What's New

International coffee markets are changing quickly due to market liberalization, increasingly stringent quality and safety standards, and the development of specialty coffee markets.  Coffee production takes place primarily in developing countries, and such changes could have significant impacts on smallholder coffee producers. In Africa south of the Sahara, Ethiopia represents the largest coffee market actor, and the country’s coffee sector has seen improved productivity and increased prices in recent years.

FEWS Net has recently released regional updates for East Africa and West Africa , as well as a food security alert for the Horn of Africa .

Since the food price crisis of 2007-2008, there has been significant attention paid to the issue of price transmission from global to national markets, particularly in developing regions such as Africa south of the Sahara. A new paper published in the Journal of Agricultural Economics looks at seven key food security crops in Nigeria - maize, millet, sorghum, rice, cassava, yams, and cowpeas - to assess local (both urban and rural), regional, and international price transmission.

The FAO Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) has released updated country briefs for Ethiopia and Tanzania. These briefs provide up-to-date food security and agricultural information, as well as forecasts for cereal imports and production and other food security-related indicators.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have vast potential for improving agriculture and food security and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ICTs can contribute to agriculture in a variety of ways, from helping farmers get fair prices for their produce to increasing agricultural yields.