BY JAN DUCHOSLAV, JOACHIM DE WEERDT, AND RODWELL MZONDE OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Malawi is facing a severe drought crisis linked to the El Niño climate phenomenon. On March 23, President Lazarus Chakwera declared a state of disaster in 23 of Malawi’s 28 districts in anticipation of a poor harvest and appealed for more than $200 million in humanitarian assistance. El
BY TRUDIE SIKAS-IHA AND EMILY SCHMIDT OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 A new IFPRI survey of rural households in Papua New Guinea (PNG)—the most expansive consumption expenditure survey in more than a decade—shows the continuing predominance of subsistence agriculture and that rural diets remain reliant on inexpensive, starchy staple foods. The 2023 PNG Rural Household Survey, funded by the Australia
BY TADDESE ZERFU OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Global child survival rates have risen since 1990 and facility births have increased. Yet improvements in neonatal mortality rates have lagged. From 1990-2020, this measure declined at a slower rate than post-neonatal under-5 mortality. Notably, virtually all (99%) of the children who died within the first four weeks of life were in
BY NICOLA M. LOWE, ANDREW G. HALL, MARTIN R. BROADLEY, JEN FOLEY, ERICK BOY, AND ZULFIQAR A. BHUTTA OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Zinc is a crucial micronutrient for good health, and zinc deficiency is one of the most common forms of micronutrient malnutrition globally—an estimated 17% of people worldwide are at risk of inadequate zinc intake, and that figure
BY SARAH EISSLER AND DEBORAH RUBIN OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 In southern Mexico, small-scale coffee farmers often join cooperatives to sell their harvests and benefit from potential price stability and services such as training or agricultural advice. Women who join coffee cooperatives are found to have higher levels of decision-making power, but also experience higher levels of time poverty that
BY VICTOR TALEON AND ZAKIUL HASAN OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Over 30% of rice sold in city markets in Bangladesh is refined and branded into the shape, size, and color known as miniket, which owes its popularity to its bright white color and slender grains. But miniket rice is a flawed product: It is not a true rice variety and has
BY CLAUDIA RINGLER AND CARGELE MASSO OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Healthy soils play a critical role in supporting agricultural productivity, climate change mitigation and resilience, and a range of ecosystem services. Up to 65% of Africa’s productive land is estimated to be degraded, and far too many smallholder farmers must eke out a living on degraded and nutrient depleted soils. While
BY MARTIN PAUL JR. TABE-OJONG, ONASIS THARCISSE ADETUMI GUEDEGBE, AND JOSEPH GLAUBER OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Cocoa bean prices have been rising since the last quarter of 2023, hitting a record high of $10.97 per kilogram on April 19 (Figure 1). The price spike is due to a significant drop in bean production by major global suppliers—four key producing nations in West and