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The FAO Food Price Index rose by nearly 1 percent in May due to increased cereal and dairy prices. It remained 3.4 percent below its May 2023 levels and nearly 25 percent below the peak seen in March 2022.

The world’s food security challenges are becoming increasingly complex. In many countries, populations now face a double burden of malnutrition: both undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies and overweight/obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). These burdens are being further exacerbated by the strain placed by climate change on food supplies and nutritional content.

The impacts of our diets extend well beyond mealtime to affect our health and well-being. Unhealthy diets underpin many public health challenges, including all forms of malnutrition and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Many countries are facing a double burden of malnutrition—meaning that undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies coexist with overweight and obesity, or diet-related NCDs. Unhealthy diets are the leading risk factor for NCDs, which are responsible for more than 73% of deaths globally.

IFPRI and its research partners have studied the pace and pattern of agricultural transformation within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future (FTF) countries. A series of 21 case studies were produced that measure each country's agrifood system, analyze changes over the past decade, and identify common patterns across the countries. James Thurlow, Director of IFPRI’s Foresight and Policy Modeling Unit, highlighted four important lessons from the country studies in a recent USAID Agrilinks webinar.

As Gaza continues to experience unprecedented food crisis, a new commentary published in Nature takes a look at how research can forecast the long-term impacts and help policymakers develop more effective humanitarian support networks and systems to ensure post-conflict resilience.