What's New

Extreme poverty and fragility are increasingly converging, and so must the policies and financing designed to address them. This was the central message of an October 17 policy seminar, Tackling Extreme Poverty and Financing for Food Systems in Africa, organized by IFPRI on the margins of the 2025 World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings in Washington, D.C.

As of September 2025, as many as 3.4 million people in Somalia were experiencing acute food insecurity, according to the latest IPC country-level alert. While this represents a reduction from 3.6 million in September 2024, that number could reach as high as 4.4 million by December 2025 unless urgent action is taken.

The Food Security Portal has released a new Spanish-language version of the Pro-WEAI )Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index) Fundamentals e-course. The course provides a comprehensive introduction to the pro-WEAI tool, including its background and methodology and how to apply the tool in local and project-level contests. The Fundamentals course is now available in English, French, Arabic, and Spanish. Four additional Pro-WEAI modules are available in English. 

IFPRI’s 2025 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) focuses on lessons learned over the institute’s 50 years of existence and how these can be applied to today’s challenges of transforming food systems to be sustainable, healthy, and equitable. Its insights are particularly valuable for Africa, which has tremendous potential for sustainable agricultural growth, yet faces many obstacles.

African agriculture holds immense economic potential, given the continent’s vast arable land and growing demand for food, and the growing demand for food globally—yet sub-Saharan Africa continues to play a marginal role in global agrifood markets. The current moment, however, offers a crucial opportunity for SSA to boost its competitiveness and reshape its role in global trade.

Trade preferences, limited progress