Unprecedented extreme weather events linked to climate change are contributing to the current global food and energy price crisis and severely impacting livelihoods and food and nutrition security. In this context, expectations are high for the 27th Conference of the Parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) taking place under the Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

African smallholders face many risks and uncertainty in the face of climate change and other shocks. Economic, health and environmental crises exacerbate resilience; take for example the COVID-19 pandemic and the escalating food and fertilizer prices resulting from the conflict in Ukraine. The unavailability and nearly four-fold price increase of fertilizer will affect food production and prices in Africa.

During the pandemic’s first year, a global task force of food safety experts was created using a “train the trainer” approach to provide risk mitigation outreach for the food system workforce in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal, and Senegal. Through live, online office hours and downloadable, translated resources, the team countered misinformation and shared best practices to keep food businesses open. The global food system continues to face challenges from conflict, climate change, and other disruptions.

The 2022 Global Food Policy Report, IFPRI’s flagship report, highlights the urgency of accelerating innovation, reforming policies, resetting market incentives, and increasing financing for sustainable food systems transformation. It sets forth a broad range of policy options for accelerated action by policymakers as well as international forums for policy and investment decision-making.

Organized by IFPRI and WASCAL, this collaborative seminar will address issues, constraints, and challenges to developing resilience to climate change and achieving food security in West Africa.

IFPRI is participating in the African Green Revolution Forum 2021 (AGRF).

The AGRF 2021 Summit is a defining moment in highlighting and unlocking the political, policy, and financial commitments and innovations the continent has made and that it continues to work towards achieving. It is about advancing the commitments made at the Malabo Heads of State Summit and working hard to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Acute food insecurity continued to rise in 2020, driven by the pandemic shock, ongoing conflicts, and extreme weather. The number of people needing urgent food and livelihood assistance hit a five-year high. The 2021 Global Report on Food Crises (published by the Food Security Information Network for the Global Network Against Food Crises) finds that at least 155 million people experienced acute food insecurity at crisis level or worse — up about 20 million from 2019.

In the 2021 Global Food Policy Report, IFPRI researchers and experts explore the impacts of the pandemic and government policy responses to date, particularly for the poor and disadvantaged, and consider what it all means for transforming our food systems to be healthy, resilient, efficient, sustainable, and inclusive.