News Overview

BY YING VISSER AND MARIËLLE KARSSENBERG IFPRI’s recently-released 2021 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) is published at a time when the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to grow. With the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit set for September, the global policy focus is on transforming food systems after COVID-19. An April 15 virtual event organized by IFPRI, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Netherlands

BY CATHERINE RAGASA, ISABEL LAMBRECHT AND MICHAEL WANG While COVID-19 transmission dynamics and impacts have been different in rural and urban areas, big impacts on rural incomes and livelihoods have been observed. In this post, Catherine Ragasa, Isabel Lambrecht and Michael Wang assess income impacts on landed and landless rural people in Myanmar’s Central Dry Zone, comparing bi-monthly surveys during the pandemic to pre-pandemic

BY FRANCISCO CEBALLOS, MANUEL HERNANDEZ AND CYNTHIA PAZ Global patterns and local variations of COVID-19 impacts on income, food security, and dietary diversity are gradually emerging. In this post, Francisco Ceballos, Manuel Hernandez, and Cynthia Paz document these effects on the vulnerable population of the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Their findings track those in many places, including greater income losses

BY JAWOO KOO, CLAUDIA RINGLER, ANIRUDDHA GHOSH AND CARLO AZZARRI India’s devastating second wave of COVID-19 is adding unprecedented numbers of new cases every day, and it seems to be spreading more to rural areas. This trend poses serious challenges for efforts to contain the disease, as rural areas may have heightened pandemic vulnerabilities. It is hard to assess the urban-rural

BY JOHN MCDERMOTT, DANIELLE RESNICK, NICHOLA NAYLOR AND JESSICA WALLACH The COVID-19 pandemic has presented countries with enormous policy challenges. Policymakers have had to balance limited resources between health, food systems, and economies in a continually evolving public health emergency and an associated recession. Low-income countries have faced especially difficult choices because of their limited budgets and administrative capacity. As

BY YING VISSER AND MARIËLLE KARSSENBERG IFPRI’s recently-released 2021 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) is published at a time when the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to grow. With the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit set for September, the global policy focus is on transforming food systems after COVID-19. An April 15 virtual event organized by IFPRI, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Netherlands

BY KATRINA KOSEC AND EVGENIYA ANISIMOVA How can women’s voices be amplified in a situation of prevailing patriarchal norms? Even more importantly, what should be done so that these voices are not only heard, but also acted upon? A new issue brief by IFPRI, the IFPRI-led CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM), and the CGIAR GENDER Platform adds important insights into

BY JEMIMAH NJUKI Women play critical roles in food systems—as producers, processors, traders, consumers, scientists, and policy makers. Women represent on average 43% of the agricultural labor force globally and are essential agents of change in ensuring the shift to more efficient and climate-resilient food systems. The empowerment of women is associated with improved food security, better management of climate change