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Shenggen Fan
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Shenggen Fan has been Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) since 2009. Growing up in rural China in the 1960s and 1970s, Fan became deeply committed to reducing poverty and hunger. He is convinced that innovative, country-owned, country-led approaches are required to achieve ambitious development goals. Along those lines, he recently proposed a new “business-as-unusual” approach to ending hunger: (1) invest in two core pillars—agriculture and social protection, (2) bring in new players, (3) adopt a country-led, bottom-up approach, (4) design policies using evidence and experience, and (5) measure whether commitments have been fulfilled.
Fan joined IFPRI in 1995 as a research fellow, conducting extensive research on pro-poor development strategies in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He led IFPRI’s program on public investment before becoming the director of the Institute’s Development Strategy and Governance Division in 2005. He also received a PhD in applied economics from the University of Minnesota and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Nanjing Agricultural University in China. Fan is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Food Security, as well as an Executive Committee member of the International Association of Agricultural Economists.
SUBMITTED BY Kimberly Flowers ON Thu, May 10, 2012 1:24am | Comments (0)
This blog post was written by Joe Sanders, Chief of Party, USAID-Nepal Flood Recovery Program.
Nutrition is an important component of economic development and food security. Evidence shows that malnutrition in the first two years of life permanently reduces cognitive function and physical capacity, making individuals more vulnerable to disease. This, in turn, reduces productivity, slows economic growth, and perpetuates poverty.
The Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, the Joaquim Chissano Foundation, and the John A. Kufuor Foundation are pleased to invite you to the 2012 US-Africa Forum, on “Farming Is A Business: Strengthening Linkages and Skills to Transform Africa’s Food Systems.”
Every six months, One Acre Fund pulls together a performance report that provides its donors with an honest view of the organization's progress. Its most recent report, for the six months ending October 2011, discusses the following accomplishments:
The report briefly concludes with One Acre Fund's vision for the future and great enthusiasm to create life change for 180,000 families in the next 24 months.
Download the current and past performance reports at right.
SUBMITTED BY Julie MacCartee ON Wed, March 7, 2012 1:32pm | Comments (1)
Although production inputs such as seeds and fertilizer sometimes hog the spotlight, public sector agricultural research is also a vital input for sustained agricultural productivity. At the FILED UNDER: blog, General Blog, USAID Bureau for Food Security, Ag Sector Council Seminar, Blog entry, Government, Brazil, Capacity Building, Sub-Saharan Africa, Production Inputs, Research, Latin America and Carribean
MSU International Development Working Paper 101
The Michigan State University (MSU) International Development Paper series is designed to further the comparative analysis of international development activities in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Near East. The papers report research findings on historical, as well as contemporary, international development problems.
This document contains an overview of the past 25 years of research, capacity-building, and outreach by MSU’s Food Security Group. The paper describes key elements of the FSG approach and draws lessons regarding the value of that model. It also examines the insights gained from research and outreach, primarily in Africa, and their value to the U.S. Feed the Future Initiative in addressing the major current challenges facing food and agricultural systems.
MSU FSG researchers and their colleagues have been carrying out integrated programs of applied research, capacity building, and policy dialogue focused on food security—largely in Africa—since the early 1980s, building on insights from two decades of earlier projects that addressed agricultural and rural development. Three ten-year food security cooperative agreements—from 1982 through 2012—have been funded by USAID central offices and country and regional missions.
USAID-ACCESO, a four-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is assisting more than 30,000 households in six departments in western Honduras. The project, which began in April 2011, is working to lift rural households out of poverty and undernutrition through access to economic development opportunities and improved health and nutrition practices. The project is increasing sales and incomes by introducing basic production practices and market-driven programs for high-value cash crops, as well as expanding off-farm microenterprise and employment opportunities.
This two-page brief outlines how the Feed the Future project in Honduras is integrating nutrition into its key agriculture program.
The USAID Resilience Workshop was held on December 13-14, 2011. Download the full agenda at right, or read about the workshop on the Agrilinks Blog or the USAID Impact Blog.
Click here for a summary of all available resources.
This event was jointly hosted by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, Bureau for Food Security, and Bureau for Africa In partnership with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the USAID/Office of Food for Peace-funded TOPS Program in support of the Feed the Future Initiative.
OBJECTIVES
This presentation by Andrew Keck (IRG), was part of the Ag Sector Council Meeting, "The Senegal Local Support Fund: Capacity Building for a Competitive Maize Value Chain." The seminar was held at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. on July 20, 2011.
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