News Overview

BY ZHE GUO, ELEANOR JONES, AND LIANGZHI YOU OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 With climate change impacts, deforestation, and land use changes accelerating around the world, the need for mapping croplands—which cover 1.2 billion hectares, approximately 12% of Earth’s surface—is growing more urgent. Sustaining a growing global population, while protecting vital natural ecosystems, requires more efficient crop systems that sustainably

BY CARLO AZZARRI, SEDI-ANNE BOUKAKA, JESSICA HECKERT, RUTH MEINZEN-DICK, GREG SEYMOUR, AND SARA SAVASTANO OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 A new tool based on IFPRI’s Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI)—developed by IFPRI and the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) Research and Impact Assessment Division (RIA)—provides a streamlined way to track and evaluate impacts on women’s empowerment in development

BY ELEANOR JONES OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 IFPRI and its research partners have studied the pace and pattern of agricultural transformation within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future (FTF) countries. A series of 21 case studies were produced that measure each country’s agrifood system, analyze changes over the past decade, and identify common patterns across

BY PURNIMA MENON AND DEANNA OLNEY OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 The impacts of our diets extend well beyond mealtime to affect our health and well-being. Unhealthy diets underpin many public health challenges, including all forms of malnutrition and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Many countries are facing a double burden of malnutrition—meaning that undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies coexist with overweight

PRESS RELEASE MAY 29, 2024 Washington DC, May 29, 2024: In the face of growing challenges posed by unhealthy diets, all forms of malnutrition, and environmental constraints, the 2024 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) — released today by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) — underscores the importance of transforming complex global food systems to ensure sustainable healthy diets for all.

BY JAN DUCHOSLAV, MAZVITA CHIDUWA, SIMON DENHERE, JOACHIM DE WEERDT, RODWELL MZONDE AND GEORGE PHIRI OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Malawi is heading towards a severe food crisis later this year after an El Niño induced mid-season dry spell—the worst in the last hundred years—affected the harvest of maize, the staple food grown by nine out of 10 farming households. The government declared a state of disaster in March

BY VIVIAN HOFFMANN OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 A common assumption among policymakers and food system stakeholders is that markets and governments operate at best in parallel and at worst at cross purposes. But in the case of food safety, public and private enterprise interests align: No one wants a reputation for making their customers sick, or for meat that

BY WILL MARTIN, ABDULLAH MAMUN, NICK MINOT AND ROB VOS OPEN ACCESS | CC-BY-4.0 Recent shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war have disrupted global food and fertilizer supply chains—causing price spikes and increased price volatility—a disastrous combination for many vulnerable consumers around the world. As in past global food price crises, governments have used trade policies to try