Teff plays a leading role in both the diets and the economy of Ethiopia. While the crop’s potential to expand into lucrative domestic and global export markets is large, however, little investment has been made to expand the crop’s productivity to take advantage of these opportunities. A new book from IFPRI, The Economics of Teff: Exploring Ethiopia’s Biggest Cash Crop , takes a look at the challenges faced by teff producers and how governments and private sector actors can work together to expand the crop’s role in global food markets.

On July 10, agricultural experts from Africa, Europe, and Asia met in Lilongwe, Malawi for the latest meeting of the Malabo Montpellier Forum . The Forum provides a platform for informed dialogue and exchange among African policy makers, politicians and decision-makers on African agriculture and food security.

In April 2016, the President of Malawi declared a state of emergency in response to the second consecutive year of failed maize harvests. Domestic maize production in early 2016 only reached 2.4 million metric tons, compared to the 3.2 metric tons harvested in an average year. The international aid community and the private sector responded with the Food Insecurity Response Program (FIRP), which provided aid to almost 40 percent of the Malawian population.

Gender equality plays a pivotal role in food security, poverty reduction, and overall development. In a new project note , an ongoing project from IFPRI’s Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division looks at how women in Africa can be better integrated into emerging high-value cash crop production markets.

This blog originally appeared on Agrilinks . By Sheryl Hendricks .

Dramatic change has been happening in Africa for at least the past decade. Much of the progress can be attributed to the revived focus on agriculture as a driver of inclusive economic growth through the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). The CAADP was initiated through the 2003 Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa and sought to achieve Millennium Development Goal One (MDG-1) to halve the turn of the century levels of extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

This post originally appeared on VoxDev . By Tanguy Bernard, Alan de Janvry, Samba Mbaye, and Elisabeth Sadoulet.

Agriculture market reforms that allow quality recognition enable farmers to capture higher prices and lead to adoption of better technology

The FAO Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) has released several new country briefs and updates for Africa south of the Sahara.

Variable rainfall could negatively impact agricultural production in southern Africa, according to reports from FEWS Net and the SADC’s Food Security Early Warning System (Agromet).

This piece originally appeared on the IFPRI.org blog .

By Xinshen Diao, Jed Silver, and Hiroyuki Takeshima

Ethiopia will continue to face significant food insecurity in 2018, according to several recent reports from FEWS Net and FAO GIEWS.