On 16 April 2015, IFPRI’s Director General, Dr. Shenggen Fan, will present IFPRI’s flagship publication, the 2014–2015 Global Food Policy Report. The report puts into perspective the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions in 2014 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2015. The report calls for a renewed focus on middle-income countries, which are home to the majority of the world’s hungry and malnourished. Reshaping these countries’ food systems to focus on nutrition and health, close the gender gap in agriculture, and improve rural infrastructure, particularly sanitation, will significantly improve both domestic and global food and nutrition security as well as serve as models for low income countries. The report also covers other issues that are integral to achieving food and nutrition security, including family farming, social protection, food safety, conflicts, and aquaculture, and draws the following key findings:
– Improved sanitation can be critical to shaping key nutrition outcomes, especially for children;
– Supporting the world’s 1.5 billion small farmers to move up to higher-value agriculture or move out of agriculture is critical;
– Social protection and the reduction of vulnerability are back on the development agenda, as shocks continue to challenge developing countries;
– A series of high-profile food-related scares has drawn attention to the issue of food safety and other health risks associated with agriculture;
– Conflicts continue to threaten the livelihoods and nutrition security of producers and consumers in many regions; and
– Demand for fish is rapidly growing due to higher incomes and increased attention to nutrition.