What's New

The latest FAO Food Price Index was released yesterday, remaining virtually unchanged from October at 206.3 points. The Index is 4.4 percent below its November 2012 level.

The Cereals Index dropped two points in November, and is a full 24 percent lower than it was in November 2012. This year's record cereals crop is the main driver of this reduction in cereals prices, particularly for wheat, maize, and rice.

By Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla, visiting Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI and member of the group on agricultural issues of the E-15 Initiative launched by ICTSD

Today kicks off the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference, taking place in Bali from December 3-6. As a sideline event, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) will host the Bali Trade & Development Symposium . The event will provide an opportunity for a wide range of stakeholders, from policymakers to businesses to NGOs, to discuss key challenges facing the global trade system and the sustainable development agenda.

Input subsidy programs—a mainstay of 1960s and 1970s international donor agendas—have regained favor in Africa south of the Sahara in recent years. Although 10 African countries spent more than $1 billion on these programs in 2011 alone, little information exists on the impacts the programs are having on households and communities.

Since 1998, the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) , coordinated by the Center for Global Trade Analysis at Purdue University, has organized an annual conference to promote the exchange of ideas among economists conducting quantitative analysis of global economic issues. In June 2014, the 17th Annual Conference will be co-organized by AGRODEP and held in Dakar, Senegal.