Biotech Updates

Rising Food Prices, What Should Be Done?

April 11, 2008

A new policy brief released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) discusses the measures that should be taken about rising food prices. These include: 1) in the short term, developing-country governments should expand social protection programs for the poorest people—both urban and rural 2) developed countries should eliminate domestic biofuel subsidies and open their markets to biofuel exporters  3) developed countries should eliminate agricultural trade barriers and 4) to achieve long-term agricultural growth, developing-country governments should increase their  investments in agricultural research and extension, rural infrastructure, and market access for small farmers.

The policy brief is available at http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/bp/bp001.pdf