Search IFPRI web

Financial Express (India) published an op-ed by IFPRI researchers Avinash Kishore and Manavi Gupta who state that while rural India is poorer than its urban counterpart, in the COVID-19 crisis, it is the urban poor who are far more vulnerable with less social and government support. India’s 21-day lockdown is a significantly bigger shock to the economy and will hurt urban families far more.

Global Edition – China Daily published an op-ed by Emeritus Senior Fellow Shenggen Fan. The op-ed encourages people and communities not to panic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Panic hurts the poor and it is with global collaboration by the UN as well as international organizations, institutions, multilateral development banks, donors and civil society that will help solve food insecurity in […]

Global Open Data reported on the impact of COVID-19 on poverty. According to IFPRI, the global poverty is likely to rise as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The preliminary results from the study show that overall, the world economic growth rate has already fallen 1%, compared to a similar period in the previous year. This would translate to an increase […]

Bonn Sustainability Portal reported on the fight against coronavirus and how it affects global food supply? Simulations by IFPRI show the possible effects of a global economic downturn on poverty and food insecurity. The numbers are alarming if the crisis persists for an extended period. The 1% decline in global growth is associated with a 2% increase in poverty, […]

Devex published an article on how governments and the international development community must quickly mobilize efforts to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on food and agriculture and, most importantly, to protect the food security of vulnerable people. IFPRI blog post, How much will global poverty increase because of COVID-19 by Division Director Rob Vos and Senior Research Fellows Will Martin and David Laborde, state that early projections indicate that even […]

Financial Express (India) published an op-ed by IFPRI researchers Smriti Verma and Anjani Kumar, and Arabinda Padhee. They discussed COVID-19 and government intervention through safety net packages. Fifty percent of the Indian population depends on the agriculture sector for its livelihood.  A good farm harvest, after all, will decide future strategy. At this unprecedented time, when both manufacturing and services might get severely […]

Fit and Munter.de (Germany) wrote an article on the spread of the coronavirus in poor countries in Africa and Asia is not just a health hazard. Sufficient food can no longer be grown and supply chains are interrupted. There is a risk of supply shortages and consequently hunger. Emeritus Research Fellow Shenggen Fan writes in his blog post, Preventing global food […]

The Hindu Business Line published an op-ed by IFPRI Researchers N Chandra Sekhara Rao and Anjani Kumar on how countries are beginning to see the disruptions in the food value chains.   Urban areas are experiencing panic buying. Food chain disruptions will be felt with a lag as production gets affected with altering consumption patterns and lowered demand due to infrequent grocery shopping, […]

Public Eye News reported on the COVID-19 health crisis. The novel Coronavirus risks undermining economic stability, global humanitarian and food security initiatives for the wellbeing of mankind. Emeritus Research Fellow Shenggen Fan posits “COVID-19 is a health crisis. But it could also lead to a food security crisis if proper measures are not taken.” 

Asian Review (Japan) published an article on air pollution in India, particularly New Delhi. The 21-day lockdown, ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain the spread of COVID-19 has improved air quality with factories idle, no cars on roads, and most public transportation suspended.  The article quoted from the study, Risk of acute respiratory infection from crop burning […]

El Diario (Spain) published an article on food prices and possible disruptions due to COVID-19. Senior Research Fellow David Laborde commented that for now there have been few disruptions (the limitation of Vietnam’s rice exports or the operational difficulties in markets such as fish and fruit or vegetable markets). 

Radio Free Asia (Korea) reported on the COVID-19 emergency and the impact on food security. Senior Research Fellow Joseph Glauber stated that “free exports to Asia were limited due to short export restrictions in each country, and the world’s grain inventory was richer than in the past food crisis of 2007-2008. It is more important that other countries do not chain export restrictions.” 

Cold Link Online (South Africa) published an article about the vulnerability of South Africa’s poor in the wake of COVID-19. Two-thirds of South African children live in poverty, with one-third in extreme poverty. If IFPRI predictions are correct, the number of poor children in South Africa could increase by between two and five percent as a result of COVID-19. Also, in ShowMe South Africa and Northern News. 

Omvarlden (Sweden) published an article on the risk of food shortages when trade stops due to the COVID-19 health crisis. The article quoted the IFPRI blog, COVID-19: Trade restrictions are worst possible response to safeguard food security by Senior Research Fellows Joseph Glauber, David Laborde, Will Martin, and Division Director Rob Vos, stating there is no shortage of food in the world and there are larger stocks of staple […]

Shafaqna (South Africa) published an article on the hunger crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic. IFPRI blog post, Preventing global food security crisis under COVID-19 emergency explained that about 820 million people around the world are currently suffering from hunger. The consequences of the measures imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic are worsening the difficult nutrition situation and acting as an accelerator […]

QQCom reported on food supplies following the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries have decided to tighten exports while at the same time, trade businesses have been crippled by COVID-19. Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division Director Rob Vos said, “It is certain that even if (food) production is stopped now, there is no reason for China to worry about an immediate shortage.”  Republished in Zaker, Ifeng.com, Sohu.com (Chinese), The […]

Yahoo India published an op-ed by Mamata Pradhan and Senior Research Fellow Devesh Roy on the next economic steps India should take to recover from the COVID-19 health crisis. Though many regions are creating rationing packages and other safety nets, the authors suggest that only when the markets are running, the safety nets would be useful. (Reach 4.8M). Republished in Financial Express.

Index (Hungary) published an article about the potential for global food insecurity as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis. The article quoted from the blog post by Division Director Rob Vos and Senior Research Fellows Will Martin and David Laborde. Their blog post, How much will global poverty increase because of COVID-19? stated that while shelves are empty, there is no major threat to global food security […]

South China Morning Star reported on Covid-19 and how 90% of the workforce and half of the country’s GDP are now in vulnerable life situations. Senior Researcher Purnima Menon commented that the state and central governments would need to cooperate on the issue. “The government needs to think from a short-term, medium-term, and long-term perspective.” Republished on Asia Today, Nate.Com (South Korea).

Dairy News (Russia) reported on the impact of Covid-19 on the world economy. The article quotes Division Director Rob Vos and Senior Research Fellows Will Martin and David Laborde in their blog post, How much will global poverty increase because of COVID-19? They predict three scenarios that would impact the global economy: labor shock, total factor productivity shock; and trade shock.