Blog Category

Risk and Resilience

Policies to Reduce High-Risk Coping Mechanisms: Evidence from Mali

• by Sara Gustafson

How households respond to systemic shocks—food price volatility, seasonal fluctuations in agricultural production, conflict, pandemics, and extreme weather events—can play an important role in long-term food security, economic stability, and resilience at both the household and the societal level. A new project paper from the CGIAR Initiative on Fragility, Conflict, and Migration finds that in Mali, the coping mechanisms households resort to in the face of such shocks are often high-risk and reactionary.

From risk to resilience: How strategic government partnerships can enhance access to insurance-linked credit for smallholders in Zambia

• by Martina Mascarenhas, Anne G. Timu, and Liangzhi You

Smallholder farmers across the globe produce over a third of the world’s food supply, yet they receive a disproportionately small share of global climate finance. A 2020 report released by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) shows that less than 2% of international climate finance, amounting to approximately $2 billion, was allocated to smallholder farmers in 2017/2018.

Resilience in Rwanda: New Brief Looks at Impact of Economic Shock

• by Sara Gustafson

On January 12, 2024, trade between Rwanda and Burundi came to a halt when the border crossing was unexpectedly closed. Food prices in Rwanda may have been expected to fluctuate more than normal as a result—both falling prices for commodities typically exported to Burundi that instead began flooding local markets and rising prices for commodities typically imported from Burundi that faced suddenly limited local supply.

Sudan food emergency: Unpacking the scale of the disaster and the actions needed

• by Oliver Kiptoo Kirui

The United Nations recently warned of the risk of famine in Sudan. The war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed civilians and devastated livelihoods on a massive scale. Around 18 million people are already acutely hungry, including 3.6 million children who are acutely malnourished.

IFPRI Research Fellow Oliver Kiptoo Kirui, who co-authored the recent IFPRI-UNDP Sudan National Household Survey report—conducted in the midst of war—provides insights on the scale of the country’s food emergency.

Acute Food Insecurity Expected to Rise in West Africa and the Sahel

• by Sara Gustafson

Food insecurity is escalating in West Africa and the Sahel region, according to the latest Regional Report on Food Security and Nutrition in West Africa and the Sahel (RRSAN) from the Food Security Information Network (FSIN). Between June and August 2024, as many as 50 million people across 16 countries could face CH Phase 3 (Crisis) or above food insecurity.