Biotech Updates

IFPRI DG Reports on the World Food Situation

January 4, 2008

A number of countries including those in Africa have made good progress in reducing hunger and child malnutrition. But many of the poorest countries are still being left behind despite policies that aim to cut poverty and hunger. This was the gist of Joachim von Braun, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in a biannual overview of the world food situation presented to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) annual general meeting in Beijing last December 2007.

IFPRI’s director general mentioned some actions that should be undertaken immediately:

  • Developed countries should facilitate flexible responses to drastic price changes by eliminating trade barriers and programs that set aside agriculture resources.
  • Developing countries should rapidly increase investment in rural infrastructure and market institutions  to reduce agricultural-input access constraints.
  • Investment in agricultural science and technology by CGIAR and national research systems could play a key role in facilitating a stronger global production response to the rise in prices.
  • Placing agricultural and food issues onto the national and international climate-change policy agendas is critical for ensuring an efficient and pro-poor response to the emerging risks.

Read more on the world food situation at http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/agm07/jvbagm2007.asp