'In order to provide affordable food to those who struggle with soaring food prices and to bring down the food prices in general, GOE recently imported 150,000 tons of wheat, and another 150,000 tons is said to be on its way. This is the first time GOE has used its own budget to pay for emergency food import, rather than relying solely on relief food from donors. This welcome change in the response to the food emergency has been noted by the international community. It demonstrates GOE’s commi more...

'While the rises in global food and fuel prices have moderated in recent months, domestic prices remain much higher than previous years and show few signs of abating. Higher prices have pushed many more people into poverty, but the increase in the number of poor is only part of the emerging costs of the crisis. The more profound consequence is the impact of rising prices on households who were already poor. For those already struggling to meet their daily food and nutrient needs, the double shoc more...

This weekend in Washington, the World Bank was making a grab to become the key agency on this issue, entrusted with more power — and more taxpayer funds. Set up more than 60 years ago to lend money to poorer nations, the World Bank hosted officials from all over the globe at its joint annual meeting with the International Monetary Fund.

But the World Bank's record should disqualify it from playing a leading role. For 30 years, we have observed the World Bank at work and have seen firsthand more...

This study evaluates the potential impact of the recent rise in world food prices on the Moroccan economy and possible policy options to respond to it. The study focuses mainly on the poverty effects of such an external shock and the possible policy responses to it. A new social accounting matrix (SAM) and a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model have been developed for this study based on micro-level data in combination with sectoral and economywide data. The CGE model simulations show that more...

'World agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable, and politically risky period. Agriculture—and the natural resources it depends on—has been overexploited ecologically, has suffered from underinvestment, has recently been exposed to ill-designed bioenergy programs, and has been politically sidelined for too long. It is now at a critical point. Appropriate responses to the food and agriculture price and productivity crises are lacking. A global initiative for accelerated agriculture produc more...

Development assistance needs to respond to the food crisis taking into account both the opportunities and challenges presented by the high food prices. The food crisis has implications for the types of agricultural development assistance that are needed. This paper focus on four areas for high returns in the context of food crisis:1)emergency assistance and social protection.2)investment in agricultural research and development,3) improvement of agricultural marketing system and 4)capacity devel more...

‘Strong upward trends and increased variability in global food prices during the past two years have led to concern that hunger and poverty will increase across the world. At the same time, rising food prices provide an incentive and opportunity for many developing countries to strengthen the contribution their farmers make to national economic growth and poverty reduction. Policymakers and opinion leaders in developing countries, however, often lack sufficient information to gauge the likely more...

This integrated project quantifies the nature and extent of the effects of economic factors and selected agricultural policies on human nutrition and obesity and links these findings to extension and educational activities. The overall goal is to support better-informed policy decisions through research, outreach and educational programs.

The Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA) package is an approach to expand the coverage of seven affordable and evidence-based actions to improve the nutritional status of women and children, especially those under two years of age. FANTA’s Review of Incorporation of Essential Nutrition Actions into Public Health Programs in Ethiopia found that the approach has been incorporated into the Ethiopia Federal Ministry of Health system and multilateral and NGO programming, however, improved training and more...

The Standing Committee on Nutrition(SCN) held a Side Event at the 34th Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) that took place 14 to 17 October 2008 at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome. The objectives of the Side Event were twofold: 1) Inform CFS members about the effects of high food prices (or of policies related to these) on the nutrition status of different livelihoods groups; and 2) Stimulate a debate on the possible short-term and longterm p more...