Ifpri Podcast

IFPRI-AMIS SEMINAR SERIES A Look at Global Rice Markets: Export Restrictions, El Niño, and Price Controls Co-organized by IFPRI and Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) OCT 18, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT To address rising domestic prices for rice, India banned exports of non-basmati rice on July 20, 2023—a move many feared would drive global prices even higher. Since then, these worries have been realized: Thailand’s benchmark price for rice has increased 14 percent, Viet Nam’s rice prices are up 22 percent, and India’s white rice prices are up 12 percent. To prevent exporters from undermining its ban, India instituted a surcharge of 20 percent on exports of parboiled rice and a minimum sales price for basmati rice in August. India’s actions have had repercussions around the world as domestic consumers struggle with higher prices and rice importers seek alternative suppliers. Some markets have experienced cases of panic buying (the United States and Canada), additional export restrictions (such as

NPS book launch Political Economy and Policy Analysis (PEPA) Sourcebook Co-organized by the CGIAR Initiative on National Policies and Strategies, Alliance Bioversity and CIAT, IFPRI and IWMI October 10, 2023 - 09:00 TO 10:30AM EDT Stakeholders working in food system policy research and development often ask, “What works where, why, and how?” These fundamental questions fuel other important debates—what are the “windows of opportunity” for reform and policy change? Are biotech crops part of the solution to solving climate, food, and nutrition security challenges in developing economies? What institutional innovations are “best fit” for managing shared natural resources to avoid conflict? This webinar will launch a new political economy and policy analysis (PEPA) sourcebook that offers a unique combination of frameworks, analytical tools, and case studies to answer key questions relevant to agrifood system transformation. This event showcases the PEPA Sourcebook by applying frameworks to case study examples a

IFPRI-AMIS SEMINAR SERIES Facilitating Anticipatory Action with Improved Early Warning Guidance Co-organized by IFPRI and Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) SEP 26, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT Worldwide, the number of people facing crisis-level or worse acute food insecurity has more than doubled since 2017. The 2023 Mid-Year Update of the Global Report on Food Crisis (GRFC) signals 238 million people in 48 countries with recent, comparable data are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, an increase by 10 percent from 2022. The GRFC provides trends and projections of food crises and informs the Global Network Against Food Crisis on where humanitarian and developmental assistance is most needed. These new acute food insecurity numbers come at a time of ongoing uncertainty in global food markets amidst the repercussions of the war in Ukraine, fears for a strong El Niño phenomenon and other potential shocks. Most food crises grow out of compounding causes such as conflict, adverse weather shock

CGIAR SEMINAR SERIES Payments for Ecosystem Services: Win-Win Solutions? Co-organized by IFPRI, the CGIAR, and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Session at Tropentag 2023 SEP 21, 2023 - 7:45 TO 9:15AM EDT Globally, five out of six farms are operated by smallholder farmers who produce around one-third of the world’s food. These farms provide a wide range of additional ecosystem services, such as carbon storage, pollination, and cultural and supporting services. However, smallholder households face continued and often growing challenges to making a living from their farms. They also tend to be the poorest and most food-insecure populations in low-and middle-income countries. Evidence suggests that payments for ecosystem services can diversify smallholder earnings and incentivize more sustainable farming and land management practices. While a number of such smallholder-focused schemes have been implemented around the world, they have not gained enough traction to improve

IFPRI-AMIS SEMINAR SERIES Market Concentration in the Grain Industry: Implications for Food Security? Co-organized by IFPRI and Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) SEP 7, 2023 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT On June 13, 2023, Bunge Limited, a US-based food trader and processor, announced its intention to buy rival grain trader Viterra, a company controlled by the commodity trading firm Glencore Plc and two Canadian pension funds. If the merger succeeds, the new company would be the second largest grain trading company in the world after Cargill and become a dominant player in wheat and soybean markets. Markets for agricultural inputs like fertilizer and seed are also highly concentrated. Please join us for the fourth seminar of the IFPRI-AMIS series on Making Sense of Food and Agriculture Markets, which will examine whether increased concentration necessarily leads to increased market power or simply reflects the underlying economic efficiencies controlling value chains. Is this a food security concern and

CGIAR SEMINAR SERIES Food Security Trends and Resilience-Building Priorities Co-organized by IFPRI, the CGIAR, and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) SEP 1, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT The new CGIAR series on Strengthening Food Systems Resilience kicks off with a seminar examining food security trends and the impacts of recent shocks to food systems. Speakers will highlight the need for renewed efforts to strengthen food systems resilience and identify priority investments and actions. Johan Swinnen, Director General IFPRI; CGIAR Managing Director Systems Transformation Science Group: Overview of Food Security Trends and Impacts of Past Crises Dirk Meyer, BMZ Director General, Global Health; Employment; Transformation of the Economy; Digital Technologies; Food and Nutrition Security: Crisis Response and Resilience-Building: Priority Actions of the German Government Simeon Ehui, Director General, IITA; CGIAR Regional Director Continental Africa: Supporting African-Le

VIRTUAL RESEARCH SEMINAR Irrigation sensible à la nutrition au Mali : un guide pour progresser en matière de sécurité hydrique, alimentaire et nutritionnelle au Mali Co-organized by IFPRI, Feed the Future Initiative, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Vegetable Center AUG 2, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT L'irrigation contribue à l'intensification de l'agriculture et à la rentabilité des exploitations, aide les ménages agricoles à prolonger la saison de croissance et est de plus en plus importante pour la résilience des agriculteurs aux chocs et aux facteurs de stress climatiques. Jusqu'à récemment, moins d'attention était accordée aux autres avantages de l'irrigation, notamment l'amélioration de la sécurité alimentaire et de la nutrition des ménages, la santé et l'autonomisation des femmes. Selon le dernier état de la sécurité alimentaire et de la nutrition dans le monde, la prévalence de la sous-alimentation au Mali est de près de 13 % et près d'un quart de tous les enfa

VIRTUAL RESEARCH SEMINAR Irregular Migration and Food Security: A View from West Africa Co-organized by IFPRI and World Food Programme (WFP) JUL 20, 2023 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT ow does food insecurity affect irregular migration, and what role can a needs-based humanitarian response play? A recent collaboration between IFPRI and the World Food Programme took a route-base approach to looking at irregular migration in West Africa—examining migrant origins, their transit experience, and the situation where their journey stalls or ends. The mixed method study includes case studies of the Ténéré desert crossing, across the south-central Sahara, for Malian and Libyan migrants. The resulting report and interactive website designed by MIT’s Civic Design Lab illustrate the migrant journey and associated risks as migrants make their way from West Africa to the Maghreb and, for some, on to Europe. This virtual seminar will present study results and the website, with discussion by researchers from IFPRI, WFP, and MIT as

POLICY SEMINAR Research Findings on Resilience & Social Cohesion in Burkina Faso and Niger Co-organized by IFPRI, World Food Programme (WFP), Institute for Peace and Development (IPD), and the CGIAR Research Initiative on Fragility, Conflict, and Migration (FCM) Security in the Sahel is deteriorating rapidly. The number of violent events jumped from 580 in 2018 to over 1,000 in the first half of 2022 alone. Associated fatalities are also up dramatically, from about 2,800 fatalities to almost 6,500. Insecurity is also becoming more widespread, especially in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. As a result, people are fleeing their homes – the region now hosts over 3 million internally displaced people and over 1 million refugees and asylum seekers. There are multiple drivers behind this deterioration, but conflict over land and resources has become a major source of violence across the region, triggered by population growth, land degradation, and climate change. Deteriorating security has other serious impacts on

GLOBAL FOOD POLICY REPORT Informe de políticas alimentarias mundiales 2023: Repensar las respuestas a las crisis alimentarias Latin America & Caribbean Discussion of IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses JUN 21, 2023 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT Lo invitamos a unirse a nosotros en el evento de lanzamiento virtual para LAC, donde los oradores arrojarán luz sobre los hallazgos significativos del informe 2023 desde una perspectiva regional. En 2022, el mundo se enfrentó a múltiples crisis. Continuaron las perturbaciones de los sistemas alimentarios debidas a la prolongada pandemia de COVID-19, las grandes catástrofes naturales, los disturbios civiles y la inestabilidad política, así como los crecientes efectos del cambio climático, mientras la guerra entre Rusia y Ucrania y la inflación agravaban una crisis mundial de alimentos y fertilizantes. El creciente número de crisis, su impacto cada vez mayor y el aumento del número de personas hambrientas y desplazadas han galvanizado los l

GLOBAL FOOD POLICY REPORT IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses – Considerations for Africa IFPRI Africa Regional Office JUN 22, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT IFPRI’s 2023 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) examines how to improve crisis response and build resilience in the face of more frequent and persistent crises affecting global and local food systems, triggered by economic challenges, conflict, extreme weather events, natural disasters, and epidemics. Reducing the impact of these crises will require renewed and broader efforts to prevent, mitigate and recover from crisis, and to align humanitarian responses with longer-term development needs. IFPRI’s flagship publication, authored by researchers from across the institute, CGIAR, and external partners, reviews and distills a strong body of policy research to offer key findings and recommendations to improve crisis response now. Food system shocks risk increasing food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition, and can disrupt li

POLICY SEMINAR Farm Subsidies and International Trade Rules MAY 25, 2023 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT The 1994 Agreement on Agriculture, which emerged from the Uruguay Round, imposed the first real international trade disciplines on agriculture, including rules on market access, export subsidies, and domestic support. However, no further progress was made at the Doha Round. Today, many WTO members continue to seek tighter constraints on trade-distorting domestic support, while others seek more room for producer support related to developing countries’ food stocks. With the next WTO ministerial conference (MC13) scheduled for February 2024, it remains to be seen if progress will be made on these critical issues. This trade policy seminar will provide a review and future-oriented discussion on domestic support, featuring Lars Brink and David Orden, authors of the recently published book Agricultural Domestic Support under the WTO: Experience and Prospects. The authors will examine the domestic support disciplines in

IFPRI-AMIS SEMINAR SERIES Production Prospects for the Northern Hemisphere Co-organized by IFPRI and Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) APR 18, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT With no end in sight to the war in Ukraine and tight global stocks, uncertainty continues to hang over agricultural markets. Reduced plantings in Ukraine mean that other countries will need to produce additional grains and oilseeds to help rebuild global stocks and moderate price levels. This webinar will focus on crop prospects in the Northern hemisphere. Experts will address crop and weather conditions in key wheat, corn and oilseed producing regions including the US and Canada, the EU and Black Sea, North Africa and China. This is the third event in the IFPRI-AMIS seminar series on Making sense of food and Agriculture Markets. Welcome Remarks Joseph Glauber, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI and Interim Secretary, Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) Global crop conditions Inbal Becker Reshef, Program Scientist, GEO G

GLOBAL FOOD POLICY REPORT 2023 Global Food Policy Report: Rethinking Food Crisis Responses Hybrid Global Launch Event APR 13, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT Economic crises, epidemics, conflicts, and extreme weather events can wreak havoc on food systems, in particular when several of these shocks overlap. Food system shocks risk increasing food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition, and can disrupt livelihoods, increase poverty, and further diminish prospects for the world’s most vulnerable populations. Governments and the international community, including research organizations such as IFPRI, support efforts to better predict, monitor, and respond to crises as they arise, but these efforts often are not sustained when the crises end. Addressing the “new normal” of possibly more frequent and compounding crises requires rethinking food crisis responses to drive renewed and broader efforts to prevent, mitigate, and recover from crises in ways that build long-term resilience. Please join us for the launch of IFPR

POLICY SEMINAR Science and Innovation for Food Systems Transformation – follow up to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit In cooperation with the former Scientific Group of the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit APR 11, 2023 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT The UN Food Systems Summit held in September 2021 was first of its kind in several respects: it was the first UN summit to focus on food systems, the first food-related summit involving heads of state in the UN General Assembly, and the first such summit that was informed by an independent Scientific Group. Food systems require ongoing attention, as evidenced by the widespread repercussions of the Ukraine crisis and the focus on food systems at COP27. A UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, established in early 2022, coordinates follow-up to the summit, including facilitation of food systems transformation pathways at the country level, and will organize the first biannual stocktaking of the summit outcomes and follow-up actions in 2023. Please join us as we bring together memb

POLICY SEMINAR Water & SDGs - Downscaling WATer relevant SDGs (DWAT-SDGs) 2023 UN Water Conference Side Event Jointly organized with the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) MAR 20, 2023 - 10:00 TO 11:00AM EDT Localizing and realizing SDGs will require deep transformations in every country and region, including contextualizing toward a locally relevant subset of goals. Localization is essential due to the diversity of local conditions and priorities across regions in both the developed and developing world, local disagreements over priorities, competing interests, trade-offs, and synergies among multiple sectors and stakeholders, and country- and region-specific risks posed by future uncertainties. However, current SDG localization efforts are hampered by lack of appropriate institutional support (especially the participation of local communities), future uncertainties and risk, limited interactions between science and practice communities, and limited communication among countries and regions.

POLICY SEMINAR Groundwater: Potential and Pitfalls for Africa 2023 UN Water Conference Side Event MAR 20, 2023 - 8:00 TO 9:30AM EDT Development of groundwater is key to accelerating agricultural and overall economic growth, fighting climate change, and generating employment in Africa. However, improvements in groundwater institutions are needed to increase equity and environmental sustainability in groundwater use. This session discusses the groundwater program of the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW), including case studies on the benefits of groundwater development and institutional advances in several African countries. The importance of groundwater development for water and food security in Africa H.E. Dr. Seleshi Bekele, Ambassador of Ethiopia to the US Africa’s groundwater development program Moshood Tijani, African Ministers' Council on Water Groundwater development potential in Africa Ramon Brentführer, Policy Advice Groundwater bei BGR, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Res

POLICY SEMINAR How USD 10 billion can transform food systems in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria: Report launch Co-organized by IFPRI, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and Shamba Centre for Food and Climate MAR 16, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT A new study finds that sustainable food system transformation can be achieved in the next decade in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria by increasing public investment by US$10 billion per year (on average from 2023 to 2030) and implementing a more effective portfolio of interventions that achieve multiple outcomes. In an ambitious effort, researchers from IFPRI and IISD, engaged closely with the government, donors, and stakeholders in each country, synthesized the evidence, and then applied sophisticated macro- and microeconomic modeling techniques to identify pathways to provide affordable and healthy diets to all people in an environmentally sustainable way. Join us to learn more about the findings. Introduction Sean Woolfrey, Senior Advisor &

POLICY SEMINAR Food Loss and Waste in Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains Co-organized by IFPRI, Embassy of Denmark, and World Resources Institute MAR 14, 2023 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about one-third of all food produced around the globe is lost or wasted. This is particularly egregious in a world where one in nine persons is food insecure, and widespread food affordability concerns in low- and middle-income countries have resulted from COVID-related value chain disruptions and the global impact of the war in Ukraine. This annual event will take stock of efforts around the world to tackle food loss and waste through initiatives like Champions 12.3, a coalition of leaders from governments, businesses, international organizations, research institutions, farmer groups, and civil society dedicated to inspiring ambition, mobilizing action, and accelerating progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 by 2030. The seminar

IFPRI-AMIS SEMINAR SERIES Ukraine One Year Later: the impact of the war on agricultural markets and food security Co-organized by IFPRI and Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) MAR 8, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EST One year after Russia invaded Ukraine, the war continues to affect global markets. World stock levels remain tight, and while prices have fallen back to pre-war levels, much uncertainty remains. This seminar will examine how the war has affected global markets, particularly wheat markets. Speakers will discuss the war’s impacts on Ukraine’s producers, wheat buyers and importers in the MENA region, and households in Egypt and Yemen. In addition, the discussion will address export restrictions and sanctions that have exacerbated price levels and volatility. This is the second event in the IFPRI-AMIS seminar series on Making sense of food and Agriculture Markets. Welcome Remarks Seth Meyer, Chief Economist, USDA and AMIS Chair Panelists Nicholay Gorbachev, President, Ukrainian Grain Associati