Agricultural Development

Over the past three decades, the world lost as much as $3.8 trillion in agricultural products as a result of disaster events, according to a new flagship report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. That equates to a loss of around 5 percent of global agricultural GDP per year and has serious implications for food security, agricultural livelihoods, and the sustainability of the global agrifood system.

Despite the inconclusive outcome on the COP27 Sharm El-Sheikh Implementation Plan in Dubai, COP28 has nonetheless been hailed for putting a much needed and strong focus on food systems, which are simultaneously threatened by and contribute to climate change.

IFPRI participated in COP28 in late 2023 as part of a wider CGIAR delegation. Following on CGIAR’s five key takeaways from the global climate conference, this blog post—written by IFPRI Communications and Public Affairs Director Charlotte Hebebrand with input from IFPRI research units—reflects on the significance of the COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action through a policy lens. 

In 2023, the FAO Food Price Index stood nearly 14 percent below its 2022 value, according to the report’s January edition. The December Index also declined month-on-month from November, falling 1.5 percent due to declining sugar, vegetable oil, and meat prices.

Achieving efficient and effective fertilizer usage in agricultural production is a critically important economic and environmental policy objective for countries at all stages of economic development, although the nature of the policy problem may vary radically in different contexts.