To revisit some of the most pressing issues to have emerged from the 2011 Policy Dialogue on the Importance of Statistical Information Systems in Improving Food Security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the National Institute for Agronomic Study and Research (INERA) are announcing a joint Call for Papers (CFP). IFPRI and INERA call for the development of two papers.
PAPER TOPICS
The two paper topics highlight main discussion points from the Policy Dialogue:
To revisit some of the most pressing issues to have emerged from the 2011 Policy Dialogue on Food Security Information Systems in Uganda, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Economic and Policy Research Centre (EPRC) are announcing a joint Call for Papers (CFP). IFPRI and EPRC call for the development of two papers.
PAPER TOPICS
The two paper topics highlight main discussion points from the Policy Dialogue:
The FAO Global Food Price Index averaged 214 points in April, down 3 points from the previous month. Cereals prices aided this decline with a drop of nearly 2 percent from March and 16 percent from April 2011. Maize prices declined on solid production prospects, while wheat and rice prices also fell marginally. Soybean prices, on the other hand, surged on fears of tightening global supplies.
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FEWS NET has released its April Food Price Watch, citing stable prices throughout much of Africa and Central America. The Sahel region saw relatively stable cereals prices due to food assistance interventions and successful transport from surplus areas. In East Africa, staple prices remained generally stable, though high; some areas in this region saw seasonal increases.
On June 18-19, leaders of the G20 will meet in Los Cabos, Mexico to continue addressing global challenges such as food security and food price volatility. The 2011 G20 Summit led to important steps to reduce price volatility, including the creation of the Excessive Food Price Variability Early Warning system and the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS).
In recent years, the world has faced continuing food security challenges. The food price spikes of 2007-2008 and 2010-2011 brought lasting impacts in the form of increasingly high food prices and price volatility, overwhelmingly harming the world's poorest producers and consumers. Guarding against price volatility to protect the world's most vulnerable populations will require restructuring global agricultural and financial markets, a need that global leaders are now beginning to recognize and address.
The Minister of Finance of an African country needs to reallocate the country’s public investment to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving the proportion of the poor and hungry by 2015: Should the minister increase investment in health and education, with the view that a future productive labor force can lift itself out of poverty? Or shift a greater share of the public budget to support agricultural productivity directly, as the vast majority of the poor relies on agriculture as their main livelihood?
The new report cites an important pattern of declining rainfall, particularly in the heavily populated areas of the Rift Valley. Extended drier weather could increase the number of Ethiopians at risk for food insecurity in the next two decades if agricultural development is not increased in other areas of the country.
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The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) has released its monthly crops outlook. The reports track US and international production, stocks, and trade data for major commodities and agricultural goods. The April reports cite an anticipated reduction in US soybean acreage due to a surge in corn planting; Brazil and Argentina also saw reductions in their estimated soybean production due to drought. These reductions could bring global soybean export levels down by 4 percent.
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The FAO Food Price Index for March averages 216 points, virtually unchanged from February's FPI at 215 points. Cereal prices also rose only one point. Low maize inventories and a strong soybean market caused a slight increase in maize prices, but sufficient wheat supplies kept that commodity's prices stable. Overall, only oils/fats prices showed strong growth due to a tightening of the expected 2011/2012 supply and demand balance.
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