Our lack of knowledge of the magnitude of food loss and waste is a major barrier to addressing the problem. Estimates of global figures vary from 27% (1 billion tonnes) to 32% (1.3 billion tonnes) of all food produced in the world.
Middleman Margins and Market Structure in West Bengal Potato Supply Chains
In developing countries, small farmers often cannot access organized markets directly. Instead, they sell to middlemen who resell their output to distant buyers. These middlemen appear to earn large margins, and they appropriate most of the gains from rising consumer prices.
Can Mobile Phones Help to Improve Food Security?
Through increased access to mobile phones, farmers can better plan how much to plant each season and how much and what type of investments could be profitable based on demand and supply.
Tool: Measuring Price Variability of Staple Food Commodities
The three-part model provides a visual representation of historical periods of excessive global price volatility from 2000 to present, as well as a daily volatility status. It can alert policymakers when world markets are experiencing a period of excessive food price volatility.
Policy Brief: El Niño and Cereal Production Shortfalls
The situation calls for careful monitoring of production and prices, promotion of transparent international and domestic trade policies, and expanded coverage of safety nets and nutrition programs for the households most severely affected.
Video: Connecting Children to Technology Promotes Behavior Change at Home
In the Llacanora District of Cajamarca, Peru, a research team installed 20 networked computers with internet access in the local school serving 150 students at the secondary level – to promote behavior change at home by connecting children with technology and information.
Why Food Security Is an Opportunity for Latin America
The one-to-one relationship between economic growth and chronic malnutrition shows that growth by itself won’t resolve the problem of chronic malnutrition.
Column: Desafíos para un desarrollo rural exitoso
Todo esto requiere, una vez más, pensar de manera diferente. Una estrategia de desarrollo rural no debe ser considerada como un tema de un solo sector, sino, al contrario, como una combinación de acciones coordinadas en diversos sectores y bien focalizada de acuerdo con las potencialidades de cada subregión.
Policy Brief: Urgent Action Needed to Prevent Recurring Food Crisis
The economies of China and India are now overheated and experiencing high overall inflation caused by factors such as excess liquidity. Rising oil prices in recent months, the expansion of biofuel production, particularly maize ethanol, and other factors mentioned above suggest the significant risk of even higher global food prices.
Grappling with Grain Prices
We propose three global collective actions to meet these goals: the creation of a small emergency physical food reserve; an international co-ordinated global food reserve; and a virtual reserve. These actions bring together developed and developing countries for a sustainable policy response to a global crisis.
Policy Brief: Physical and Virtual Global Food Reserves to Protect the Poor and Prevent Market Failure
The current food crisis has several causes—rising demand for food and feed, biofuels, high oil prices, climate change, stagnant agricultural productivity growth—but there is increasing evidence that the crisis is being made worse by the malfunctioning of world grain markets. Given the thinness of major markets for cereals, the restrictions on grain exports imposed by … Continue reading Policy Brief: Physical and Virtual Global Food Reserves to Protect the Poor and Prevent Market Failure
Policy Brief: High Food Prices and the What, Who and How of Proposed Policy Actions
The complex causes of the current food and agriculture crisis require a comprehensive response. In view of the urgency of assisting people and countries in need, policy actions—an emergency package—consist of steps that can yield immediate impact.
