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Business Day (Nigeria) published an article stating shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic have hit Nigeria in a time when its absorbers are best defined as weak. One way will be to lessen the COVID-19 induced pressures on the Nigeria agricultural sector. IFPRI research shows the agriculture sector contracted by -14 percent in April/May 2020. Export crops such as […]

Financial Express published an op-ed by Senior Research Fellow Smriti Verma. She states that the coronavirus-induced lockdown in India created significant difficulties for the migrant, informal, and daily wage workers who became desperate to return home. MSMEs also suffered a setback from the lockdown—the over 63 million unincorporated non-agricultural enterprises engage over 111 million workers. Against this backdrop came […]

Inter Press Service published an op-ed by Senior Research Fellow/Head of Capacity Suresh Babu and Vaishali Dassani. COVID-19 has hit the most vulnerable population the hardest, especially in the informal sector. In addition, infrastructure and transportation challenges disrupted the supply of food. In response, Indian policymakers have embarked on major policy reforms and have broken down regulatory challenges in food and agricultural markets […]

IFPRI’s Egypt Strategy Support Program (Egypt SSP) is organizing a seminar on research findings from an assessment of alternative adaptation options at the farm and policy levels. On-farm options include, among others, changing planting dates, improved seed technology, and alternative irrigation technologies, to name a few. Off-farm options include enhanced efficiency of farm input delivery and […]

After the COVID-19 outbreak began in December in Hubei Province, China locked down many areas to control the spread of the disease, and the economy ground to halt. Since the easing of restrictions in April, life has largely returned to normal and many economic activities have resumed. However, the lockdowns have had significant—and still not […]

Food systems have proven more resilient than many expected, but vulnerable populations still need help.

Experience with COVID-19 in many countries has revealed the vulnerability of agri-food value chains to disruption arising from declines in incomes and restrictions on the movement of produce, workers or service providers intended to protect health. Careful monitoring of the impact of COVID-19 on agri-food value chains can guide government, private sector and development partners […]

IFPRI is participating in the 2020 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting on August 10-11, 2020. The AAEA is a not-for-profit association serving the professional interests of members working in agricultural and broadly related fields of applied economics. Members of the AAEA are employed by academic or government institutions, as well as in industry […]

Facing a perfect storm for nutrition.

ReliefWeb published an assessment report on the minimum expenditure basket in urban areas, rural North and Rural Centre of Malawi. As the pandemic is still gathering pace in the country, so too is the continued contracting of the economy. Initial estimates from IFPRI point to a decrease in domestic revenues in 2020 by 3.5 to 4.5 percent due to […]

Murcia Economia (Spain) published an opinion piece on the possibility of a food crisis. The crisis could arise despite plenty of food for an agri-food market with a demand broken by rising unemployment, by protectionism in advanced economies and by the collapse of supply chains. Head of the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Program at IFPRI, Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla said, “LAC […]

The Nation (Malawi) published an article on how households are coping with income losses. According to IFPRI research, COVID-19 social distancing measures effected in April, have reduced household incomes by an average of 11.4 percent, with the urban household losing an estimated 12.8 percent while the rural household losses stand at 10.2 percent. This has pushed the poverty rate by 5.8 percentage […]

Global Diaspora News wrote an article stating that the prices of grain in Malawi have been lowering significantly owing to subdued demand amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and increased availability of the commodity across the country. IFPRI-Malawi data indicate that prices fell in 13 markets and stayed constant in four of 26 markets sampled. IFPRI-Malawi rated retail maize prices in […]

Bangladesh Post published an editorial that referenced IFPRI’s prediction of a food crisis in the aftermath of COVID-19’s health crisis. The earlier initiative to give directives to the several ministers connected with food and agriculture used IFPRI’s predictions to design policy. This emphasis on food stocks in the country goes hand in hand with the Prime Minister’s idea of […]

Antara News published an article stating that agricultural economics experts are encouraging young people to conduct food research to help overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The article references IFPRI’s research that warns of a food crisis that could occur, not because of a food prices crisis, but because the economy had plummeted and purchasing power is […]

New Talk (Taiwan) published an article on the report, Volatile coffee prices: Covid-19 and market fundamentals, from the International Coffee Organization (ICO) and IFPRI. The report states that COVID-19 has exacerbated the volatility of global coffee bean prices, calling it an “unprecedented supply and demand shock” and having a major impact on 25 million coffee producers and farmers worldwide.

Relief Web posted the Monthly Maize Market Report with highlights. IFPRI-Malawi compiles the information monthly. In June, retail maize prices fell marginally by 0.4 percent in the second week of June and remained stable afterwards; prices in the South were higher than in the Centre and North; ADMARC purchases and sales were reported in 15 of the 26 markets monitored; and […]

AviSite (Argentina) reported that Brazil stresses that agricultural trade has shown resilience so far. International markets remained relatively stable, despite strong pressures on production, supply chains and rapid changes in demand. Crops have been above expectations; food stocks are well supplied and international prices seem to be under control. Although a global food crisis due to the pandemic is unlikely, […]

Bangladesh Post reported in an article that the government will excavate a pond or water body in all 4,300 unions under 464 upazilas in 61 districts aiming toward large-scale production of the country’s fisheries resources. Along with the new fisheries, the government’s initiatives will use all uncultivated land for crops. According to the United Nations and IFPRI, many countries may face economic and food […]

Shorou News published an article on the government’s social protection policies that include tackling multi-dimensional poverty, by achieving the minimum basic income for families that have risks associated with poverty, unemployment or emergency accidents, either in the form of cash support or in the form of social pensions for those who are entitled, as well as employment through efforts to […]