BY JOSEPH GLAUBER AND ABDULLAH MAMUN OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Cocoa bean prices have climbed to record nominal levels over the past six months, more than doubling since August 2023 (Figure 1). This price spike has largely been driven by weather-related diseases that have reduced cocoa production in key West African countries accounting for almost three quarters of world
A changing landscape: Plots, crops, infrastructure, and livestock in the Khatlon Province MARCH 29, 2024 BY ISABEL LAMBRECHT, SARAH PECHTL, KAMILJON AKRAMOV, JOVIDON ALIEV, AND PARVIZ KHAKIMOV OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Tajikistan’s agricultural sector is uniquely shaped by the country’s history and geography. When Tajikistan was part of the former Soviet Union, farming was collectivized. But soon after gaining
Policy seminar: Reforming agricultural policies to sustainably transform food systems MARCH 27, 2024 BY SWATI MALHOTRA OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 With global food systems facing various stresses—from the Russia Ukraine war to climate change—making them more resilient, health-promoting, and sustainable is more urgent than ever. A key tool in such a transformation is reforming agricultural policies and repurposing agricultural support. This
An evidence-based approach to climate change in Central Asia: Tajikistan and the Global Methane Pledge MARCH 26, 2024 BY SURESH BABU AND NANDITA SRIVASTAVA OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Methane is the second-largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. Global anthropogenic methane emissions are projected to rise by up to 13% between 2020 and 2030 if no action is taken. To catalyze action,
The fallout from COVID-19, land grabs, and deforestation in Argentina’s Gran Chaco Forest region MARCH 25, 2024 BY MADISON DAVIS OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 In the spring of 2023, we taught a graduate level course titled “Agri-food Systems and Economic Development” at Georgetown University’s Global Human Development Program. As one of the assignments, we asked the students to write a
BY HALA ABUSHAMA, KHALID SIDDIG, OLIVER KIRUI, MOSAB AHMED, AND PAUL DOROSH OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Since the onset of civil war in April 2023, millions of people in Sudan have suffered from loss of livelihoods, destruction of infrastructure, and disruption of essential services. With the war still underway, Sudan is facing the world’s largest displacement crisis—with 6.5 million displaced people
BY BRENDAN RICE AND ROB VOS OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 During 2021 and 2022, global food and fertilizer prices spiked due to several overlapping factors. Demand rose as the world economy emerged from the COVID-19 recession; global supply chains suffered major disruptions associated with the uneven recovery; and the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine—both key food and
BY CLAUDIA RINGLER OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 The theme of this year’s World Water Day (March 22), “Water for Peace,” could not come at a more opportune time. Global water, food, and humanitarian crises have reached near-unprecedented levels: As a 2023 conference of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences concluded, “The world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since the Second World