What's New

IFPRI's Africa Director, Ousmane Badiane , recently participated at the Washington meeting of the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI) and sat down for an interview about the role of global donors in enhancing food security and meeting the Millennium Development Goals. The interview highlights the progress made by the initiative and emphasizes the need for continued mutual accountability and coordination of efforts by donors and countries,

For many poor rural farmers, getting their products to market is one of the most daunting obstacles they face. Markets in developing countries often have weak integration, characterized by a lack of communication and information-sharing; thus, while markets in one region may offer higher prices for a commodity, farmers in other regions have no way of learning about, and taking advantage of, these price differences.

The world's population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050; how to feed this population is one of the challenges facing policymakers around the world. The combination of a growing global population, rising incomes in many countries, increased use of biofuels, and potential reductions in agricultural production due to climate change has created an urgent need for investments in sustainable agricultural productivity. Traditional agricultural technologies will not be enough to meet these challenges.

Research into more productive varieties of staple crops is an important part of agricultural R&D. Agricultural conditions can vary greatly among regions, countries, and even micro-regions; thus, seeds that produce well in one area may not be as productive in another. And with climate change posing even greater agricultural challenges for poor producers, this research is even more critical.

Today marks the 19th annual World Water Day, a campaign designed to draw attention to pressing issues related to sustainable global water use. The theme of this year's World Water Day is Water and Food Security, an issue that will only grow in importance as the world approaches a population of 9 billion.