile. (Read article in Food Quality and Preference)
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We are also excited to introduce our new weekly newsletter on LinkedIn, Weekly Reads from IFPRI.
Check the previous issues and sign up to stay current with our latest peer-reviewed publications!
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Impact of proposed U.S. tariffs on agricultural trade flows in the Western Hemisphere
With new U.S. tariffs on Canada and Mexico now in effect, what are the potential impacts on trade among those countries and across the Western Hemisphere?
Joseph Glauber, Valeria Piñeiro, and Juan Pablo Gianatiempo extend their previous analysis to examine how tariffs on imports to the U.S. from Canada and Mexico could affect intra-regional trade among the three countries and across Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Focusing on agrifood trade, their new post summarizes recent model-based analysis which considers two scenarios. The first is based on the U.S. 25% additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, that took effect March 4. The second scenario considers the impacts if Mexico and Canada retaliate against those measures with across-the-board increases in tariffs on U.S. imports.
Modeling scenarios show that the tariffs would significantly reduce trade in a variety of products between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico, create potential openings for other countries to expand exports, and have a range of other impacts as trade patterns respond to the disruption. Read more
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Rethinking growth monitoring and promotion in low- and middle-income countries
By Jef L. Leroy, Rebecca Brander, Edward A. Frongillo, Leila M. Larson, Marie Ruel, and Rasmi Avula
A study raises questions about a standard practice.
How countries have coped with recent agricultural trade disruptions
By Abdullah Mamun and Joseph Glauber
Lessons from IFPRI research.
How do food and fertilizer price spikes and volatility impact Central America and the Caribbean?
By Manuel Hernandez, Francisco Ceballos, and Maria Lucia Berrospi
Analyzing transmission from global to local markets.
Transforming rural livelihoods: Lessons from the Africa RISING program
By Carlo Azzarri, Beliyou Haile, and Sedi-Anne Boukaka
Improving smallholder farming systems in four countries.
Delivering for Nutrition in South Asia 2024 Conference: Connecting the dots across systems
By Julie Ghostlaw, Esha Sarswat, Shreya Chakraborty, Neha Kumar, Swetha Manohar, and Samuel Scott
Exploring the interconnectedness of food systems.
Policy change and farmer feedback: Does anonymity matter? Evidence from Uzbekistan
By Anton Liutin, Paul Castañeda Dower, and Muzna Alvi
Gauging efforts to build water security.
By Danielle Resnick
Facing the “Sahelexit.”
How conflict drives hunger: Six channels through the food system
By Steven Were Omamo
A new research agenda.
The promise of digital farmer services: Sifting reality from hype in Kenya
By Michael Keenan, Erwin Bulte, Luc Christiaensen, Thomas Reardon, and Hannah Reed
Accelerating technology adoption.
By Emily Kilonzi, Berber Kramer, and Carly Trachtman
A coordinated multi-country approach.
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Global events and regional conflicts in 2024 drew attention to the vital role of food systems in ensuring food and nutrition for everyone and supporting livelihoods in low- and middle-income countries.
IFPRI’s long-standing commitment to global and country-level policy research allows us to respond rapidly to crises with analysis and policy recommendations and to build evidence and data to address long-term food system challenges.
Explore IFPRI’s Year in Review 2024.
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 March 10-21, 2025, 8:30 am – 6:00 pm (US/Eastern)
69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69)
Conference
March 12, 2025, 9:30 – 11:00 am EDT (US/Eastern)
No Time to Waste: Moving from Commitments to Action on Food Loss and Waste
Co-organized by the Embassy of Denmark in Washington, DC, IFPRI, and World Resources Institute (WRI)
March 27-28, 2025, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm (Europe/Paris)
Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit 2025
Conference
April 7-12, 2025, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm (Africa/Nairobi)
CGIAR Science Week
Conference
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Africa’s agricultural sector, particularly south of the Sahara, has enormous potential to provide jobs and food for a growing population—and thus contributing to food security, economic growth, and poverty reduction. To realize this potential, farmers across Africa have increasingly turned to mechanization.
In 2011, at the request of the Ghanaian government, IFPRI began work to assess the impacts and progress of mechanization programs in Ghana. These assessments shaped reforms and policies, helping farmers reduce drudgery and improve efficiency and yields.
To learn more, read the latest interactive story by Tamsin Zandstra, Sam Benin, and Seth Asante in our Making a Difference series.
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ECOWAS breakup could push up food prices and worsen hunger in west Africa: The Conversation Africa published this op-ed by Danielle Resnick, IFPRI Senior Research Fellow, on the recent Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) breakup, or “Sahelexit,” and the implications for West African food security and regional cooperation. In addition, BBC interviewed Resnick for the BBC Focus on Africa podcast episode discussing the ECOWAS breakup.
A shift to less water-intensive crops may be the key to protecting farmer lives: The Wire (India) interviewed Avinash Kishore for this article discussing the impact of government subsidies on water-intensive crop production in India, emphasizing the depletion of groundwater resources. To address groundwater depletion and promote sustainability, Kishore proposes crop diversification and says, “there should be incentives for cultivating higher value agriculture practices like livestock, fruits and vegetables, fisheries and horticulture”.
IFPRI marks 50 years of global policy impact on agricultural development, food security: Dhaka Tribune wrote about a recent IFPRI event in Bangladesh, quoting Daniel Gilligan and Akhter Ahmed, who provided comments on IFPRI’s role in shaping policies through multidisciplinary research. (This was also reported by The Daily Star, New Age, Daily Sun, The Financial Express, The Business Standard, Bonik Barta)
AgriBusiness Global 2025 World Report: AgriBusiness Global interviewed Johan Swinnen in its recent 2025 World Report. Swinnen, along with other experts, provided comments on the challenges and opportunities facing global agriculture. “Policy choices will influence which countries and people are able to participate in and benefit from growth,” Swinnen said.
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2025 marks the 50th anniversary of IFPRI.
As part of our virtual celebration on IFPRI social media, we are sharing select IFPRI innovations that supported evolving food systems. Check out these recent posts about Food Security Portal and The International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) on LinkedIn.
We are also showcasing the diversity of talent, geographies, and research interests across the Institute in “Faces of IFPRI” — a series of interviews with our colleagues around the world. We speak with both research and non-research staff, women and men, some who have worked with IFPRI for years and some who have joined recently. Watch the first two episodes featuring Kalyani Raghunathan (India) and Oliver Kirui (Kenya)!
Stay tuned for more and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, YouTube, or X for most current updates. |
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