Compact2025 News in Brief: August 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.

Guatemala: How data support nutrition decision-making

A National Information Platforms for Nutrition (NIPN) report (synthesis in English; comprehensive report in Spanish) analyzes Guatemala’s progress in implementing multisectoral strategies for stunting reduction and prevention of chronic malnutrition. It presents lessons learned and recommendations for action, including increasing financial and human investments for nutrition commitments and strengthening monitoring of outputs and outcomes to track progress.

The global food system delivers the wrong prices of healthy and unhealthy foods

An article in The Journal of Nutrition assesses the relative caloric prices for different food categories across 176 countries and finds that prices vary systematically across countries and partially explain international differences in the prevalences of undernutrition and overweight adults. In an IFPRI blog post, the paper’s authors—IFPRI Senior Research Fellows Derek Headey and Harold Alderman—note that as countries develop, their food systems get better at providing healthier foods cheaply, but they also get better at providing unhealthier foods cheaply. They warn that the high price of healthy food and the low price of unhealthy food puts a dual challenge to poor people in developing countries.

Are agricultural policies in Rwanda triggering false nutritional incentives?

Agricultural policies in Rwanda may be subsidizing poor dietary behavior by encouraging households to sell high quality nutritious foods to buy larger volumes of nutritionally substandard foods according to an article in BMC Public Health. The authors suggest that Rwanda’s policies and programs should focus on nutrition security, income growth, market access, and gender-related nutrition risks.

Fruit and vegetable production will not meet recommended levels for consumption without further investment

While increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is an important component of a shift towards healthier and more sustainable diets, a study in The Lancet Planetary Health finds that even under optimistic socioeconomic scenarios, future supply will be insufficient to achieve recommended levels in many countries. The authors call for a portfolio of interventions and investments that focus on increasing fruit and vegetable production, developing technologies and practices to reduce waste without increasing the consumer cost, and increasing existing efforts to educate consumers on healthy diets.

Country perspectives on nutrition programming

Issue 12 of Nutrition Exchange highlights nutrition program experiences and learning from countries with a high burden of malnutrition and those that are prone to crisis. The latest issue includes articles on national nutrition budget analysis in West Africa, multi-sector nutrition programming in Ethiopia and Niger, and breaking the cycle of malnutrition through adolescent programs in Nepal.

Ten years after the food price crisis: Women farmers still food-insecure

An Oxfam briefing paper examines the impact of the food price crisis of 2007–08 on women and concludes that funding has been insufficient and policies have failed to address the structural deficiencies in the global food system. New policies are needed to rebalance the system to meet the needs of smallholder communities, especially women.

World Breastfeeding Week 2019: August 1–7

World Breastfeeding Week is a global campaign coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action that aims to inform, anchor, engage, and galvanize action on breastfeeding and related issues. This year’s campaign, “Empower Parents, Enable Breastfeeding,” advocates for (a) parental social protection policies and legislation, (b) parent-friendly workplaces in both formal and informal sectors, and (c) parent-friendly values and gender-equitable social norms. The World Health Organization and UNICEF have also developed an advocacy brief on breastfeeding and family-friendly policies.

Supporting farmers’ livelihoods with resilient seeds

In an opinion piece for Devex, IFPRI Senior Research Fellow David Spielman builds on Dan Barber’s New York Times editorial to highlight the importance of increasing investment in more diverse, resilient seeds in developing countries. Spielman recommends strategies for governments, donors, and private companies to invest in reshaping infrastructure and supporting research for more resilient seeds in the countries that need them most.

Navigating the Labyrinth of Public-Private Engagements for Global Nutrition

A Center for Strategic and International Studies commentary reflects on a Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) short course and explores why nutrition-focused engagements are necessary across sectors and stakeholders despite the inherent complexities when the private sector is involved.

Your feedback wanted: Code of Conduct on Food Loss and Food Waste Prevention

FAO’s Food Systems Program is hosting an e-consultation until August 16 and seeks feedback on the proposed outline and content of a Code of Conduct on Food Loss and Food Waste Prevention.

Agriculture and nutrition meet again after 75 years

In a blog post seventy-five years after the pioneering UN Conference on Food and Agriculture, Johns Hopkins University professor Jessica Fanzo and Georgetown University professor and IFPRI Board of Trustees member Derek Byerlee reflect on the history of shifting global priorities in the fight against hunger. Nutrition was very much on the agenda of the initial conference, but the agricultural and nutrition communities largely went their separate ways—the SDGs finally have reestablished the importance of a multidimensional approach to addressing hunger and malnutrition.

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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