New Project to Identify Best Approaches to Improve Agriculture in Developing Countries

A new project Global Futures for Agriculture has recently been launched by the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI). The project will enable researchers to develop an enhanced version of IFPRI's International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT), a state-of-the-art economic model that projects the future production, consumption, and trade of key agricultural commodities, and can assess the effects of climate change, water availability and other major trends. The project which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates is a strategy that is hoped to achieve the goals of feeding the world's burgeoning population while protecting the critical natural resources.

Mark Rosegrant, director of Environment and Production Technology at IFPRI, said that "This research will prove invaluable to setting priorities for meeting these challenges and, ultimately, improving the lives of the world's poorest people." The research will cover assessments on how changes in global trading regimes, mandates for biofuels and energy prices, land degradation, and climate change affect human well-being, and how these factors affect developing countries' progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals of reducing hunger, malnutrition, and poverty.

The press release can be found at http://www.ifpri.org/pressrelease/global-futures