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: Agriculture & Food security. The organization has 1217 authors who have published 4952 publications receiving 218436 citations.

Global food security: challenges and policies.

Abstract: Global food security will remain a worldwide concern for the next 50 years and beyond. Recently, crop yield has fallen in many areas because of declining investments in research and infrastructure, as well as increasing water scarcity. Climate change and HIV/AIDS are also crucial factors affecting food security in many regions. Although agroecological approaches offer some promise for improving yields, food security in developing countries could be substantially improved by increased investment and policy reforms.

Operationalizing Dietary Diversity: A Review of Measurement Issues and Research Priorities

Abstract: Dietary diversity (DD) is universally recognized as a key component of healthy diets There is still, however, a lack of consensus on how to measure and operationalize DD This article reviews published literature on DD, with a focus on the conceptual and operational issues related to its measurement in developing countries Findings from studies of the association between DD and individual nutrient adequacy, child growth and/or household socioeconomic factors are summarized DD is usually measured using a simple count of foods or food groups over a given reference period, but a number of different groupings, classification systems and reference periods have been used This limits comparability and generalizability of findings The few studies that have validated DD against nutrient adequacy in developing countries confirm the well-documented positive association observed in developed countries A consistent positive association between dietary diversity and child growth is also found in a number of countries Evidence from a multicountry analysis suggests that household-level DD diversity is strongly associated with household per capita income and energy availability, suggesting that DD could be a useful indicator of food security The nutritional contribution of animal foods to nutrient adequacy is indisputable, but the independent role of animal foods relative to overall dietary quality for child growth and nutrition remains poorly understood DD is clearly a promising measurement tool, but additional research is required to improve and harmonize measurement approaches and indicators Validation studies are also needed to test the usefulness of DD indicators for various purposes and in different contexts

Implications of Higher Global Food Prices for Poverty in Low-Income Countries

Abstract: In many poor countries, the recent increases in prices of staple foods raise the real incomes of those selling food, many of whom are relatively poor, while hurting net food consumers, many of whom are also relatively poor. The impacts on poverty will certainly be very diverse, but the average impact on poverty depends upon the balance between these two effects, and can only be determined by looking at real-world data. Results using household data for ten observations on nine low-income countries show that the short-run impacts of higher staple food prices on poverty differ considerably by commodity and by country, but, that poverty increases are much more frequent, and larger, than poverty reductions. The recent large increases in food prices appear likely to raise overall poverty in low income countries substantially.