BY TIMOTHY KAROFF On Jan. 1, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) formally took effect. The AfCFTA’s 55 countries make it one of largest free trade areas in the world, and it could increase the continent’s total real income by $445 billion by 2035, according to a World Bank estimate. However, whether countries reap these benefits depends on how
Visiting Margaret Nalujja with Elliot Baligeya of UFVEPA. You can see the charcoal cooler behind her. Margaret sells peeled fingers in 2kg bags. She said the main value is the increased speed of purchase because they are ready to go and you can buy and put them in a vehicle. Photo credit Graham Thiele Agricultural innovation arises through the
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted tremendously every aspect of the economy in Bangladesh, including aquaculture. The entire aquaculture supply chain and marketing system is facing multiple challenges. Many fish farmers have reduced their activities due to low demand and uncertainty. At a time when many people are afraid to invest in aquaculture, Golam Kibria Ripon, a farmer from Paikgacha, Khulna,
BY SWATI MALHOTRA The Ceres2030 project has shown the urgent need for additional investments—a yearly average of $14 billion from donors and $19 billion from low-income countries for the next decade—to meet Sustainable Development Goal 2, ending hunger by 2030, and to build more sustainable food security. But how should that money be spent? The latest cost report from Ceres2030 (led by IFPRI, the International Institute for
In 1967 Albert O. Hirschman, the pioneering development economist, published Development Projects Observed. Based on an analysis of a handful of long-standing World Bank projects, the book was an effort, as Hirschman writes in the preface, “to ‘sing’ the epic adventure of development — its challenge, drama, and grandeur.” He sang this epic not in the register of high development
The UN has designated 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health. CGIAR Centers have significant scientific knowledge, extensive experience on the ground, and thought leadership that they can lend to the global discussion to advance awareness, collaboration, and scaling of needed interventions. CGIAR’s International Year of Plant Health events will comprise a series of four webinars of global scope
Children’s heights are a bellwether indicator for all the things that can go wrong, or right, in society. As IFPRI researcher Jef Leroy put it, poor child growth is like a smoke alarm: It tells you there is a fire burning somewhere. Then it can take some detective work to figure out where that fire is, its source, and to identify
BY SIDDHARTHA BASU, ALAN DE BRAUW, KHIN PWINT OO AND RUSSELL TOTH Surrounded by some of the largest consumer markets in the world, at the nexus of important trade routes, and with its own growing consumer markets, Myanmar has tremendous potential as an agricultural producer. Yet one persistent obstacle is the agricultural sector’s lack of access to financial services, which