News Overview

By Leila M. Larson, Edward A. Frongillo, Rebecca Brander, Marie Ruel, and Jef L. Leroy November 13, 2025 Third in a series of posts on IFPRI’s work on growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) supported by the Gates Foundation. Read the first post here, and the second here. Growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) programs are widely used to screen for nutritional and health problems among children, yet they face many challenges

By Marilia Magalhaes, Niyati Singaraju, and Jawoo Koo November 14, 2025 AI-powered chatbots are emerging as a promising tool to deliver agricultural advice. Such AI-based advisory services can reach large numbers of farmers more cost-effectively than traditional extension services. They can almost instantly provide advice across more remote areas, translate technical terms into plain language, quickly adapt to local needs through

By Bjorn Van Campenhout, Gashaw Abate, Liesbeth Colen, and Berber Kramer November 20, 2025 Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa face growing pressure to produce more on less land while contending with worsening impacts of climate change. The need for sustainable intensification has rekindled calls for a “Green Revolution” in the region, centered on the widespread adoption of modern inputs such as hybrid seeds and

By Aditi Chugh and Danielle Resnick November 21, 2025 Each October, the global community focuses on the challenges facing rapidly growing cities and towns, starting with World Habitat Day early in the month and ending with World Cities Day. This year, the themes of “Urban October” were the subject of a side event at the 53rd Plenary Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) on October 23 in

By James Allen IV, Naureen Karachiwalla, and Deboleena Rakshit November 24, 2025 When communities are asked to contribute their time or money to shared goals—like running a school meal program—the success of these efforts often depends on how people respond to one another’s choices. If most people give more time and effort when others do, cooperation can spread. But if people hold

By Ayorinde Ogunyiola December 2, 2025 Digital agricultural technologies such as precision farming, mobile phone-based advisory platforms, smart irrigation, and satellite crop monitoring systems promise increased efficiency, environmental sustainability, and farm productivity. The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence-based applications—in new tools and integrated into existing ones—is accelerating this trend. Yet these digital tools can have significant downsides for many

By Katrina Kosec December 3, 2025 Across fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS), mounting evidence shows that gender profoundly shapes both the experience and the trajectory of fragility. Women are more likely to face food insecurity, lose access to income, shoulder unpaid care responsibilities, and encounter elevated risks of violence during shocks—all while being systematically excluded from the decisions that determine

Farmers in Kenya are facing growing impacts of climate change, including prolonged droughts, erratic rainfall, and sudden floods.