Compact2025 News in Brief: March 6, 2019

To accelerate progress to end hunger and undernutrition around the world, the News in Brief informs partners on emerging research and innovation, developments in global, regional, and national policies and programs, and timely news and events. Please feel free to share any feedback at IFPRI-Compact2025@cgiar.org. Find the latest developments in Compact2025 here.

World Bank helps Benin tackle child stunting

The World Bank approved a grant of $50 million to support the government of Benin’s efforts to reduce stunting and improve early childhood development outcomes in children under five years of age. The project will include interventions for parenting education and early learning, primary school feeding, and support to improve policy and multisectoral coordination.

Seizing the momentum for agriculture and nutrition

Agriculture's vast potential to improve nutrition is just beginning to be tapped. Agriculture for Improved Nutrition: Seizing the Momentum—a new book published by IFPRI and CABI—reviews the latest findings, results from on-the-ground programs and interventions, and recent policy experiences from countries around the world that are forging the agriculture and nutrition sectors closer together.

African consumers need more investment in food safety

More than half of donor funded food safety initiatives in Africa south of the Sahara are focused on overseas markets, with less than half on domestic consumers, according to a report from the Global Food Safety Partnership that analyzed over 500 projects and activities. The focus on food safety for exports comes with a cost for Africans—the continent suffers the world’s worst levels of food safety, causing human capital losses of an estimated $16.7 billion per year.

Does aflatoxin stunt child growth?

A study by IFPRI researchers finds that reducing aflatoxin contamination in food consumed by children does reduce serum aflatoxin levels in their blood but does not seem to affect stunting. A blog post by the researchers reflects on these findings and questions to be assessed in future research.

Biodiversity of our food system is in decline

FAO’s first State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture report finds that many key components of the biodiversity that underpins our food systems are in decline at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels: the proportion of livestock breeds at risk of extinction is increasing, the diversity of crops present in farmers’ fields has declined, and threats to crop diversity are growing.

Combatting the double burden of malnutrition

The 4^th International Congress on Hidden Hunger at the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany, focused on the double burden of malnutrition—the coexistence of undernutrition along with overweight and obesity or diet related non-communicable diseases. The event took place February 27–March 1 and brought together a range of stakeholders including IFPRI researchers to discuss the underlying causes and consequences of this growing challenge as well as innovative strategies to combat it.

Bangladesh Minister of Agriculture joins Compact2025 Leadership Council

We are thrilled that Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Minister of Agriculture of Bangladesh, has joined the Compact2025 Leadership Council. We look forward to receiving his strategic guidance and working together to further accelerate progress to end hunger and undernutrition.

Reducing Food Loss and Waste – Making it Personal

An astounding one-third of all food is lost or wasted between farm and fork. IFPRI, Stop Wasting Food / Selina Juul, World Resources Institute, Champions 12.3, and the Embassy of Denmark in Washington, DC are co-organizing an event on March 12 to understand what people—from farmers to consumers—can do to address this challenge.

Irrigation is key to feeding Africa south of the Sahara

An IFPRI blog post explores the critical role that sustainable drylands irrigation will play in feeding the growing population of Africa south of the Sahara, a region that is adding more than 1 billion people over the next 30 years.

Cities are important agents of change to transform food systems

FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva calls on cities to redouble efforts to turn global commitments on food security, nutrition and climate change, into local realities.

IFPRI Director General joins Global Panel

The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition welcomes Shenggen Fan, Director General of IFPRI, as new Panel Member. The Global Panel works to strengthen the evidence-base for action on nutrition and promote opportunities for agriculture and food systems to contribute to progress.

Highlights from this and past Compact2025 News in Briefs, along with other key resources, can be found at the Compact2025 Knowledge & Innovation Hub resources page.

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