Search IFPRI web

PhilStar (Philippines) published a report on fears of long-term food insecurity in Southeast Asia as the world battles COVID-19. While both FAO and IFPRI have projected sufficient rice stocks in the Asia Pacific region for the rest of the year, the current measures needed to curb COVID outbreaks could cause disruptions to the supply chains critical to ensuring food security. 

The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, USA) published an article on the COVID-19 pandemic and the domino effect of a health crisis — a collapsing economy, rising unemployment, and disruptions to the food supply are all upending the developed world. MTID Director Rob Vos states while the world has had this many hungry people before, the speed and pace of the pandemic-triggered collapse […]

El Pais published an op-ed by Senior Research Fellow Stuart Gillespie. Gillespie offers hopeful recommendations. “We are facing a critical moment in history when we can turn adversity into an advantage and build a better world. To do this we need to transform global and national food systems and put the health of people and the planet ahead of short-term benefit.” 

Ethical Corp published an article on food insecurity and COVID-19. In times of crisis, the world’s poorest are likely to run out of food, and – at the extreme – to go for days without eating, putting health and wellbeing at risk. IFPRI has undertaken studies on the global poverty increase likely to arise from Covid-19 (See blog post, Poverty and food insecurity […]

Relief Web published the April report for the Maize Market.  Providing maize price information in markets throughout the country is a critical first step to understanding and improving food security in Malawi. Developed by IFPRI-Malawi researchers with the goal of providing clear and accurate information on the variation of daily maize prices in selected markets throughout Malawi, the reports are intended as […]

World Net Daily published an article on how COVID-19 exacerbates food insecurity. In our desire to prevent millions of COVID-19 deaths, we may have sentenced tens of millions of people to starve to death. Perhaps more than 100 million.  If global GDP declines by 5%, another 147 million people could be plunged into extreme poverty, according to IFPRI. Republished in The Christian Post, The […]

The Nation (Nigeria) published an article on COVID-19 and whether a food crisis can be prevented. Citing IFPRI, the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele stated, that about 37 countries have enacted various forms of food export restrictions in response to Covid-19, even in countries where average production exceeds domestic consumption.

International Institute for Sustainable Development reported on lessons learned on preventing a hunger crisis. IFPRI estimates, in the blog post, How much will global poverty increase because of COVID-19? that an extra 148 million people will fall into extreme poverty if the global economy shrinks by 5% this year. It is this population’s access to food that most urgently […]

Financial Express (Bangladesh) published results of an IFPRI study, Paddy Price and Procurement Study commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture. Findings determined that the government’s rice procurement program is benefitting the millers far more than the peasantry. The government’s food procurement program needs a thorough review with a view to offering farmers the best possible price support.

The Conversation published an op-ed by Senior Research Fellows Kalle Hirvonen and Derek Headey. The op-ed encourages and explains the importance of eating fruits and vegetables; however, the problem is fruits and vegetables are often too expensive and unaffordable for most. In the Ethiopian study, the average household would have to spend more than 10% of their income to meet the international […]

The Daily Star (Bangladesh) published an article on the future of Bangladesh and the impact of COVID-19. IFPRI estimates (see the blog post, Poverty and food insecurity could grow dramatically as COVID-19 spreads) that an additional 42 million people in South Asia could fall into extreme poverty in 2020 due to the pandemic. For Bangladesh, the ADB estimates that […]

Agerpres (Romania) summarized a Bloomberg story on food export restrictions. Senior Research Fellow Joseph Glauber says many governments have been encouraged to relax restrictions after assessing global reserves and given assurances that there will be sufficient supply. We hope we have seen the end of export restrictions. But people will be watching countries like Russia closely to see if the current restrictions […]

BNN Bloomberg reported on export restrictions. Of at least 17 countries that sought to limit food exports to protect local supplies, about half have backtracked all or some of the measures, according to the COVID-19 Food Trade Policy Tracker. Senior Research Fellow Joseph Glauber said, “We hope that we have seen the end of export restrictions,” Glauber said by email. […]

Bisniss (Indonesia) reported on food export restrictions. The article quoted IFPRI research that about half of at least 17 countries that seek to limit exports to secure local supplies, no longer implement or relax restrictions. But groups that relaxed export restrictions included several major wheat producers, such as Ukraine and Romania. Senior Research Fellow Joseph Glauber said, after reassuring that global supplies were […]

Bloomberg published an article examining government bailouts to U.S. farmers. The Trump administration’s $28 billion trade bailout largely overpaid farmers for their losses. Senior Research Fellow Joseph Glauber stated that the study “points to the difficulties of trying to target a massive plan like this to where the losses are being incurred.” Republished in Yahoo Canada, Profit (Romania).

Yahoo News published an article about how the COVID-19 health crisis has caused a hunger crisis. IFPRI warned that, if the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) drops 5 percent due to the coronavirus disaster, then 147 million people will fall into extreme poverty. Senior Research Fellow David Laborde Debucquet said that would include 50 percent of the population (79 million people) in sub-Saharan […]

Pig333.com (Spain) published a piece on IFPRI’s COVID-19 Food Trade Policy Tracker, developed by AMIS Secretariat colleagues in IFPRI, is updated twice daily and provides information about restrictions in food trade and assesses their impacts for food availability

Jiemian (China) reported on the problem with the food supply in the United States–food is grown, but usual buyers (restaurants, fast-food chains, hotels) aren’t buying. MTID Director Rob Vos pointed out that those who are unemployed have a decrease in purchasing power as they save daily expenses from food consumption and choose to buy cheaper […]

Biz Community published an article on recommendations from the 2019 Global Food Policy Report. The Report’s lead author and IFPRI Director General Johan Swinnen, says that control measures such as limited interactions that countries have been implementing since the WHO declared Covid-19 a global pandemic on 11 March are interfering with economic activities worldwide. Research Scientist and IFPRI Chief of Staff Rajul […]

A study shows that viewing videos on farming techniques has a range of gender equity benefits.