IFPRI Podcast

Panelist Dan Glickman, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Congressional Program Antiglobalism was on the rise in 2017. What will that mean for food security and nutrition? IFPRI’s 2018 Global Food Policy Report examines the impacts of global integration—including the movement of goods, investment, people, and knowledge—and the threat of current antiglobalization pressures. This seventh annual report also provides perspective on the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2017 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2018.

Panelist: Shanta Devarajan, Acting Chief Economist and Senior Director for Development Economics (DEC), World Bank Group Antiglobalism was on the rise in 2017. What will that mean for food security and nutrition? IFPRI’s 2018 Global Food Policy Report examines the impacts of global integration—including the movement of goods, investment, people, and knowledge—and the threat of current antiglobalization pressures. This seventh annual report also provides perspective on the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2017 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2018.

KEYNOTE: Shenggen Fan, Director General, IFPRI Antiglobalism was on the rise in 2017. What will that mean for food security and nutrition? IFPRI’s 2018 Global Food Policy Report examines the impacts of global integration—including the movement of goods, investment, people, and knowledge—and the threat of current antiglobalization pressures. This seventh annual report also provides perspective on the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2017 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2018.

Panelist: Catherine Bertini, Distinguished Fellow, Global Food and Agriculture, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs; and Fellow, Rockefeller Foundation Antiglobalism was on the rise in 2017. What will that mean for food security and nutrition? IFPRI’s 2018 Global Food Policy Report examines the impacts of global integration—including the movement of goods, investment, people, and knowledge—and the threat of current antiglobalization pressures. This seventh annual report also provides perspective on the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2017 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2018.

IFPRI Policy Seminar: The cocoa coast: The board-managed cocoa sector in Ghana – 3/8/2018 Speaker: Shashidhara Kolavalli, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI After almost 20 years of declining cocoa production, Ghana has been able in the last decade to increase the share of export prices going to producers, more than doubling production. Contrary to Washington Consensus prescriptions, these accomplishments were achieved through reforms but without liberalization of domestic and export marketing. The Cocoa Coast: The Board-Managed Cocoa Sector in Ghana seeks to understand the success of a sector that was not liberalized.

IFPRI Policy Seminar: The cocoa coast: The board-managed cocoa sector in Ghana – 3/8/2018 Panelist: Simran Sethi, Fellow, Institute for Food and Development Policy After almost 20 years of declining cocoa production, Ghana has been able in the last decade to increase the share of export prices going to producers, more than doubling production. Contrary to Washington Consensus prescriptions, these accomplishments were achieved through reforms but without liberalization of domestic and export marketing. The Cocoa Coast: The Board-Managed Cocoa Sector in Ghana seeks to understand the success of a sector that was not liberalized.

IFPRI Policy Seminar: The cocoa coast: The board-managed cocoa sector in Ghana – 3/8/2018 Panelist: Bill Guyton, Founder, Guyton Strategies International After almost 20 years of declining cocoa production, Ghana has been able in the last decade to increase the share of export prices going to producers, more than doubling production. Contrary to Washington Consensus prescriptions, these accomplishments were achieved through reforms but without liberalization of domestic and export marketing. The Cocoa Coast: The Board-Managed Cocoa Sector in Ghana seeks to understand the success of a sector that was not liberalized.

IFPRI Policy Seminar: The cocoa coast: The board-managed cocoa sector in Ghana – 3/8/2018 Panelist: His Excellency Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah, Ambassador of the Republic of Ghana to the United States of America After almost 20 years of declining cocoa production, Ghana has been able in the last decade to increase the share of export prices going to producers, more than doubling production. Contrary to Washington Consensus prescriptions, these accomplishments were achieved through reforms but without liberalization of domestic and export marketing. The Cocoa Coast: The Board-Managed Cocoa Sector in Ghana seeks to understand the success of a sector that was not liberalized.

Karen Macours, Professor, Paris School of Economics and Chair, Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA) of the ISPC In 2015-16, the Standing Panel on Impact Assessment commissioned a set of studies to document the adoption and impact of five well-recognized natural resource practices that were developed, adapted, and promoted by CGIAR centers, research programs and its partners. The practices—conservation agriculture, fertilizer tree systems, alternate wetting and drying (AWD), integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), and micro-dosing of fertilizer—were all expected to enjoy large-scale acceptance among smallholder farmers where they were promoted in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Results have landed and they are sobering. The low adoption rates reported by these studies provide an important reality check on the returns to some natural resources management (NRM) research investments, and suggests the need to rethink the impact pathways through which NRM research is expected to contribute to sustainable development outcomes—outcomes that nonetheless depend acutely on changes in the way we manage scarce natural resources. This policy seminar provides insights from economics, integrated landscape strategies, and geospatial analytics to recommend ways forward for NRM research that most effectively contribute to the development of sustainable production systems, while also highlighting innovative methods and tools to evaluate adoption and impact more precisely.

Sara Scherr, President and CEO, EcoAgriculture Partners In 2015-16, the Standing Panel on Impact Assessment commissioned a set of studies to document the adoption and impact of five well-recognized natural resource practices that were developed, adapted, and promoted by CGIAR centers, research programs and its partners. The practices—conservation agriculture, fertilizer tree systems, alternate wetting and drying (AWD), integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), and micro-dosing of fertilizer—were all expected to enjoy large-scale acceptance among smallholder farmers where they were promoted in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Results have landed and they are sobering. The low adoption rates reported by these studies provide an important reality check on the returns to some natural resources management (NRM) research investments, and suggests the need to rethink the impact pathways through which NRM research is expected to contribute to sustainable development outcomes—outcomes that nonetheless depend acutely on changes in the way we manage scarce natural resources. This policy seminar provides insights from economics, integrated landscape strategies, and geospatial analytics to recommend ways forward for NRM research that most effectively contribute to the development of sustainable production systems, while also highlighting innovative methods and tools to evaluate adoption and impact more precisely.

James Stevenson, Agricultural Research Officer, CGIAR Standing Panel on Impact Assessment Secretariat, based in FAO In 2015-16, the Standing Panel on Impact Assessment commissioned a set of studies to document the adoption and impact of five well-recognized natural resource practices that were developed, adapted, and promoted by CGIAR centers, research programs and its partners. The practices—conservation agriculture, fertilizer tree systems, alternate wetting and drying (AWD), integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), and micro-dosing of fertilizer—were all expected to enjoy large-scale acceptance among smallholder farmers where they were promoted in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Results have landed and they are sobering. The low adoption rates reported by these studies provide an important reality check on the returns to some natural resources management (NRM) research investments, and suggests the need to rethink the impact pathways through which NRM research is expected to contribute to sustainable development outcomes—outcomes that nonetheless depend acutely on changes in the way we manage scarce natural resources. This policy seminar provides insights from economics, integrated landscape strategies, and geospatial analytics to recommend ways forward for NRM research that most effectively contribute to the development of sustainable production systems, while also highlighting innovative methods and tools to evaluate adoption and impact more precisely.

Frank Place, Senior Research Fellow, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) In 2015-16, the Standing Panel on Impact Assessment commissioned a set of studies to document the adoption and impact of five well-recognized natural resource practices that were developed, adapted, and promoted by CGIAR centers, research programs and its partners. The practices—conservation agriculture, fertilizer tree systems, alternate wetting and drying (AWD), integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), and micro-dosing of fertilizer—were all expected to enjoy large-scale acceptance among smallholder farmers where they were promoted in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Results have landed and they are sobering. The low adoption rates reported by these studies provide an important reality check on the returns to some natural resources management (NRM) research investments, and suggests the need to rethink the impact pathways through which NRM research is expected to contribute to sustainable development outcomes—outcomes that nonetheless depend acutely on changes in the way we manage scarce natural resources. This policy seminar provides insights from economics, integrated landscape strategies, and geospatial analytics to recommend ways forward for NRM research that most effectively contribute to the development of sustainable production systems, while also highlighting innovative methods and tools to evaluate adoption and impact more precisely.

The agricultural sector has long been viewed as a major driver of poverty reduction and food security in developing countries, but is now increasingly asked to contribute to reducing the global burden of undernutrition. The linkages between agriculture and nutrition are complex, however, and not well informed by a strong and relevant evidence base. This seminar presented results from an IFPRI-led project - “Advancing Research on Nutrition and Agriculture (AReNA)” - designed to advance this evidence base and address strategic policy questions on how agricultural policies can help improve human nutrition. Closing Remarks Shenggen Fan, Director General, IFPRI

The agricultural sector has long been viewed as a major driver of poverty reduction and food security in developing countries, but is now increasingly asked to contribute to reducing the global burden of undernutrition. The linkages between agriculture and nutrition are complex, however, and not well informed by a strong and relevant evidence base. This seminar presented results from an IFPRI-led project - “Advancing Research on Nutrition and Agriculture (AReNA)” - designed to advance this evidence base and address strategic policy questions on how agricultural policies can help improve human nutrition. Panelist • Leslie K. Elder, Senior Nutrition Specialist, Global Financing Facility, World Bank Group

The agricultural sector has long been viewed as a major driver of poverty reduction and food security in developing countries, but is now increasingly asked to contribute to reducing the global burden of undernutrition. The linkages between agriculture and nutrition are complex, however, and not well informed by a strong and relevant evidence base. This seminar presented results from an IFPRI-led project - “Advancing Research on Nutrition and Agriculture (AReNA)” - designed to advance this evidence base and address strategic policy questions on how agricultural policies can help improve human nutrition. Panelist William A. Masters, Professor, Tufts University