The document provides an overview of the 2018 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR). It summarizes several sections and key findings from the report. The sections discussed include global food security trends, the impacts of trade, investment, migration, knowledge and data, developed country policies, and regional developments. For each area, the document extracts highlights and recommendations from the GFPR.

2. 2018 GFPR Overview
GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM UNDER RADICAL CHANGES
InvestmentTrade
Knowledge & data
Migration
Developed
country policies Global institutions
Food security

3.  Despite economic recovery, inequality is on the rise
globally
 Global hunger is increasing, driven by conflicts and
climate change
 Food production is strong and food prices are declining
 Anti-globalism and the changing global landscape may
create further uncertainties
Food policy in 2017-2018
Progress, uncertainty & rising anti-
globalism
Source: Fan 2018

4.  Food is at the heart of poverty reduction and
improvements in nutrition
• Food systems also contribute to rising obesity, hunger, and
environmental degradation
 Radical changes are creating new challenges and opportunities
for progress
• e.g. Anti-globalism and emerging technologies
 Addressing global trends will be critical to end hunger and
malnutrition within environmental boundaries
Food security under radical changes
Global trends impacting food systems
Source: Stordalen and Fan 2018

5. Food security under radical changes
Key recommendations
 Encourage an open, efficient, and fair trading system
 Support rural development to break the vicious cycle of
conflict, food insecurity, and migration
 Invest more in research and innovation for food systems
 Enhance evidence-based policy making
 Promote cooperation and mutual learning
 Leverage new opportunities in emerging technologies and
knowledge-sharing
Source: Stordalen and Fan 2018

6.  Open trade can contribute to
• Food security
• Improving nutrition through diversification of food baskets,
producers, and suppliers
• Reducing natural resource use and environmental impact
 At the same time, real risks are associated with opening trade
• Increases in inequality, negative impact on health, increases in
energy use, environmental damage
Trade
Free flow of goods for food security
and nutrition
Source: Martin and Laborde 2018

7. Trade
Contributing to sustainable food systems
Source: Martin and Laborde 2018

8.  Support trade opening with active and strong institutions to
guarantee cooperative behavior and coordination
 Design policies to address challenges or externalities
associated with trade
• Address inequality and private volatility with safety nets and investment
in human capital
• Address environmental impacts with resource management policies
• Address overnutrition with education and other policies targeting
consumption
Trade
Key recommendations
Source: Martin and Laborde 2018

9.  International investment is key to eliminating hunger
• Creates jobs, develops rural infrastructure, connects smallholders to
global markets, etc.
• Benefits production, value chains, rural incomes, technology, and food
safety and quality
 Private agribusiness investments in Africa and Asia improved
ability of local people to buy more food and more nutritious food
 Governance and screening of investments are important
Investment
International investment and local
food security
Source: Zhan, Mirza, and Speller 2018

10. Investment
Impact on food security
Source: Zhan, Mirza, and Speller 2018

11.  Promote and facilitate investment in staple and cash crops
in food insecure regions
 Support public-private partnerships for agro-infrastructure
to link farms to markets and attract investment
 Improve access to digital technology from farmer to
consumer to meet information needs for productive investments
 Ensure responsible investing by
• Implementing agricultural investment principles
• Supporting government screening of investments through technical
assistance
Investment
Key recommendations
Source: Zhan, Mirza, and Speller 2018

12.  Politically motivated arguments for immigration restrictions
are increasingly common, but not supported by evidence
 Voluntary migration can improve food security for migrants and
families
• Increases incomes and reduces pressure on natural resources
• But migration involves upfront costs that can exclude the poor
 Despite concerns, refugee camps can stimulate incomes and
entrepreneurship in local communities
Migration
Tightening borders and threats to
food security
Source: De Brauw and Ambler 2018

13. Migration
Migration impacts households, especially in rural areas
Source: De Brauw and Ambler 2018

14.  Improve seasonal migration mechanisms to help farmers find
alternative work within countries during lean season
 Reduce international migration costs at the source and
support participation of the poor in legal migrant work programs
 Develop innovative financial products to facilitate migration,
especially for the poor
 Intensify technology use and improve services before and
during crises
Migration
Key recommendations
Source: De Brauw and Ambler 2018

15.  Accessible data are critical for decision making, from the
farm to the retail level of food systems
 Open data increase both visibility and utility of research
 Open data can push governments toward increased
accountability and support evidence-based policy decisions
 Data quality and ease of use are essential for successful
open data use
 Inequality in access to knowledge is increasing
Knowledge and data
Open access data for food and
nutrition security
Source: Yerramareddy and Babu 2018

16. Knowledge and data
Progress toward open data
Source: Yerramareddy and Babu 2018

17.  Increase the efficiency of knowledge transfers to prevent
information loss and ensure uptake in the field
 Make government “big data” public to drive high-quality
analysis of food systems and better policy and decision making
 Build open data initiatives to reduce inequality and address
issues of data quality, use, storage, and dissemination
 Empower citizen stakeholders to demand open data through
capacity building and access to data tools
Knowledge and data
Key recommendations
Source: Yerramareddy and Babu 2018

18.  Developed country farm support policies often lead to
overproduction and lower prices globally
 Developing countries may face increased malnutrition and
food insecurity
 OECD countries shifted toward less distortionary mechanisms,
yet reforms stagnated and farm support levels remain high
 Large emerging economies are increasing distortionary forms
or farm support
Developed country policies
Domestic farm policy reform and
global food security
Source: Glauber 2018

19. Developed country policies
Trends in OECD support programs
Source: Glauber 2018

20.  Further reduce agricultural distortions in global markets
• Allows developing-country producers to improve incomes
• Reduces rural poverty and malnutrition
 Avoid adopting agricultural subsidy policies, given how
difficult it is to remove them
 Pursue reforms of domestic farm support even in the absence
of multicountry agreements, as these reforms have multiple
benefits
Developed country policies
Key recommendations
Source: Glauber 2018

21.  Policy and governance in food security and nutrition are
increasingly complex
 Inadequate responses to food crises reveal need for nations to
strengthen global planning and coordination of policy
 Global governance can provide and protect international public
goods
 Formal institutions, less formal networks, and food and
agriculture corporations all have roles to play in governance
of food security and nutrition
Global institutions
Governance reform for food, nutrition,
and agriculture
Source: Von Braun 2018

22. Global institutions
Toward redesign of international governance
Source: Von Braun 2018

23.  Conduct formal stakeholder consultations on global institutional
architecture and governance of agriculture, food, and nutrition
 Create institutional coordination capacity to match increased
scope and global action required for the SDGs
 Base redesign of governance on principles of legitimacy,
accountability, effectiveness, and inventiveness
• Design a Governing Platform for intergovernmental coordination, decision
making, and funding
• Establish an International Panel on Food, Nutrition, and
Agriculture with members of global scientific community
Source: Von Braun 2018
Global institutions
Key recommendations

24. REGIONAL AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
Africa
• Famine and near-famine conditions in South Sudan,
Nigeria, and Somalia
• Inaugural Biennial Review of Malabo commitments
East and Southeast Asia
• Myanmar promoting climate-smart villages
• Multi-country seed policy agreement
signed for climate-resilient rice varieties
Central Asia
• Policy reforms in Uzbekistan to enhance access to
machinery, fertilizer, and credit
• Kazakhstan approved State Program for Agro-Industrial
Development
Latin America & Caribbean
• Economic slowdown and sluggish recovery impacting
poverty and undernourishment
• Uncertainties due to policy changes regarding trade
and migration in the US
Middle East & North Africa
• Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen face
continuing conflict, impacting incomes and food security
• Macroeconomic reforms combined with social protection
schemes expanded in several countries
South Asia
• Heavy floods impacted rainy-season food supply
• Bangladesh instituting nationwide electronic system
to monitor public food grain stocks

25. Regional developments: Africa
Call for sustaining growth and building resilience
Source: Makombe, Collins, Ulimwengu and Badiane 2018
 Climate shocks and conflicts severely
threatened a number of countries
• Famine or near-famine conditions in South
Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia
• Poor rains in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia
 Progress on Malabo commitments
assessed in inaugural biennial review
• Agricultural transformation score for 20
countries on track to achieve goal by 2025
 Looking forward
• Moderately higher economic growth
• Building resilience to livelihoods and food
systems urgently needed

26. Regional developments: Middle East and North Africa
A tale of two MENAs (1)
Source: Breisinger, Abdelaziz, and Khouri 2018
 Food security and incomes continued to deteriorate, especially for countries in
conflict
 Well-managed globalization is critical for the region with high food import and
mineral resource export dependency
 Macroeconomic policy reforms expected to improve economic growth, employment,
and food security
• Expanding social protection schemes to protect the poor from short-term negative effects of
reforms
 Looking forward
• Urgency in addressing the needs of people under conflict and post-conflict reconstruction
• Well-designed policy changes in countries not affected by conflicts can help reap
the benefits of globalization

27. Regional developments: Middle East and North Africa
A tale of two MENAs (2)
Source: Breisinger, Abdelaziz, and Khouri 2018

28. Regional developments: Central Asia
Steps toward cooperation
Source: Akramov, Ilyasov, and Park 2018
 Economic recovery
• Significant upturns in energy and metals
prices
• More favorable external economic conditions
 Continued poverty reduction and food
security driven by income from employment
and remittances
 Improving environment for regional
cooperation from recent political changes
 Looking forward
• Favorable outlook for commodity exports,
but continued challenges in financial sector

29. Regional developments: South Asia
Food systems at a crossroads (1)
Source: Kumar, Ahmed, Davies, and Joshi 2018
 Despite rapid economic growth, progress is uneven across region and
highly vulnerable to climate impact
 Continued efforts to address poverty and malnutrition challenge
• Bangladesh: Reforming public food distribution through electronic monitoring system
and modern food storage facilities
• India: Promoting agricultural growth through enhancing credit for farmers and creation
of long-term and micro-irrigation funds
 Looking forward
• Challenges: climate variability, extreme weather events, and rising temperatures
• Opportunities: global food value chains and robust economic prospects

30. Regional developments: South Asia
Food systems at a crossroads (2)
Source: Kumar, Ahmed, Davies, and Joshi 2018

31. Regional developments: East and Southeast Asia
Progress continues, challenges grow (1)
Source: Chen, Timmer, Dawe, and Wang 2018
 Food insecurity and malnutrition remain a concern, despite strong
economic growth
• Serious hunger in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines, and Timor-
Leste
• Obesity rapidly increasing throughout region
 Structural transformation to connect rural areas to economic growth
• China: Rural revitalization, private investment in large-scale farming
 Looking forward
• Deeper regional and global integration as priority
• Emphasis on enhancing infrastructure investments, upgrading agricultural value
chains, agricultural R&D

32. Source: Chen, Timmer, Dawe, and Wang 2018
Regional developments: East and Southeast Asia
Progress continues, challenges grow (2)

33. Regional developments: Latin America and the Caribbean
Integration and growth advance
Source: Díaz-Bonilla and Piñeiro 2018
 Economic slowdown and sluggish recovery
taking a toll on poverty and undernourishment
 Active hurricane season impacted
livelihoods, agriculture, and infrastructure
 Uncertainties due to policy changes
regarding trade, migration in the US
 Outlook for 2018
• Economic recovery with the stabilization of key
countries (e.g. Brazil) and stronger global
growth
• Prudent economic policies, democratic
governance, and high-impact investment will be
important

34. Food policy indicators
Agricultural Science and
Technology Indicators
SPEEDASTI
Statistics on Public Expenditures
for Economic Development
GHI
Global Hunger Index
FPRCI
Food Policy Research
Capacity Indicators
IMPACT
International Model for Policy
Analysis of Agricultural
Commodities and Trade
TFP
Agricultural Total Factor
Productivity

35. Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators
Women’s role in agricultural sciences is growing,
but gender gap persists

36. Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators
Many African
countries are
overlooking
research in favor of
spending on other
agricultural areas
SPENDING IN AGRICULTURE & AGRICULTURAL RESESARCH IN AFRICA

37. Statistics on Public Expenditures for
Economic Development
Trends in agricultural public expenditures and share of
agricultural spending diverge across regions

38. Vast inequality is
found within
regions
Global Hunger Index

39. Global Hunger Index
Children’s
undernutrition
varies widely
within
countries

40. Research capacity is uneven
within developing regions
Food Policy Research Capacity Indicators
Number of publications per researcher
rising in Africa, but with wide variation

41. Agricultural Total Factor Productivity
Sustained TFP
growth in
developing
countries

42. Agricultural Total Factor Productivity
China, Brazil, and
India are the
drivers of TFP
growth

43. International Model for Policy Analysis of
Agricultural Commodities and Trade
Sources of growth are projected to
vary for food and feed crops
Increased investment can reduce hunger,
despite setbacks due to climate change

44. Global integration of national food
systems will be key to progress,
but will require robust evidence, good
governance, and strong commitment
from the international community

45. For the Global Food Policy Report and
more information, please visit:
http://gfpr.ifpri.info/