Evidence-Based Research

The Global Food Market Information Group of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) met in Rome on June 22-23 to discuss the current commodity market outlook for grains and oilseeds. This marked the eleventh meeting since the group was launched in 2011 at the G20 Agricultural Ministerial following the food price spikes in 2007-2008 and 2010. Composed of the principal grain-producing and -consuming countries, AMIS assesses global food supplies (focusing on wheat, maize, rice, and soybeans) and provides a platform to coordinate policy action in times of market uncertainty.

A recent literature review , prepared for USAID, clearly reveals that investments in agricultural research have made large contributions to poverty reduction, nutrition improvement, and resilience through the systemic transformation of local agriculture and food systems. The authors reviewed dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and books published after 2000, with an emphasis on those published since 2010.

Here are a few of the central findings:

By Eugenio Díaz-Bonilla, Senior Research Fellow and Head of IFPRI's Latin America and Caribbean Program

While progress has been made in reducing global poverty over the last two decades, about one billion people still live in poverty, according to the latest World Bank estimate. In addition, according to FAO, over 800 million people suffer from hunger, while more than two billion people suffer from macronutrient deficiencies, or “hidden hunger”. IFPRI’s 2016 Global Hunger Index reports that 50 countries continue to have “serious” or “alarming” hunger levels, with the most affected areas in Africa south of the Sahara and South Asia.

Developing countries made considerable gains during the 2000s, resulting in a large reduction in extreme poverty and a significant expansion of the middle class. More recently, that progress has slowed—and the prognosis is for more of the same, given an environment of lackluster global trade, a lack of jobs coupled with skills mismatches, greater income inequality, unprecedented population aging in richer countries, and youth bulges in the poorer ones. As a result, developing countries are unlikely to close the development gap anytime soon.

How countries can grow