World Food Situation Research Articles

Joachim von Braun and Rajul Pandya-Lorch (eds.). Food Policy for the Poor: Expanding the Research Frontiers: Highlights from 30 Years of IFPRI Research. Washington, D. C.: IFPRI, 2005. 253 Pages. Price not given.

The research of the past 30 years at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is highlighted in this volume. The topic is food and nutrition security. Of related concern are the development strategies that impact on technologies for agricultural production, resource management, conflicts and natural disasters, subsidies and safety nets, gender roles, and health. The book consists of nine chapters. The first chapter discusses a changing IFPRI in a changing world. The current and future world food situation is analysed and ways are suggested to increase agricultural production and to explore policies for improving production, trade, and distribution of food so that an increase in the quantity and quality of food would be available for all people. IFPRI has heightened its efforts to raise the awareness about emerging food security issues. In particular, its “2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture, and the Environment” initiative is aimed at promoting policy actions that will lead to food and nutrition security.

Global Agriculture: Vision and Approaches

The perceived limits to producing food for a growing global population have been a source of debate and preoccupations for ages. Experts and the public alike seem to alternate between pessimism and optimism, anxiety and complacency, about the world food situation and outlook. Agriculture in the 21st century has multiple challenges. Globally, Agriculture it seems is back on the development agenda to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. The main objective of the paper is to analyse and trace insights of past and present of global agriculture and frame new vision of it. The status of global agriculture in general and continents and country-wise policies in particular from 61 countries of 6 continents were collected and insights are analyzed. These continent-wide policies can safeguard each country’s independence. New Vision for Agriculture calls for a new approach. The new approach of global leaders has aligned around the New Vision for Agriculture. Development of a “Road map for Achievement of the Vision is providing a framework for action and collaboration for global leaders. These includes exchanging ideas, collaborating with international scientists and agricultural institutions is part of the solution. The study found that agriculture must be global agenda in future and all countries should fix minimum support price policy must be world prices with 20% extra. The “double by 2050” analysis from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization revealed that food production in the developing countries would need to almost double The study found that developing countries have witnessed higher demands (2025) for wheat, maize, soybean, pig meat, poultry meat, sheep meat, beef and veal, whereas developed countries have witnessed higher demands for sugar. The globe has to develop a new strategy and global policies to meet the requirements of the rice. The future task of CGIAR&FAO must act as intelligent think tank on acquaint, analyse global research knowledge on future technologies, inventions, income models, latitude based science, space technologies, farm computer, Global Agricultural Growth and Policy coordination, climate financing, genetically modified crops on Mars, understanding too many variable effects on agriculture, digital agriculture, industrial farming, International Agricultural Education and transfer to capacity building of NARES System.

Global food security: assessing trends in view of guiding future EU policies

Purpose A foresight process was put in place to examine potential developments that can affect the world food situation in 2030 to identify the most useful areas for European Union (EU) policy intervention. Design/methodology/approach Four interactive workshops involving over 100 experts were organised. The structure of the foresight was designed based on the following five objectives: envision the future of food systems, agree on the most crucial drivers of change affecting food security, reach a consensus on a likely vision for 2030, challenge this vision and analyse current policies and policy needs in terms of responsiveness and resilience to food security future challenges. Findings The study contains four key messages accompanied by several related policy recommendations for the immediate and medium term to enable the EU to contribute to achieving food security by 2030. These refer to the transformation of agriculture production systems, the enabling environment, trends in production and consumption and demand-driven food systems as important determinants of sustainable food security. The study recommends a stronger coherence and coordination between different EU policies impacting food security. The development of urban areas is an overlooked challenge for food security as well as the contribution of trade and demand-side dynamics. Originality/value This is one of the very few attempts to look at food security with a system approach. A new paradigm shift is proposed: securing “regular” access to adequate food for the majority of the 8-9 billion people who will live on earth in the period 2030-2050, while addressing the food insecurity of a fraction of that total, is how a future European food security policy should be approached.

Biofuels and the Future of Food: Competition and Complementarities

In this paper, we draw the key linkages between future biofuels growth on agricultural commodity prices, and highlight some of the key uncertainties over OECD fuel and energy policies, and their implications for global agricultural markets and the world food situation. Our results show some of the implications that biofuels expansion has on crop area expansion in regions where environmental concerns exist over land use change and the possible impacts on the environment. We also point to some promising areas for future research and specify some implications for policy interventions.

Exploring definitions of food insecurity and vulnerability: time to refocus assessments

Recent high food prices and changes in the world food situation are exacerbating the conditions of households that are vulnerable to food insecurity, especially those with weak livelihood strategies. To address the impact of these and other stressors it is necessary to develop a deeper understanding of concepts such as ‘vulnerability’ and ‘food insecurity’. This is challenging as both concepts are used rather loosely in the food security despite both having at least two dimensions. Vulnerability has an external and internal dimension, and food insecurity has a temporal and intensity dimension. However, assessments are often only concerned with one dimension at a time. An exploration of the two concepts suggests that in both cases the dimensions need to be combined in order to understand the different interactions and the interconnections between different dimensions and the multiple levels of the systems in which they are embedded. This combination of dimensions is important for understanding the significant role that livelihoods play in the accumulation of assets and for accessing food. It makes the understanding of the multiple causes and consequences of vulnerability and food insecurity for different households clearer. Those households and individuals considered chronically poor or food-insecure are likely to experience severe food insecurity in the long-term, as a result of their weak livelihoods and minimal assets. Consequently, future studies on vulnerability to food insecurity should focus on these chronically food insecure households in order to determine the multidimensional nature of the stressors they experience and their ability to cope and adapt to these stressors. This would contribute to our understanding of the contexts in which the data from larger quantitative studies are embedded.

WORSENING world food situation.

Journal Article The Worsening World Food Situation Get access Nutrition Reviews, Volume 11, Issue 4, April 1953, Pages 111–112, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.1953.tb01302.x Published: 01 April 1953

Inpacts of Bio-fuel on World Food Situation

Inpacts of Bio-fuel on World Food Situation

Direction of Japan's Agricultural Policy Responding to the Recent World Food Situation

Direction of Japan's Agricultural Policy Responding to the Recent World Food Situation

The International Food Policy Research Institute on the World Food Situation

Population and Development ReviewVolume 34, Issue 2 p. 373-380 The International Food Policy Research Institute on the World Food Situation First published: 28 June 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2008.00225.xCitations: 1AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume34, Issue2June 2008Pages 373-380 RelatedInformation

Diet shifts towards meat and the effects on cereal use: can we feed the animals in 2030?

The paper argues that current international projections of meat and feed demand may underestimate future consumption patterns, for mainly two reasons: demand projections are based on income extrapolation with an assumed demand elasticity and feed requirements per unit of meat are taken to be fixed. Instead, we propose a structural specification that includes a dietary shift towards meat as per capita income increases, and we account for a shift from traditional to cereal intensive feeding technologies. Our finding is that under the commonly assumed growth rates of per capita income, world cereal feed demand will be significantly higher in the coming 30 years than is currently projected by international organizations, even if we allow for price effects. Compared to other factors that are generally expected to affect the future world food situation, the quantitative impact of the increased cereal feed demand greatly exceeds that of GMOs and climate change in the coming three decades.

Transgenic foods as a tool for malnutrition elimination and their impact on agricultural systems.

GMO crops were introduced for commercial production in 1996. Since then, their use has increased rapidly. GMOs have primarily benefited large farms and multinational companies in Industrialised Countries and now is more and more debating their utilisation in Developing World. The objective of the present review is an analysis of this subject from a comprehensive point of view; in addition to that, the changes related to the nutritional content of transgenic foods will be treated. Despite the progress that has been made, the world food situation is still marked by mass hunger and chronic malnutrition. In particular micronutrient malnutrition, that means vitamin and mineral deficiencies, represents an important public health problem in several areas of the world. The "golden rice" bioengineered to contain beta-carotene, as a source of vitamin A is the most famous example of GM food used for reduction (or even to solve) of a public health problem. The expected results of this approach have presently not been achieved. Further studies are necessary to increase the general knowledge about GMOs and their long-term effects on human health. Collaborative attitude of different research sectors (private and public) and involvement of different sectors of society will be an added value for comprehension of the real impact of the application of modern biotechnology to food and agriculture systems.

Traditional food formulation and its future: Examples from South Asia

Globally, three major problems faced by humanity are population explosion; insufficient production of food (especially so in the South Asian countries); and underdevelopment. These problems are interdependent and need to be tackled soon. Among various factors that limit the world's population, it is undoubtedly the scarcity of food that is most obvious even to a lay person because food is essential for survival. The scarcity of food also brings about recognizably disastrous effects, some of which have already been witnessed. This means that agricultural output, especially those of the waning food crops, must increase enormously over a brief period if the world food situation is to improve. This is a challenge that will confront humanity on the threshold of the centuries to come. In the aforementioned context it would be apt and important to consider innovation of region‐specific traditional food crops and exploration of novel foods that will strengthen feeding systems in the present changing times, and contribute to food security and better nutritional values. The present paper has attempted to illustrate some examples from South Asia.

L'alimentation dans le monde et les politiques publiques de lutte contre la faim

En ce début de XXIe siècle, la situation mondiale de l’alimentation est très contrastée : d’un côté, abondance, voire suralimentation, pour quelque 1,3 milliard de personnes vivant dans les pays développés surtout ; d’un autre côté, faim continuelle pour environ 800 millions d’individus vivant dans les pays en développement principalement. L’évolution de l’alimentation dans le monde au cours des dernières d é c e n n i e s d u X X e s i è c l e f u t é g a l e m e n t t r è s contradictoire. On peut distinguer deux grands courants d’analyse des causes de la faim, illustrés par T.R. Malthus et par A.K. Sen. Depuis longtemps, dans de nombreux pays, les pouvoirs publics ont pris des mesures très variées pour lutter contre ce fléau. Mais, compte tenu de sa persistance, il faut bien admettre l’échec global de ces politiques.

Comida e antropologia: uma breve revisão

Este trabalho é uma revisão de certas tendências na pesquisa antropológica sobre a comida: do estudo de comunidades e sociedades supostamente auto-contidas a obras sobre certas mercadorias (como açúcar, arroz ou atum), o sistema mundial de alimentos, o cultivo de alimentos etnicamente neutralizados, a situação alimentar mundial, a fome e possíveis implicações no futuro. Mostra-se que a globalização é muito mais antiga do que em geral se reconhece. A difusão da fast food ocidental é acompanhada pela das cozinhas asiáticas; e o Terceiro Mundo aposta em repetir a experiência ocidental em consumo excessivo de proteína animal. A sustentabilidade e a saúde continuam ideais distantes.

The Future World Food Situation and the Role of Plant Diseases

The Future World Food Situation and the Role of Plant Diseases

The future world food situation and the role of plant diseases

(2000). The future world food situation and the role of plant diseases. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology: Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 321-331.

Resisting Homelessness: Global, National, and Local Solutions

ed by ]. V. Riker and E. McCollim. Silver Spring, MD: Bread for the World Institute, in press. . 2000c. Overcoming the Challenges to Solving Hunger Worldwide. In A Program to End Hunger, edited by ]. V. Riker and E. McCollim. Silver Spring, MD: Bread for the World Institute, in press. Messer, E., and L. F. DeRose. 1998. Shortage. Pp. 53-91 in Who's Hungry? And How Do We Know? edited by L. DeRose et al. New York: United Nations University Press. Millman, S. R., and L. F. DeRose. 1998. Deprivation. Pp. 131-63 in Who's Hungry? Arld How Do We Know? edited by L. DeRose et al. New York: United Nations University Press. Nelson, P. 1999. Changing Politics of Hunger in Poor Countries. Pp. 20-30 in The Changing Politics of Silver Spring, MD: Bread for the World Institute. Pinstrup-Andersen, P., R. Pandya-Lorch, and M. W. Rosegrant. 1997. The World Food Situation. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. Poppendieck, ]. 1998. Sweet Charity? New York: Viking. Riker, ]. V., and E. McCollim. 2000. Program for Action: Major Policies to Eradicate Hunger. In A Program to End Hunger, edited by J. V. Riker and E. McCollim. Silver Spring, MD: Bread for the World Institute, in press. Riker, J. V., and P. Nelson. 1999. Political Strategies to End Hunger. Pp. 90-99 in The Changing Politics of Hunger: Silver Spring, MD: Bread for the World Institute. Rosset, P. 1999. Multiple Functions and Benefits of Small Farm Agriculture in the Context of Global Trade Negotiations. Policy Brief No. 4. Oakland, CA: Institute for Food and Development Policy. Sen, A. K. 1981. Poverty and Famines . Oxford: Clarendon Press. Shapouri, S., and S. Rosen. 1999. Food Security Assessment: Countries Are At Risk. Washington, DC: Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Simon, J . 1981. The Ultimate Resource. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Singer, M. 1999. Demographics: The Population Surprise. Atlantic Monthly 284:22-25. Swift, ]. 1989. Why Are Rural People Vulnerable to Famine? IDS (Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex) Bulletin 20:8-15. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 1999. Household Food Security in the United States, 1995-1998. Washington, DC: USDA. Uvin, P. 1996. State of World Hunger. Pp. 1-17 in The Hunger Rej?ort: 1995, edited by E. Messer and P. Uvin. Amsterdam: Gordon & Breach. Vaughan, M. 1987. The Story of African Famine: Gender and Famgne in Twenteth-Century Malawi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Watts, M. J., and H. G. Bohle. 1993. Space of Vulnerability: The Causal Structure of Hunger and Famine. Progress in Human Geography 17:43-67. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). 1987. Our Common Future. New York: Oxford University Press. Young, E. M. 1997. World Hunger . London: Routledge.

Food Security and World Trade Prospects

Food security depends on available world supplies of food, the income of the designated population, and the population's access to the available supplies. Consequently, though seldom recognized in national food security policies, there is a direct relationship between food security, world trade in food, and the domestic policies that govern access to international markets for food. On all three scores, I believe we can be optimistic about improvements in world food security over the next quarter century. Over the next quarter century, the world's supply of food will grow somewhat more rapidly than will the demand for it, leading to lower real prices of food. Thus, the trend of food prices, as measured by grain prices, is likely to continue the trend of the current century, though at a slower rate of decline.' The remarkable reduction in the international price of grain that has occurred in this century is given all too little emphasis in discussions of the world food situation, certainly so in the discussions of the food pessimists. I am confident that the real per capita incomes of the majority of the population in the developing countries will continue to increase, contributing to an improvement in food security. Finally, I believe that, with the changes in agricultural policies in the major industrial countries, world trade in farm products, especially grains, will be further liberalized in the future. In addition, more and more developing countries are reducing barriers to trade, thus increasing access to world food supplies. Thus, all the broad trends point o an improvement in world food security and a reduction in the number of persons adversely affected by both long-term or short-term inadequate access to food. This does not mean that in every country food security will improve. Some governments may continue to follow national and trade policies related to food that restrict domestic food production, limit the growth of per capita incomes, and restrict access to the available world food supplies. When this happens, food security and adequacy will not be im roved or not improved as much as they po entially could be. At this time, there can be little doubt that the poor performance of agriculture and the insecurity of food supplies in sub-Saharan Africa over the past quarter century have been due primarily to inappropriate policies-to policies that discriminated against agriculture and resulted in large-scale governmental interventions in international trade. Misgovernment plus civil and ethnic wars have exacted and continue to exact a

Implications of sustainable agriculture for the world food situation

Abstract World population growth rate has slowed since the early 1970s, but growth in world grain production has slowed further. As a result, per capita grain production has declined since 1983. Conventional farming practices that use heavy chemical applications and high‐yielding varieties have resulted in soil erosion, depletion of natural resources, contamination of the environment, and reduced biodiversity; and threaten to diminish the world's ability to sustain life of all kinds. If these trends persist, the earth may not sustain an adequate level of food production. Transition to sustainable agricultural practices could presumably prevent most of this degradation but may not produce adequate supplies of food to meet the growing demand. Although yields from sustainable agricultural farms can be as high as those from conventional farms, food production per acre of rotation generally declines because sustainable farms need to incorporate green manure crops and forage legumes into their rotations. Theref...

A fair share for all?

Poverty leads the list of worlds problems. Further about 1000 million people in the world live securely and have at their disposal a super abundance of resources. In fact 1 family in the rich world consumes more energy and produces more pollution than 30 rural families in the poor world. Yet the poor continue to be blamed for destroying our planet. Regardless of what many may claim to belong to either the poverty or super abundant or even some intermediary groups is a matter of birth not of perseverance and saving. The most outrageous example of inequality in the world is the world food situation. Supermarkets in rich countries have a hugh variety of foods which often contribute to chronic diseases whereas those in poor countries where most of the food is produced do not eat enough due to lack of funds. Indeed large food processing countries buy raw food products inexpensively and by processing packaging and advertising inflate finished product prices so high that only the richest can afford it. Developed countries give about US$60/inhabitant/year to developing countries which does not compare to the large flow of money from the poor to the rich countries. Developing countries need a health infrastructure that promotes proper nutrition and prevention of communicable diseases but developed countries send sophisticated computerized diagnostic techniques. Research shows that a diet full of vegetables and fruit with only small amounts of animal products and high energy foods is what our bodies can best digest and which protects us against chronic diseases. So we do not need to kill so many animals grow so much grain for fodder or to destroy forests to introduce grazing. Indeed we can eat and live in harmony with nature but will we before 2000?