Coffee is one of the most important smallholder cash crops in Papua New Guinea. It accounted for $156 million of export earnings, 13% of agricultural export revenues, and 1.4% of total export revenues in PNG in 2021. According to the PNG Rural Household Survey 2023, approximately 55% of sampled households in the highlands produce coffee. During March and April 2024, IFPRI collaborated
By Catherine Ragasa, Ning Ma, and Emmanuel Hami July 10, 2024 Agriculture is central to Malawi’s economy, employing much of the population and contributing substantially to GDP. However, agricultural productivity and earnings have stagnated and chronic food insecurity is a serious problem. Recent shocks including the COVID-19 pandemic, higher food prices, and cyclones have hurt agricultural production and hindered Malawi’s progress toward SDG target 2.3 (double
By Vartika Singh and Claudia Ringler July 15, 2024 Most of the Earth’s liquid fresh water resources are stored as groundwater. Accessible groundwater resources are increasingly extracted for use in irrigated agriculture, industrial and domestic purposes—and constitute the globe’s most extracted natural resource. Irrigation accounts for the lion’s share of groundwater use, and groundwater contributes around a third to 40% of total consumptive
By Joseph Glauber and Abdullah Mamun July 29, 2024 In July 2023, the Indian government announced export restrictions on non-basmati white rice. Coming after earlier export limits on other types of rice, the action was taken in part due to a strengthening El Niño that threatened to limit rice production and fuel rising food inflation—a potential political liability for the Modi government as it faced
By Vivian Hoffmann August 5, 2024 Average crop yields in much of Africa lag far below their agronomic potential. This is the case for coffee grown by smallholders in Uganda—agronomy experts estimate they could more than double their yields by applying optimal management practices. Increased coffee production is a key strategy of the government of Uganda for boosting both national earnings of foreign exchange and
By Nina Jovanovic and Joseph Glauber August 7, 2024 In June 2024, the Egyptian government raised the price of subsidized traditional baladi bread to 20 piastres ($0.004)1 per loaf—quadrupling the old price of 5 piastres. The change—the first such increase since 1989—was triggered by a number of factors: Egypt’s heavy reliance on wheat imports due to limited arable crop base and growing population, along with high global wheat prices amid the
By Brian McNamara August 12, 2024 Malnutrition stemming from unhealthy diets is a major food systems challenge impacting the health and well-being of people around the world. High food prices, increasing availability of ultra-processed foods, urbanization, climate change, and other trends have contributed to the overconsumption of unhealthy foods while limiting the accessibility of healthy foods. These challenges are prevalent across
By Khalid Siddig, James Thurlow, Josee Randriamamonjy, Mariam Raouf, and Mosab O. M. Ahmed August 16, 2024 More than a year of conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has weakened the country’s fragile economy. This is in addition to triggering a humanitarian crisis, loss of lives, property destruction and income disruptions. Even before the current conflict, Sudan ranked among the poorest countries in the world.