News Overview

by Pavlo Martyshev,  Oleg Nivievsyi and Mariia Bogonos OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine has inflicted devastating impacts that continue to mount more than a year after the invasion. As of September 2022, even before Russia’s winter bombing campaign, the total damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure was an estimated $127 billion, equal to 64% of the country’s 2021 GDP.

BY NIANDOU MOUNKAILA, OUSMANE SEIDOU, CLAUDIA RINGLER, AND ROBERT KRANEFELD OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 World Water Day 2023 (March 22) has the theme “Accelerating Change” through partnerships and cooperation—and coincides with a midterm review of the United Nations International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028, which aims to 1) increase the global focus on more sustainable development; 2) accelerate funding and implementation

by Charlotte Hebebrand OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 With the Russia-Ukraine war entering its second year, prices of grains, fertilizers, and other agricultural commodities have fallen back somewhat from their early post-invasion highs, and supply disruptions have moderated. A March 8 policy seminar examined how Ukraine’s agricultural sector is faring, and the war’s continuing impacts on global markets and regional food security, as

“Maharashtra’s onion farmers, the star producers of India’s perennial kitchen staple, are staring at huge losses. This is likely to have a serious impact on onion harvest going ahead,” writes Money Control in a story on onion prices. Farmers are demanding the lifting of the ban on onion exports. There have also been reports of farmers destroying their crops. Vartika Singh, Senior Research Analyst

Farm Policy News quoted Reuters in a report, writing, “Russia has proposed that a U.N.-backed initiative that has enabled grains to be exported from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports should be renewed for just 60 days.” In more detail regarding wheat prices, Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow with the International Food Policy Research Institute, indicated in a blogpst update (Assessing tight global wheat

by Anusha De, Caroline Miehe and Bjorn van Campenhout OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Esther (a composite of typical experiences) is the proud owner-manager of a small shop in a trading center close to her home in a village in eastern Uganda. With a loan from a savings and credit organization and some help from her husband, she was able to rent a stall and

BY NIANDOU MOUNKAILA, OUSMANE SEIDOU, CLAUDIA RINGLER, AND ROBERT KRANEFELD OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 La Journée mondiale de l’eau 2023 (22 mars) vise à « Accélérer le changement » grâce aux partenariats et à la coopération. Elle coïncide avec un examen à mi-parcours de la Décennie internationale d’action des Nations Unies sur l’eau pour le développement durable 2018-2028, cette dernière ayant pour

“AI is changing the way we work and live. But with climate change impacting seasonal temperatures and rainfalls around the world, can it help make food production more sustainable?” asks The Climate Question podcast, BBC (UK). Claudia Ringler, Deputy Director of the Environment and Production and Technology Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute was interviewed for the podcast and answered questions about how