New from IFPRI on Central Africa

Les points forts des recherches récentes de l’IFPRI enmatière depolitiques alimentaires en Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre

admin — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:52:47 -0400

À la suite des crises alimentaires du début des années 1970 et de la Conférence mondiale de l’alimentation de 1974 qui en a résulté, un groupe de visionnaires novateurs a compris que la sécurité alimentaire ne dépendait pas uniquement de la production agricole, mais également des politiques portant sur l’ensemble des systèmes alimentaires, de la ferme à la table.

Patterns of growth and structural transformation in Africa

PDF file:

brochure2013_wcao_fr.pdf(927KB)

Highlights of recent IFPRI food policy research in the West and Central Africa region

admin — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:34:43 -0400

In the wake of the food crises of the early 1970s and the resulting World Food Conference of 1974, a group of innovators realized that food security depends not only on crop production but also on the policies that affect an entire food system, from farm to table. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) was founded in 1975, the same year as the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, which formally created the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Patterns of growth and structural transformation in Africa

PDF file:

brochure2013_wcao.pdf(936.7KB)

CAADP’s 10-Year Report Card: An evaluation of a premier program for investment in agriculture

Rebecca Sullivan — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:53:38 -0400

Investment in the African agricultural sector was largely in a state of decline until the early 2000s, followed by what became known as Africa’s “decade of growth.” Between the years 2001-2010, investment in the sector grew more than 3 percent per year, overtaking population growth on the continent for the first time in decades.

Fickle food prices in Africa: Fact or fiction?

Rebecca Sullivan — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:54:10 -0400

Just as the sun rises and sets, food price volatility—the variation in food prices over time—is a given these days. Once unexpected price instabilities have now become routine in the era following the food crisis of 2007-2008. For poor households, which spend more than 60 percent of their income on food, price shocks are, indeed, shocks to a struggling family’s bottom line. For example, farmers find it difficult to know what type of crop and how much of it to plant, leading to shortages and lost incomes.

Índice global del hambre 2012

admin — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:48:44 -0400

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El informe del GHI de 2012 se centra particularmente en el problema de cómo garantizar la seguridad alimentaria sostenible en situaciones de escasez de agua, tierras y energía. Los recursos naturales están sujetos a serias presiones a causa de los cambios demográficos, los ingresos crecientes y sus patrones asociados de consumo, el cambio climático, la pobreza persistente y políticas e instituciones inadecuadas.

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2012 Global Hunger Index - Background Facts and Key Findings

2012 Global Hunger Index - Country case study: Sierra Leone

2012 Global Hunger Index - Fact Sheet: Africa

Índice Global del Hambre 2011

PDF file:

ghi12es.pdf(4.2MB)

Social Protection in West Africa

admin — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 11:00:08 -0400

Demand for social protection programs within more empowered segments of the poor population in African societies will be on the rise due to the historically high levels of poverty, faster economic growth, rapid urbanization, and increasingly open, pluralistic political systems. Resources required to meet this future demand will be substantial and are bound to compete with investments required to accelerate and broaden the current economic recovery process. But countries that fail to address the demand are likely to face social as well as political unrest.

Investing in African agriculture to halve poverty by 2015

Emerging policies and partnerships under CAADP

PDF file:

wcaotn03.pdf(657.6KB)

2012 Global Hunger Index

admin — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 04:15:22 -0400

Download Full Report

The 2012 GHI report focuses particularly on the issue of how to ensure sustainable food security under conditions of water, land, and energy stress. Demographic changes, rising incomes and associated consumption patterns, and climate change, alongside persistent poverty and inadequate policies and institutions, are all placing serious pressure on natural resources.

div class="pullquote" markdown="1">##2012 GHI##
* Related brief

2012 Global Hunger Index - Background Facts and Key Findings

2012 Global Hunger Index - Country case study: Sierra Leone

2012 Global Hunger Index - Country case study: Tanzania

2012 Global Hunger Index - Fact Sheet: Africa

2012 Global Hunger Index - Fact Sheet: Asia

2012 Global Hunger Index

PDF file:

ghi12.pdf(4.4MB)

2012 Global Hunger Index

admin — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 03:50:25 -0400

The 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report—the seventh in an annual series—presents a multidimensional measure of global, regional, and national hunger. It shows that progress in reducing the proportion of hungry people in the world has been tragically slow. According to the index, hunger on a global scale remains “serious.” The 2012 GHI report also focuses particularly on how to ensure sustainable food security under conditions of land, water, and energy stress.

2012 Global Hunger Index

2012 Global Hunger Index - Background Facts and Key Findings

2012 Global Hunger Index - Country case study: Sierra Leone

2012 Global Hunger Index - Country case study: Tanzania

2012 Global Hunger Index - Fact Sheet: Africa

2012 Global Hunger Index - Fact Sheet: Asia

PDF file:

ib70.pdf(665.5KB)

2012 Global Hunger Index - Fact Sheet: Africa

admin — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 11:41:03 -0400

Among all of the countries ranked in the 2012 GHI, Burundi has the highest score and thus the highest level of hunger.

In Burundi, the proportion of undernourished people has been rising. The prevalence of child underweight has declined since 2000, but remains one of the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Increased hunger in Burundi, Comoros, and Côte d’Ivoire since 1990 can be attributed to prolonged conflict and political instability.

The regional 2012 GHI score for Sub-Saharan Africa is 16 percent lower than the 1990 score.

2012 Global Hunger Index - Background Facts and Key Findings

2012 Global Hunger Index - Fact Sheet: Asia

2012 Global Hunger Index - Country case study: Sierra Leone

2012 Global Hunger Index - Country case study: Tanzania

2012 Global Hunger Index

PDF file:

ghi2012fsafrica.pdf(73KB)

Perennials are a Plus to Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:38:44 -0400

Planting trees and perennials (plants that live for two or more years) with food crops is a cost-effective way for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa to boost yields and maximize limited resources, says a new Nature article co-authored by IFPRI’s Cindy Cox.

The practice, called perenniation, improves soil fertility, which is one of the greatest challenges facing these farmers.