Ifpri Podcast

POLICY SEMINAR Taking Stock of Africa’s Agrifood Processing Sector Key findings of the 2022 ReSAKSS Annual Trends and Outlook Report on Agrifood Processing Strategies for Successful Food Systems Transformation in Africa Co-organized by IFPRI and Akademiya2063 FEB 9, 2023 - 8:00 TO 9:30AM EST A high-performing, resilient, and competitive agrifood processing sector can create remunerative employment opportunities, link producers to growing and lucrative urban markets, and help to ensure that consumers have access to sufficient and healthy food. Africa’s food processing sector is growing in response to growing demand for processed and high-value foods in the continent. However, processing firms, many of them small and informal enterprises, still face serious constraints. The 2022 Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR) examines Africa’s agrifood processing sector and its role in sustainable food systems on the continent. The report examines available evidence on the current status and performance of the sector,

POLICY SEMINAR The future of food and agriculture – Drivers and triggers for transformation Co-organized by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), IFPRI, and the CGIAR Research Initiative on Foresight FEB 1, 2023 - 10:00 TO 11:15AM EST A new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on “The Future of Food and Agriculture: Drivers and Triggers for Transformation” aims to inspire strategic thinking and actions to transform agrifood systems toward a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive future. The report analyses current and emerging drivers of agrifood systems and their possible future trends, including the issues at stake and the threats and problems facing future food production and consumption. This policy seminar, co-organized by FAO, IFPRI, and the CGIAR Research Initiative on Foresight, offers an opportunity to hear from the report’s authors and engage with a group of panel discussants on challenges facing food and agriculture, foresight approaches to exploring alternative future path

IFPRI-AMIS SEMINAR SERIES Food vs Fuel V2.0: Impacts of Biofuels on Agricultural Markets and Food Security Co-organized by IFPRI and Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) JAN 24, 2023 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EST With tight global supplies and global food inflation at the highest levels in many years, there is renewed criticism of biofuel policies that divert food and feedstuffs to produce fuels. Biofuel proponents argue that biofuel policies enhance energy self-sufficiency and reduce GHG emissions. This session will review the growth in global biofuel production and examine its impact on demand and market prices for grain and oilseeds. Welcome Remarks Joseph Glauber, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI and AMIS Secretary Market Developments and Medium-Term Projections for World Biofuel Markets (OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2022-2031) Lee Ann Jackson, Head of Division, Agro-food Trade and Markets, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Biodiesel Trends Siegfried Falk, Co-editor, Oil Wor

POLICY SEMINAR Harmful Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Subsidies Co-organized by IFPRI and The University of Adelaide DEC 14, 2022 - 3:00 TO 4:30PM EST Agricultural subsidies are high—and increasing—and are largely concentrated among relatively few commodities in a handful of countries. The negative impacts of these subsidies on production and trade are widely known, but their environmental impacts are less well understood. In a recent review of the literature on agricultural subsidies, the Institute for International Trade identified key areas where further analysis is needed to strengthen the evidence base for subsidy reform. The study confirmed that many subsidies rely on environmentally harmful policy instruments, with few constraints on these expenditures. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has analyzed the impacts of removing agricultural support on various indicators measuring food security, nutrition, and climate outcomes, finding that removing support may have important

MARTIN J. FORMAN MEMORIAL LECTURE My Reflections on the Year of African Nutrition 32nd Annual Martin J. Forman Memorial Lecture DEC 12, 2022 - 10:00 TO 11:30AM EST IFPRI is delighted to announce the 32nd Annual Martin J. Forman Memorial Lecture, which will be delivered by Her Excellency Minata Samaté Cessouma, the African Union Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development. By declaring 2022 to be the Year of African Nutrition, the African Union signaled the overarching need to tackle malnutrition and increase the affordability of healthy diets for the African continent. As 2022 comes to a close—unfortunately marked by deteriorating nutritional security due to shocks from the Russia-Ukraine war—Commissioner Cessouma will reflect on the key outcomes and recommendations emerging from the Year of Nutrition and the strategy for implementing these at the pan-African and national level. The annual lecture commemorates Martin J. Forman, who headed the Office of Nutrition at USAID for more

Enhancing Biodiversity and Resilience in Intensive Farming Systems: Results from an ETH Zürich-IFPRI Collaborative study Co-organized by IFPRI, ETH Zürich, and Bayer DEC 6, 2022 - 10:00 TO 11:30AM EST The growth of our global food production capacity over the past century is unprecedented, and has been facilitated by advances in crop breeding, mechanization, intensification, and the application of chemical inputs. This has come at a cost in terms of biodiversity loss and land degradation. This apparent trade-off between productivity and environment can be resolved through adoption of new farming practices that emphasize restoring and maintaining biodiversity on agricultural land to the benefit of soils and crops. The science underpinning such practices is still being developed and trialed, but we know enough to propose alternative management principles. Similarly, farmers have long been experimenting and adapting their farming systems, sometimes drawing on scientific outputs, but more often than not drawing

Kenya NPS Seminar Leveraging the New Bottom-Up Economic Plan for Food System Transformation in Kenya Co-organized by IFPRI, CGIAR Initiative on National Policies and Strategies, and KIPPRA December 5, 2022 – 14:00 - 16:00 PM EAT The new Kenyan Government faces a complex domestic and global environment. It is expected to address these challenges with a new set of policies and programs as part of its most recent Bottom-Up Economic Plan, to which research-based evidence can contribute and support decision makers in the design and implementation process. To provide such research-based evidence, the Kenyan Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) invite you to the second edition of the Kenya National Policies and Strategies (NPS) Seminar Series. This hybrid NPS seminar will take place on Monday, December 5, 14:00 – 16.00 EAT. The seminar will discuss results from an ongoing effort by KIPPRA and the CGIAR Initiative on National Policies

POLICY SEMINAR La agricultura de las Américas en el camino a la COP27: desafíos y oportunidades de la política pública Co-organized by IFPRI and Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA) with support from USAID OCT 27, 2022 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT La Vigésimo séptima sesión de la Conferencia de las Partes (COP27) de la Convención Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático (CMNUCC) se llevará a cabo en Sharm-El Sheik, Egipto entre el 6 y el 16 de noviembre del presente año. Ante esto y desde inicios desde este año, se ha venido trabajando con las autoridades Ministeriales y Secretarías de agricultura y ganadería de las Américas en torno a los desafíos climáticos y la necesidad de diseñar e implementar políticas públicas acorde a los requerimientos de la acción climática. Se ha acordado, y explicitado en reiteradas oportunidades, fortalecer el trabajo colectivo para aumentar la participación y el liderazgo de la agricultura de las Américas en el proceso climático. En esta direcc

POLICY SEMINAR Ensuring a Focus on Women and Girls in the Global Food Crisis Response Co-organized by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Feed the Future Initiative, IFPRI, and the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform OCT 26, 2022 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT As the world scrambles to address the global food crisis, proposed measures may fail to meet the specific needs of women and girls and might worsen existing gender inequalities. Crisis responses, such as the provision of fertilizer subsidies or vouchers, are more likely to reach male heads of household. Other measures may add to the already high labor burdens of women and girls. Governments may shift spending away from social programs that support vulnerable women and children. The current crisis is hitting many women and girls at a time when they are already experiencing considerable hardship, following the pandemic and amid intensifying climate change. Yet this crisis presents an opportunity to design gender-responsive programs that buffer w

SPECIAL EVENT Accelerated Action for Food Systems Resilience: Egypt’s plans for COP27 and the role of CGIAR CGIAR Borlaug Dialogue Side Event organized by IFPRI, ICARDA, and the CGIAR Research Initiative on National Policies and Strategies (NPS) This event is part of the Egypt NPS Seminar Series OCT 20, 2022 - 8:15 TO 9:45AM EDT Unprecedented extreme weather events linked to climate change are contributing to the current global food and energy price crisis and severely impacting livelihoods and food and nutrition security. In this context, expectations are high for the 27th Conference of the Parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) taking place under the Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt. As a major agricultural producer in a highly climate-stressed region, Egypt brings a unique perspective to food system resilience. This presentation will highlight the Egyptian Presidency’s strategic objectives on climate change and food systems for COP27 and the climate challenges facing E

LAUNCH EVENT Tracking and promoting progress on gender equality: Emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities from the 2022 Global Food 5050 Report 2022 Borlaug Dialogue Side Event Co-organized by Global Health 5050, IFPRI, and UN Women OCT 18, 2022 - 8:00 TO 9:30AM EDT Established in the lead-up to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, the Global Food 50/50 initiative is a response to stakeholder demands for a global food system that is accountable for progress toward gender equality. This event will mark the launch of the second annual Global Food 50/50 Report, which provides data and analysis on the gender- and equity-related policies and practices of 51 global food system organizations. The Report shines a light on the progress, and lack of progress, made by food organizations in promoting diversity and equality in their leadership and decision-making and in putting gender equality at the heart of their work. This year, in 2022, we complemented our annual leadership analysis with a study of the board membe

POLICY SEMINAR Globalization and food security: What could 20 years of IFPRI research teach us? OCT 12, 2022 - 11:00AM TO 12:30PM EDT 2022 has been marked by another global food price crisis, the third in 20 years. As food systems have become more interconnected, the debate around globalization and food security has reemerged. Are we too interconnected? Are multilateral institutions the only way to tackle global challenges that require collective action, or is that belief fading? These questions are not new. This webinar will revisit them through the lens of Antoine Bouet’s work on global and regional trade issues and their intersections with food security outcomes. During Bouet’s 17-year tenure as a Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI, his work informed civil society and policymakers and provided evidence for heated debates, from the intricacies of the global trade talks at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005 to the challenges of measuring informal trade flows in West Africa during the COVID-19 pandem

POLICY SEMINAR Call for Action to Address the Global Food Security Crisis OCT 5, 2022 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT The world is facing a potential food crisis worse than any seen since World War II. With Russia’s devastating war on Ukraine, a historic drought and heat wave in China, and an irregular monsoon season in South Asia, food supplies from several of the world’s largest granaries are highly uncertain and concerning. Global hunger has been rising since 2015, and the number of people facing acute, crisis-level food insecurity has doubled to well over 200 million. Famine is threatening the lives of large populations in the Horn of Africa, Yemen, and South Sudan. Already, climate change is compounding the global risks to food security. In response to this “code red for global food systems,” the world community is beginning to coalesce around several action areas set forth by the Declaration of Leaders’ Summit on Global Food Security, the Global Alliance for Food Security (GAFS) convened by the G7 Development M

POLICY SEMINAR 2022 Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor (AATM): Leveraging Data to Improve Intra-Africa Food Trade Co-Organized by IFPRI and AKADEMIYA2063 SEP 27, 2022 - 9:30 TO 11:15AM EDT Africa’s agricultural trade capacity and policy are increasingly important as global volatility in agriculture and fertilizer markets is increasing risks for many importing and exporting countries. The 2022 edition of the Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor 2022 (AATM), a flagship of IFPRI and AKADEMIYA2063, analyzes short- and long-term trends and drivers of African agricultural trade flows, including regional policies and the role of global markets. Chapters in this year’s report examine the impact of the Russia-Ukraine War, the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to contribute to growth, the development of value chains for processed products and for coffee, tea, and cocoa, as well as the role of intraregional trade in the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and makes recommendation

MEDIA BRIEFING Taking Stock of Global Food Security six months into the Ukraine-Russia Conflict SEP 13, 2022 - 9:30 EDT More than six months after the 24 February invasion of Ukraine, the conflict endures, as do concerns about its impacts on global food security, particularly in low and middle-income countries. In an exclusive briefing for journalists, two senior economists at the International Food Policy Research Institute will provide updated analysis on global food security considerations, and answer questions about the potential short- and long-term impacts of the ongoing crisis. The briefing will include an overview of the USDA’s latest The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) being released on 12 September and its implications for food security around the world. More analysis is available in our ongoing blog series here (https://www.ifpri.org/landing/war-ukraine-blog-landing-page). Panel: David Laborde, Senior Research Fellow, Markets Trade and Institutions Division, IFPRI Josep

The conflict in Ukraine is having widespread deleterious impacts on the economies and food systems of many low- and middle-income countries. Rising prices for food, fuel, and fertilizer have raised pressing concerns about food security and poverty. To better understand the risks in specific countries, IFPRI researchers have modeled the impacts of prices of the fuel, fertilizer, and food price shocks on GDP, employment, poverty, hunger, and diet quality in 19 countries in Africa and Asia, and examined the relative cost effectiveness of different policy interventions. Please join us for a presentation of this work and a discussion on how policymakers and other key actors are addressing the challenges created by this crisis in specific countries. IFPRI’s modeling work on the impacts of the Ukraine crisis is supported by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and benefitted from working with two CGIAR’s rese

POLICY SEMINAR Nudging for Good: AI driven diagnostics and behavior change to improve diets and nutrition JUL 28, 2022 - 12:00 TO 2:00PM EDT Unhealthy diets are a critical global concern, but current dietary assessment methods are costly and challenging to implement. Mobile-phone-based interventions show some promise for improving nutrition data collection and dietary quality, especially for adolescents in low- and middle-income countries. The Nudging for Good project has developed a new artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted mobile phone application, the Plant Village Food Recognition Assistance and Nudging Insights (FRANI). This app can recognize foods, track food-group consumption, provide diet-related statistics, and nudge users to improve food consumption. Validation of FRANI for dietary assessment in adolescent girls in Ghana and Viet Nam showed it performs as well or better than the standard multi-pass 24-hour recall method, highlighting its potential to address critical data gaps and provide a platfo

POLICY SEMINAR Addressing the global food security crisis: Strengthening research and policy responses Co-organized by German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and CGIAR JUL 25, 2022 - 9:30 TO 11:00AM EDT Russia's invasion of Ukraine has further increased food and input prices at the global level, with the strongest impacts felt by the poorest in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. The World Food Program projects that the conflict could put an additional 47 million people at risk of acute hunger worldwide. The impacts of this crisis are unfolding as countries cope with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, more frequent and damaging extreme weather events caused by climate change, and other conflicts. Germany holds the G7 presidency in 2022 and is thus in a leadership role to address these interrelated challenges and crises. Together with World Bank President David Malpass, Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ), recently est

POLICY SEMINAR Strengthening policy research and analysis capacity: The role of institutional development programs JUL 21, 2022 - 9:00 TO 10:30AM EDT Policy design and implementation for sustainable food systems transformation in developing countries rely on the research institutions, university departments, and organizations that collect, analyze, and disseminate data for the government and private sector. Collaborative policy research programs can play a valuable role in building the long-term capacity of these institutions to generate the evidence needed for policymaking. In this seminar, panelists and discussants will draw on their experiences with collaborative research in institutional development programs, and explore the lessons learned for strengthening policy research and analysis capacity for food system transformation. Chair -Shenggen Fan, Former Director-General of IFPRI, CGIAR System Board Member, and Chair Professor at the College of Economics and Management at China Agricultural University,

POLICY SEMINAR Are healthy diets affordable? Using new data on retail prices and diet costs to guide agricultural and food policy Co-organized by IFPRI, Tufts University, the World Bank, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) JUL 15, 2022 - 10:00 TO 11:30AM EDT New Food Prices for Nutrition data in the SOFI 2022 report launching on July 6th uses retail food prices to compute diet costs and the number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet globally. Underlying costs by food group will be published simultaneously on a new Food Prices for Nutrition DataHub hosted at the World Bank, and subnational data are being used for a wide range of in-country research across Africa and Asia. The new data and methods showcased in this seminar are key tools for policy analysis and monitoring in global and national food systems, measuring food access using retail prices of the most affordable items available at each place and time in quantities needed to meet global nutritional standards for an active and healthy li