Search IFPRI web

“We are standing face to face with some serious challenges: hunger, malnutrition, and poor health are denying billions of people the opportunity for a healthy, well-nourished, and productive life. Agriculture, which played a key role in feeding billions of poor in the world in the past, faces more volatile growing conditions due to changing climate […]

Despite extensive research focusing separately on agriculture, health, and nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, the connections between these topics are seldom addressed. The African Food System and Its Interaction with Human Health and Nutrition, a book edited by Cornell University professor and former IFPRI Director General Per Pinstrup-Andersen, explores the interactions between them and proposes an interdisciplinary methodology to […]

Crop systems models can help researchers estimate the future of food security under climate scenarios. Many crop models are known to exist around the world – for different crops with varying complexities, yet it is not easy to find the right model for the right problem. To better understand the global extent of crop model […]

What is the 5 star web? Well as Tim Berners Lee, inventor of the web, explains in this video– the next big thing on the web is the semantic web and 2011 is the year when it will really take off. He has assigned a 5 star scheme to assess how well web content is suited […]

The FAO’s recent announcement that global food prices reached a record high in December 2010 has once again brought food security to the forefront of global attention. The continued rise in food prices in 2010, coupled with the prediction of a continuation of the trend in 2011, will have serious implications for food and nutrition security […]

IFPRI’s lead climate change researcher, Gerald Nelson, spoke to Living on Earth’s Bruce Gellerman on January 21 about the relationship between the recent worldwide price spikes and weather events—and what this means for the future of food security in a climate change affected world. Listen to the interview online or read the transcript below. GELLERMAN: It’s Living on Earth, I’m […]

The FAO’s recent statement that global food prices reached a record high in December 2010 has sparked the memory of the 2007-08 crisis and turned global attention back to the issue of food security. As floods in Australia decimate the country’s wheat crop and adverse weather in the US cuts corn and soybean harvests, commodities prices across the […]

This fall, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) launched the Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification, an effort to protect and preserve drylands, currently under threat from desertification, land degradation, and drought (DLDD). Drylands, defined as arid, semiarid, and dry sub-humid areas, are home to one in three people, 90 percent of […]

Effective cooperation and secure property rights play key roles in improving agricultural productivity, food security, and rural livelihoods. They can also help to ensure that resources are available to meet future needs. All too often, however, their application evades the communities who stand to benefit most. A new book sets out to provide practical guidance […]

IFPRI’s lead climate change researcher Gerald Nelson took part in a two-part “food fight” launched on January 10 by New York Times columnist Andrew C. Revkin. “Almost every time global prices surge and the media and public reach out to analysts for meaning, a decades-long food fight resumes,” Revkin wrote in his Dot Earth column. One one side of […]

The global food crisis of 2007–08 was characterized by a sharp spike in the prices of most agricultural commodities, including staple grains. High world prices were transmitted to domestic markets, eroding the purchasing power of urban households and particularly the poor. In dozens of countries, high prices sparked demonstrations and riots. A number of countries, […]

The dramatic surge in food prices in 2007–2008 seriously threatened the world’s poor, who struggle to buy food even under normal circumstances, and led to protests and riots in the developing world. The crisis eventually receded, providing some measure of relief for citizens in the countries that were most affected by the price surge; yet […]

How is a country affected by changes in the global prices of its export and import commodities? What is the change in short-run prices when a country’s food supply is increased? Answering such questions can pose a major challenge to global policymakers as they strive to respond to global and national food crises. It is essential that […]

The community-driven development approach (CDD) has become increasingly popular among international development organizations due to its potential to develop sustainable projects that are responsive to local priorities, empower communities, and more effectively target poor and vulnerable groups. The new study From the ground up: Impacts of a pro-poor community-driven development project in Nigeria assesses the impacts of […]

Global food prices have a range of effects, both positive and negative, on agricultural markets, food prices, and food security in the developing world. Having access to reliable food price information is critical for policymakers, food policy experts, and researchers to be able to respond quickly to dynamic developments in the global food system. The Food […]

Watch video from the event Over the past few decades, development researchers and practitioners have spent countless resources trying to identify the perfect recipe for development policies and programs to follow when tackling food security, malnutrition, and poverty in poor countries. In this talk, we turned to three speakers from the development research community who […]

Ministers, international partners, and other stakeholders are meeting December 18th in Sana’a, Yemen to officially launch the Yemen National Food Security Strategy (NFSS). The strategy, for which IFPRI provided key analysis and technical advice, was recently approved by the Special Ministerial Committee on Food Security. The event also launches an innovative interactive research tool: the Digital […]

Different crops react differently to changes in temperature and precipitation. Furthermore, climate change will affect the various regions of the world differently, and each region cultivates its own mix of crops. Across the climate change scenarios we consider[1] in the research monograph Food Security, Farming, and Climate Change to 2050, our results show that global cereal production […]

OP-15 Side Event Adaptive capacity for African farmers is low due to dependence on rainfed agriculture and poverty. Policymakers and researchers from Ethiopia and Kenya will discuss adaptation strategies sought and the potential for incorporating mitigation in agriculture into climate negotiations. Food and drink will be served at the event.

In many developing countries, weak institutions and fiscal mismanagement often lead to poor access to and delivery of public services. Understanding the links between public expenditure and development can provide insights for poverty reduction strategies and key development goals. With this objective, IFPRI has compiled the Statistics of Public Expenditure for Economic Development (SPEED) database, providing the most comprehensive […]