International Food Policy Research Institute

About: International Food Policy Research Institute is a nonprofit organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Food security & Agriculture. The organization has 1217 authors who have published 4952 publications receiving 218436 citations.

The New Normal? A Tighter Global Agricultural Supply and Demand Relation and its Implications for Food Security

Abstract: The tight food markets and rising prices of 2005–2008 and today have been caused by various factors, such as rapid growth in demand for biofuels, bad weather, and increased demand for meat, dairy, livestock feed, rice and wheat due to rapid economic growth and urbanization, particularly in Asia and Africa. In the longer term, climate change and growing water scarcity along with worsening water quality will be major challenges to agricultural production and food security. This paper uses IFPRI’s International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodity and Trade (IMPACT) to assess long-term agricultural supply and demand relations. Examining these new global food system realities through the lens of scenarios for agricultural supply and demand indicates that, if current policies and investment trends continue, real world prices of most cereals and meats are projected to increase in the future. Growth in demand for meat, milk, biofuels and growing scarcity in water supplies are projected to put pressure on agricultural prices and strain land and water resources further. Climate change will have negative impacts on agricultural production in much of the world. Rising prices and poor progress on food security are not, however, inevitable. Policy reforms and increased

Price stabilization, international trade and national cereal stocks: world price shocks and policy response in South Asia

Abstract: The sharp rise in international cereal prices in 2007 and 2008 had a profound impact on food security at national levels for net importing countries, sharply raising the cost of imports. Domestic trade policies and government market interventions in a set of South Asian countries have been critical, however, in determining the effects of the international price shocks on domestic markets. While these price shocks are a sober reminder that reliance on international markets will not guarantee price stability, it is important that governments do not over-react to recent events and adopt policies that ultimately result in large costs in terms of slower economic growth and less poverty reduction. Instead, national policies should involve some combination of (1) national stocks to prevent very large price increases, (2) reliance on international trade to limit the need for government interventions in most years, (3) promotion of domestic production through investments in irrigation, research and extension that is economically efficient when evaluated at medium-term border prices, and (4) targeted (ideally cash-based) safety net programs to address the food security needs of poor households. The appropriate design and implementation of these broad food policy guidelines will necessarily vary according to individual country conditions; the need to avoid government interventions that ultimately have very high costs is universal.

Food crisis and export taxation: the cost of non-cooperative trade policies

Abstract: This paper aims to assess the rationales for export taxes in the context of a food crisis First, we summarize the effects of export taxes using both partial and general equilibrium theoretical models When large countries aim to maintain constant domestic food prices, in the event of an increase in world agricultural prices, the optimal response is to decrease import tariffs in net food-importing countries and to increase export tariffs in net food-exporting countries The latter decision improves national welfare, while the former reduces national welfare: this is the price that must be paid to keep domestic food prices constant Small net food-importing countries are harmed by both decisions, while small net food-exporting countries gain from both Second, we illustrate the costs of a lack of regulation and cooperation surrounding such policies in a time of crisis using a global computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, mimicking the mechanisms that appeared during the recent food price surge (2006–2008) This model illustrates the interdependence of trade policies, as well as how a process of retaliation and counter-retaliation (increased export taxes in large net food-exporting countries and reduced import tariffs in large net food-importing countries) can contribute to successive augmentations of world agricultural prices and harm small net food-importing countries We conclude with a call for international regulation, in particular because small net food-importing countries may be substantially harmed by those policies that amplify the already negative impact of a food crisis