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by on January 30, 2009
Food prices have fallen significantly from their peak last year — but that doesn’t mean that policymakers can start to heave a sigh of relief.
For one thing, prices remain acutely problematic for poor people and poor countries at their current levels. Moreover, they are poised to resume their upwards climb when the world emerges from the downturn.
Accordingly, policymakers need to treat the current easing in prices as a window of opportunity in which to agree the comprehensive, long-term collective action needed to ensure food security for all in the 21st century.
This is the central argument of The Feeding of the Nine Billion, a new report on food prices and scarcity issues published by Chatham House.
The report argues that long term demand drivers — a population set to reach over 9 billion by mid-century, and the rising affluence and expectations of a growing ‘global middle class’ — are half the story: the World Bank forecasts 50% higher demand for food by 2030.
At the same time, scarcity issues will present increasing challenges on the supply side. Oil prices are set to resume their climb after the downturn, given that investment in new production has collapsed as oil prices have fallen, setting the stage for a future supply crunch.
Food prices are likely to follow them, as biofuels, fertiliser prices and transport costs play their part. Climate change, water scarcity and competition for land will all also push prices upwards over the longer term.
Photo: Curt Carnemark / World Bank
GlaxoSmithKline's bid to tackle neglected diseases receives a muted response from the rest of the industry. By: Declan Butler Published online 23 February 2009
Published on The Nature News http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090225/full/4571064a.html
Photo credit: Flickr/Wen-Yan King
Proposals to radically change the way the drug industry approaches neglected tropical diseases have prompted intense debate within the sector.
Andrew Witty, chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), outlined the suggestions in a speech on 13 February at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He committed GSK — the world's second-largest pharmaceutical company by sales — to sharing some of its patents to boost research into neglected diseases, and to making its drugs available more cheaply in the very poorest countries.
By: Andrea Sonnino, Zephaniah Dhlamini, Fabio Maria Santucci and Patrizio Warren, 2009
FAO's Research and Extension Division has just published "Socio-economic impacts of non-transgenic biotechnologies in developing countries: The case of plant micropropagation in Africa". The 75-page publication comprises three papers. The first, by A. Sonnino and co-authors, discusses some approaches used in impact assessment of innovations and presents a general overview of the literature about the impacts of non-transgenic biotechnologies. The second, by Z. Dhlamini and co-authors, surveys the extent of micropropagation application in Gabon, Mali, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The third, by P. Warren and co-authors, reports the findings of two field studies, on micropropagation of banana in Uganda and of sweetpotato in Zimbabwe, aimed at better understanding the process of adoption of micropropagated planting materials and its impacts on livelihoods.
See http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0340e/i0340e00.htm or contact charlotte.lietaer@fao.org to request a copy, providing your full postal address.
| Author(s): Social Development Division (ESID) |
| Economic Sector(s): (1) Health policy and health systems development ; (2) Protection and promotion of health; (3) Social welfare and services and social security |
IFRI Issue Brief No. 59; February 2009
There are no easy solutions to the ongoing food price crisis. Maize and wheat prices doubled between 2003 and 2008, and the price of rice doubled in the first four months of 2008, rising 33 percent in a single day. Even with declines in food prices later in 2008, prices remain well above 2000–2005 levels. To address the complex causes of this phenomenon, IFPRI has recommended a combination of “emergency” and “resilience” actions. One of the proposed policies emphasizes the need to boost agricultural production. This “emergency” agriculture package requires carefully targeted subsidies to ensure increases in production of major foodcrops (rice, wheat, and maize) in favorable environments with good soils, moisture, and market infrastructure. Following the Green Revolution model, delivery of improved varieties of seed, fertilizers, and other inputs, along with targeted, short-term subsidies, would augment production through higher yields rather than area expansion, so that scarce land can be reserved for other crops and uses.
The symposium on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Agriculture and Food (ISDA) will be held at Montpellier France, at the Corum Convention Center, 28 June-1 July 2010. The call for papers is now open! Send your submission to: isda@supagro.inra.fr
Deadlines:
July 1, 2009: opening of the pre-registration
September 15, 2009: deadline for abstracts submission
December 1, 2009: notification to authors
March 31, 2010: deadline for early-bird registration
May 31, 2010: deadline for full registration
20 May 2009
Source:American Agricultural Economics Association conference paper
Author:Genti Kostandini et al.
This paper from researchers at U.S. universities and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) examines what financial benefits might be expected from the introduction of drought tolerant genetically modified (GM) maize, rice, and wheat in eight developing countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, and South Africa.) The paper estimates that the benefits would be "substantial." The framework employed uses country-specific agroecological-drought risk zones and considers both yield increases and yield variance reductions when estimating producer and consumer benefits from GM research. While GM research for drought resistance is still in its infancy initial results appear very promising for the millions of poor in the more marginal rain-fed agricultural areas of developing countries, the paper says. In addition, the estimated annual benefits to the private sector would be $US93 million. The paper says this suggests that there are significant financial incentives for the creation of public-private sector partnerships to foster GM drought tolerant research in major cereal crops. Large overlaps in agroecological-drought risk zones between countries suggest that substantial scope also exists for inter-country collaboration in drought tolerance research and sharing of spillovers from both public and private investments, according to the paper. The paper can be viewed online at the link below.
Ninety-four concept notes were received and were evaluated by AIT Core Team principally on the basis of their relevance and directness at addressing bio-innovation and its implications on issue areas of poverty – that is, on poor peoples’ livelihood and/or basic health. Out of the total concept notes received, 16 were shortlisted and were requested to submit fully developed proposals.
We are please to announce the 2009 Small Grants Competition winners of the Enabling Bio-innovation for Poverty Alleviation in Asia Programme:
Dr. Le Thi Van Hue of the Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES), Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam
Topic: Exploring Effects of Bio-innovation on Shrimp Farmers in Vietnam
Dr EunJeong Ma of Seoul National University, South Korea
Topic: Impacts of Bio-innovative Drug on Health Disparity between Asia and 
Developed Countries
Dr Sunita Sangar of Society for Strategy Technology Delivery & Development (Society STADD), India
Topic: Role of Professional Associations in pro-poor Biofertilizer and Biopesticide Innovation Systems
Dr Linda Peñalba of College of Public Affairs University of the Philippines Los Baños , Philippines
Topic: Challenges and Recommendations to Harness the Poverty Alleviation Potentials of Bio-Nitrogen Fertilizer in the Philippines
Dr Louis Lebel of Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER), Thailand
Topic: Lazy Gardens: A sustainable alternative for remote poor rural communities in northern Thailand
Ms Tuong Vi Pham of Center for Environment and Community Asset Development (CECAD), Vietnam
Topic: Social dimensions and institutional factors that enable and/or constrain a biogas program at community level
Dr Juthathip Chalermphol of Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Topic: Surge of high-input vegetable production: Is the innovation pro-poor and gender sensitive?
Learn more about their research topics and the Bio-innovations Asia Programme on 18th June 2009 9am during the Launching Event and Awarding Ceremony at the Rama Gardens Hotel Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Bangkok .
To register, please call Mary at 02-524-5671 or email bio-innovations@ait.ac.th on or before 15th June 2009 (Monday).
Earlier this month, two Thai research proposals, along with five other foreign research papers, won grants awarded in the "2009 Bio-innovation Asia Competition", a project organised by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in collaboration with Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
The aim of the project is to stimulate and support research in bio-innovation in Asia,which emphasizes poverty alleviation. The awardees were selected from a total of 94 entries from 14 Asian countries. Each winner was granted C$18,000 (541,000 baht) to carry out the proposed study.
Published September 16, 2009
AIT Core Team has decided to extend the deadline of submission of concept notes to 22 September 2009. We encourage those who may be interested to submit their concept notes on or before this date. Shortlisting of applications would immediately follow.
To enhance biological innovative capabilities, policies and institutions to support just, equitable and sustainable social and economic development in developing countries. |
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