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High Maize and Soybean Prices Spur Food Security Fears
Global maize and soybean prices have skyrocketed in recent weeks and experts fear that price increases will be unabated as dry weather in the US Midwest continues for at least another week.
Scaling Up Agricultural Investment to Combat Poverty and Hunger
The 2007-2008 and 2010-2011 food crises saw not only an increase in food prices, but also an increase in poverty in many developing countries. A staggering 1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty worldwide, and 70 percent of those poor live in rural areas and depend in some capacity on agriculture to survive. For these poor populations, there is an urgent need for strong investment in agricultural growth to increase production, reduce hunger, and help lift them out of crushing poverty.
New Global Atlas Examines Potential for Increased Agricultural Productivity
Agricultural productivity is an increasingly hot topic worldwide, particularly after last week's G20 Summit (read the Interagency Report on increasing agricultural production ). If current estimates of global population growth are correct, farmers will need to roughly double the world's current food production in order to feed 9 billion people by 2050. Climate change presents an additional challenge, with changing weather patterns and severe weather events undermining farmers' ability to even maintain current production levels.
Could Weather Indexed Insurance Replace Food Aid to Africa?
The 2011 Horn of Africa food crisis brought the stark reality of weather-related shocks to the world’s attention, as the region’s worst drought in 60 years led to widespread crop failures and skyrocketing food prices and plunged millions of people into severe hunger and malnutrition. An early, effective response could have prevented the kind of widespread tragedy seen in the Horn of Africa in 2011, reducing mortality rates and malnutrition of young children, as well as helping families get back on their feet after the drought.
New Homepage Feature Tracks Mexico G20, Highlights Agriculture and Food Security
With the world facing continued population growth and the specter of climate change, food prices and food security are issues of growing global importance. The 2007-2008 and 2010-2011 food price crises have had lasting impacts on the face of the global food security environment; since 2001, food price volatility has been at its highest level in 50 years, and the uncertainty caused by this volatility is particularly detrimental for the world’s poor.