Climate change and its impacts on Asian countries was the focus of a high-level dialogue, hosted by the Asian Development Bank in Manila, on June 16-17. The event convened climate change policy leaders to discuss the path forward for the region and was co-hosted by Dr. R. K. Pachauri (Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda. Prominent participants included UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon via video. Dr. Mark Rosegrant, Director of IFPRI's Environment and Production Technology Division, delivered a presentation on "Building Climate Resilience in the Agriculture Sector in Asia and the Pacific " (5.5 Mb). Based on a project commissioned by ADB for IFPRI, Dr. Rosegrant described the serious but varied impacts of climate change across Asia (see "Impacts on Asian Rice Production" above), using the results of IFPRI's modeling. He also proposed policies for adaptation and mitigation, with a focus on benefiting poor, smallholder farmers. More information on the event can be found on the ADB website.

        

Agriculture has increased the intensity of malaria around the world, because it can support the breeding of mosquitoes that carry the malaria parasite. Urbanization is increasing in most developing countries as a result of population growth. To feed the increasing population, farmers are cultivating undeveloped land around cities to produce and supply vegetables to the city dwellers. Water is vital for the success of the venture as cultivation is done year round. However, water is scarce in most of the cities and so it becomes a constraining factor. Farmers have learned to adapt to the constraints by storing water in dugouts and bunds. These water storage receptacles provide favorable aquatic habitats for mosquitoes. Additionally, farmers are implementing irrigation methods, such as furrow irrigation, that increase the potential for mosquito breeding. People who live around these urban agricultural field gardens easily contract malaria throughout the year if they are not properly protected by bed nets or pesticides or other control measures. It is important for policy makers to be cognizant of the relationship between agriculture and health when devising agricultural development and disease control policies and strategies.

For more information see The Linkages Between Agriculture and Malaria: Issues for Policy, Research, and Capacity Strengthening

        

On the eve of  World Environment Day on June 4, 2009, IFPRI hosted a side event at the June meetings, held in Bonn, of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), focusing on "Agriculture and climate change: an agenda for negotiation in Copenhagen." The event discussed the importance of negotiation outcomes that support adaptation and mitigation by poor farmers in developing countries and was based on a collection of policy briefs from IFPRI's 2020 Vision Initiative, authored by leading global climate change experts. Speakers included:

Gerald C. Nelson (IFPRI): Agriculture and climate change in Copenhagen: perspectives from the experts
Rattan Lal (Ohio State University): Carbon sequestration in world soils
Paul Vlek (Center for Development Research, University of Bonn):  Agricultural science and technology needs for climate change adaptation and mitigation
Sean Smukler (Earth Institute, Columbia University):  Monitoring and measuring progress in meeting mitigation prospects
Peter Minang (Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins):  Direct and indirect mitigation through tree and soil management

The webcast and presentations from the side event are available here.

        

International experts, key policymakers, heads of farmers associations, and private sector representatives gathered in Entebbe from May 19-21 to examine the potential benefits and challenges of producing genetically modified (GM) crops in Africa. The conference, “Delivering Agricultural Biotechnology to African Farmers: Linking Economic Research to Decision Making,” was organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in collaboration with the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology and the Science Foundation for Livelihoods and Development.

Deciding whether or not to make GM crops a priority in their agricultural development and food and nutrition security strategies and invest in modern biotechnology is an important consideration for many African countries. To help inform such policy decisions, conference participants shared research findings that address critical questions such as the economic impacts of GM crops on small farmers, the obstacles preventing farmers from gaining access to and successfully using GM technology, as well as what lessons countries can learn from each other. A critical element of the conference was determining how to better communicate these research findings to policymakers.

All conference information, including the presentations, press release, and more, are available on its website: africabiotech.wordpress.com/

        

One of the lingering effects of the food price crisis of 2007–08 on the world food system is the proliferating acquisition of farmland in developing countries by other countries seeking to ensure their food supplies. Increased pressures on natural resources, water scarcity, export restrictions imposed by major producers when food prices were high, and growing distrust in the functioning of regional and global markets have pushed countries short in land and water to find alternative means of producing food. These land acquisitions have the potential to inject much-needed investment into agriculture and rural areas in poor developing countries, but they also raise concerns about the impacts on poor local people, who risk losing access to and control over land on which they depend. It is crucial to ensure that these land deals, and the environment within which they take place, are designed in ways that will reduce the threats and facilitate the opportunities for all parties involved.

Read full brief

Download comprehensive table  (PDF 136K)

IFPRI invites observers to share evidence-based information on land deals by posting a contribution on this blog.

        

Traders in the open-air markets of Kathonzweni, a market center in semi-arid eastern Kenya, sell several varieties of pigeonpea, a nutritious cash-crop that can grow well in dryer climates. Even though they sell the pigeonpea for use as seed, traders sometimes times do not know the origin or name of the variety. This information is critical for farmers planting in diverse, harsh conditions.

Luisa Munyao, an enterprising farmer-trader, obtained improved pigeonpea seed through a farm trial sponsored by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). She was impressed by pigeon pea’s performance and has recommended this variety to others ever since. She uses an innovative approach to market her product in small seed packs, which are attractive, clean, affordable, and easy to transport and use. Farmers prefer purchasing quality seeds from Luisa due to her extensive knowledge of these pigeonpea types and because the seeds guarantee good performance in their local environments.

Farmers such as Luisa, in semi-arid areas of developing countries, have not benefited from the Green Revolution; they are too isolated and their farms suffer from prolonged periods of dry weather. However, Luisa and neighboring farmers have adapted to their conditions by selling seed in local grain markets. While this system can work at times, it is unreliable, especially after droughts.

Farmers could benefit from improved varieties developed by the private or public sector. Unfortunately, the private sector has little incentive to provide these seeds to small farmers because of high transaction costs and systems for the certification and distribution of seeds are poorly developed.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, together with their partners in India, Kenya, and Mali, undertook research to determine the obstacles that prevent small farmers from obtaining improved seeds in local markets. The study focused on farmers in semi-arid environments, their access to seed and the role of village markets in supplying it. As a result of this research, IFPRI and its collaborators are able to make country-specific recommendations to increase poor farmers’ access to better seeds.

For more information see Local Markets, Local Varieties: Rising Food Prices and Small Farmers' Access to Seed.

See also comments by Peter Bloch on the CGIAR CAS-IP Blog and by Dan Morrison on the 1 Well Blog.

        

Around the world, women like Filomena Reyes Gomez, a Mexican mother of three, are on the frontlines in the fight against poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. But Filomena is starting to win that battle. She sends her 12-year-old daughter to school, takes her baby for regular medical check-ups, and attends health and nutrition education sessions. And gets paid for it.

Filomena participates in a government-run conditional cash transfer program that puts money directly into the hands of poor women and provides their children with basic healthcare.

"I spend the money on food and shoes," said Filomena. "It has helped us keep our children healthy and means they can go to school to have a better life."

Years of IFPRI research shows that empowering women is key to improving food and nutrition security. When resources, such as cash and food assistance, are targeted to women, their children are healthier and better educated.

While public school is free in Mexico, cash payments help families pay for basic supplies and provide a strong incentive to ensure their children attend consistently. To encourage female education, the program provides more money for girls than boys to support their schooling. Educating girls is critical. According to IFPRI research, female education is the single greatest way to reduce child malnutrition.

"The program helps us a lot and then we can help our kids," explained Filomena.

Improving a woman’s social and economic status not only improves the health, life, and longevity of her children, it benefits all of society.

To learn more about IFPRI’s research on Gender and Development, visit: http://www.ifpri.org/themes/gender/gender.htm

        

IFPRI Senior Research Fellow Claudia Ringler is presenting on “How to Ensure Sustainable Access to Water for Food in a World of Growing Scarcity” at the symposium "New Green Revolution? Meeting the Global Food and Energy Demands" taking place at the University of Illinois, March 4-6. The symposium is addressing current trends and shifts in global food and energy demands, the crisis over rising prices and access to food, the impact of global climate change on agriculture and access to water resources, the tension between biofuels vs. food demands, developments in agricultural research and their societal impact, and the role of agribusiness. Dr. Ringler's presentation is covering such challenges as increasing inter-sectoral competition, degradation of water and land resources and the environment, growing water pollution, unsustainable groundwater use, water use for biofuel production, and climate change impacts on water for agriculture. A live webcast of the symposium is available here: lightning.itcs.uiuc.edu/greenrev/live.html
Note: Click here to read the IFPRI report referenced by Keynote Speaker Per Pinstrup-Andersen, "Linkages between Land Management, Land Degradation, and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Uganda."

        

The Policy Analysis and Advocacy Programme (PAAP), part of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa, featured an IFPRI Discussion Paper in the February 2009 issue of its newsletter. The Paper, "Biosafety Decisions and Perceived Commercial Risks: The Role of GM-Free Private Standards," by IFPRI Research Fellow Guillaume Gruere and Research Analyst Debdatta Sengupta, takes a closer look at the observed discrepancy between real and perceived commercial risks associated with the use of genetically modified (GM) products in developing countries. The authors focus particularly on the effects of GM-free private standards set up by food companies in Europe and other countries on biotechnology and biosafety policy decisions in food-exporting developing countries. To download the paper, visit http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/dp/ifpridp00847.asp.

        

by Joachim von Braun, Justin Lin and Maximo Torero.

The 2007/08 international food price crisis caused hardship on a number of fronts. The steep rise in food prices led to economic difficulties for the poor and generated political turmoil in many countries. The crisis could also result in long-term, irreversible nutritional damage, especially among children. There is a global interest in preventing such events from recurring. This episode highlights the need to modify the architecture of international financial and agricultural markets to address the problem of price spikes, especially their effects on the livelihoods of the poor.

Although a set of guiding principles for regulating agricultural and commodity futures markets should be developed and recent inappropriate trade policy instruments such as export bans should be reviewed, these actions are not sufficient to avoid extreme price spikes and to ensure that the world can respond to emergency needs for food. We propose three global collective actions to meet these goals.

• First, a small physical food reserve should be established to facilitate a smooth response to food emergencies.
• Second, a new international coordinated global food reserve should be established to minimize the risk of individual countries trying to achieve grain self-sufficiency by rebuilding their own public reserves which could result in a very inefficient global production system, a large total global reserve, and a very thin global grain market.
• Third an innovative virtual reserve should be set up to help prevent market price spikes and to keep prices closer to levels suggested by long-run market fundamentals like supply and demand without putting at risk the coordinated global reserves.

This note offers some specifics on implementing this proposal to stimulate further discussion.

Price instability is a general feature of agricultural markets. The proposals made here are designed not to stabilize prices generally, but to prevent damaging price spikes and the collapse of confidence in the international grain market. The proposed actions will entail costs, but the modest costs of the required organizational elements must be balanced against the benefits of more effective international financial architecture. These benefits will include prevention of economic hardship, improved market efficiency, stronger incentives for long-term investment in agriculture, and prevention of political instability.

Read the full paper

Download in PDF (58K)