Is there something really new about "land grab" except its extent? What is wrong with an investment contract allowing the holder to buy a farm and to export wheat to Saudi Arabia, or soybeans and maize as cattle feed to Korea, or to plant and process sugar cane and palm oil into ethanol for...

The last decade has seen a resurgence of parastatal crop marketing institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, many of which cite improving food security and incomes as key goals. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the welfare effects of these programs. This article considers one such...

The paper analyses the impact of agricultural technologies on the four pillars of food security for maize farmers in Tanzania. Relying on matching techniques, we use a nationally representative dataset collected over the period 2010/2011 to estimate the causal effects of using improved seeds and...

Our food supply rests on a foundation of agricultural seed. As the world races to meet soaring food demand, the development and control of this fundamental genetic resource will be of critical concern to the entire human community. Seed, once treated as a shared public good and natural resource,...

Hunger has become ever more complex, and therefore efforts to sustainably eradicate hunger and malnutrition depend on policies and programs that match these complexities. Innovations are critical for progress. However, they require increased public and private investments as well. Key elements...

Market access influences the dietary diversity and food security for smallholder households in many ways. In Ethiopia, most smallholders are subsistence farmers who have poor access to markets. This study used primary data from a household survey to examine the relationship between market access...

Rapid increases in food supplies have reduced global hunger, while rising burdens of diet-related disease have made poor diet quality the leading cause of death and disability around the world. Today’s 'double burden' of undernourishment in utero and early childhood then undesired weight gain...

This paper explores the impact of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement on food security by using a gravity model to examine the regional changes in trade in agricultural products. This is followed by a discussion of how this might affect the four dimensions of food security,...

The production and consumption of animal source foods is central to the ongoing discussion of global food systems. The objectives of this report are first to describe the patterns and changing structures of the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) livestock sector and secondly to explore innovations that...