agriculture

The potential powerhouse of energy and creativity of the world's 1.2 billion young people was highlighted by Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of IFAD during the annual spring meetings of the World Bank Group (Bank) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that are currently underway.

Today, companies are competing to produce food with high levels of safety and free from contaminants and disease. They are taking actions in food security and apply safety standards to achieve a strong, safe, stable and healthy food system. Regulatory structures are being very strict and consumers are increasingly concerned with the safety and ethical production of food products.

Five organizations, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), the International Life Sciences Institute North America (ILSI North America), GS1 US, 1WorldSync, and Label Insight have formed a collaborative public-private partnership to deliver "A Partnership for Public Health: USDA Branded Food Products Database" with the goal of strengthening public health and the open sharing of food composition data.

Two United Nations agencies – the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) – today agreed to strengthen their cooperation in Sudan to help smallholder farmers improve their production and thus promote food security.

G20 economies vowed to support low-income countries (LICs) to participate more in global value chains (GVCs) to drive global trade growth, said a statement released Sunday after the two-day G20 Trade Ministers Meeting in Shanghai.

The agri-food industry is becoming more globalized. It has complicated supply chains and seeks to satisfy consumer demands such as cheap, healthy and fresh food and year-round. I see that manufacturing companies deal with the shrinking margins. Because they are strongly influenced by short-term demand from powerful retailers and consumers that influence them in today’s complex business world. I know that tighter margins leave a small room for investment.

The importance of agriculture and agribusiness in unlocking shared prosperity in Africa was the subject of a high level panel of African leaders who addressed the Grow Africa Investment Forum held as part of the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEF) in Kigali this week.

Recognizing that rural development plays a fundamental role in stabilizing communities and reducing migration and conflict, senior government officials have renewed their commitment at a United Nations conference in Rome to invest in smallholder agriculture and reduce poverty in developing countries.