News Overview

BY THOMAS REARDON, JOHAN SWINNEN AND ROB VOS The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed both the vulnerability and the resilience of food supply chains. Supply chains from farm to retail have been disrupted, primarily by government-imposed lockdowns and other restrictions affecting labor supply, input provisioning, logistics, wholesale, retailing, and food service. Supply chains have also shown a good deal of resilience

A more balanced, sustainable approach to consuming food from livestock—one that meets nutrition needs and focuses on local production methods—is essential for delivering on global commitments to combat malnutrition in all its forms, according to a comprehensive report released today from UN Nutrition. While acknowledging key health and environmental challenges linked to overconsumption, the analysis also shows that livestock can

Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), today gave the keynote speech at a launch of a seminal report from UN Nutrition on Livestock-derived foods and sustainable health diets. What follows is expanded draft that Smith’s prepared for the brief talk he gave today. ‘I’m pleased to participate in today’s launch of this UN Nutrition discussion paper

As a global society, we waste a third – 1.3 billion metric tons – of the food that we produce every year. In a world where more than 820 million people are undernourished, this is clearly unacceptable. What’s more, the vast quantities of wasted food contribute enormously to climate change: if food waste were a country, it would be the

With newly accessible genotyping technologies, African crop breeding programs have partnered with EiB to start using genotyping resources to improve accuracy and efficiency. As breeders strive for higher-yielding, climate-resilient and nutritious crops, genotyping is intensifying the speed and accuracy of achieving breeding goals. But new technologies have often been out-of-reach for national breeding programs in developing countries. With CGIAR

BY QIYUN HUANG As the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded over the past year, global food systems faced significant challenges and opportunities. The 2021 China and Global Agricultural Policy Forum, co-organized by IFPRI and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) on May 25 in Beijing, focused on the future of global food systems and China’s agrifood system in light

(The post was written by Kennady Vijayalakshmy, research and communications officer with ILRI in South Asia, with additional editing by Susan MacMillan, former head, public awareness at ILRI) Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), spoke this week (27 May 2021) at the 8th Research Advisory Committee meeting of India’s National Dairy Development Board. Smith’s slide presentation focused on India’s

A new research project in Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador will generate evidence on the contribution of agroecology to climate resilience and low-carbon emissions. What is the future of food production? – is a question shared by various stakeholders in the world of agriculture. The challenges of climate change and variability, the use of pesticides and… The post Agroecology: Possible pathways