1.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
Rethinking the global food system
The role of policy innovations
Shenggen Fan
Director General | International Food Policy Research Institute
IFPRI-IRRI Policy Seminar
September 26, 2014 | Washington, DC

2.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
Outline
 A rethinking of the global food system is
needed to address emerging challenges
 Policy innovations can be game changers
 How IFPRI’s strategic research contributes
to CGIAR goals and upcoming SDGs

3.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
Rethinking the global food system
OLD
 Food insecurity is mainly a supply
problem
 Agricultural intensification with more
output
 Small(holder) is always beautiful
 Self-sufficiency is beneficial
 Food systems are safe
 Global governance food system
dominated by North and UN
NEW
 Accessibility issues are major
problems
 Sustainable intensification with more
nutrition
 Context specificity matters
 Open, transparent, and fair global
trade provides more gains
 Safety of food systems is increasingly
at risk
 New players now play a bigger role

4.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
Policy innovations can be game changers
Asian Green Revolution
 Promoted enabling and sustained policies and investments–
infrastructure, market, finance, extension, and input systems
Vietnam’s Doi Moi reforms
 Implemented land tenure and agric. market reforms (among others),
transforming Vietnam from rice importer to 2nd largest exporter
Thailand’s food security and nutrition policy
 Launched agricultural and social protection policies with nutrition
interventions to nearly end hunger and child stunting

5.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
Food policy research
 Provides enabling environment for technology adoption
and use, for example
 Offers guidance on avoiding or reforming counter-
productive policies
 AND contributes to food security and nutrition via
• Better allocation of resources
• Improving governance, institutions, markets, and trade
Food policy research has broad impacts
Policy research is crucial

6.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
 Provided early warning about 2007-08 global food price
crisis
 Contributed to a broader understanding of crisis and
policy responses
• Produced 30 publications and disseminated findings through high-level
presentations and briefings
• 7 of 8 proposed urgent actions were adopted as policy recommendations in
the Comprehensive Framework for Action by the High Level Task Force on
the Global Food Security Crisis
• 2008 G8 Summit report, Double Jeopardy: Responding to High Food and
Fuel Prices, drew on IFPRI research to justify revision of biofuel policies
Informing food security policy

7.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
Shaping public investment priorities
 Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators
• Instrumental in helping policymakers understand levels of investment and
human capacity and where to intervene
• Creates a unique international public good
• 2012 G8 Accountability Report and G20 Interagency Report have been
very important in calling for sustainable support for ASTI
 Statistics of Public Expenditure for Economic
Development (SPEED)
• Contributes to transparency in public spending
• Provides the most comprehensive and publicly-available public
expenditure information for 147 countries and several sectors

8.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
Supporting country-led strategies
NIGERIA
SUPPORTING AGRICULTURAL
POLICY REFORMS
GHANA
PROMOTING INNOVATIONS IN VALUE
CHAINS
ETHIOPIA
SUPPORTING AGRICULTURE-LED
INDUSTRIALIZATION STRATEGY
BANGLADESH
STRENGTHENING EVIDENCE-BASED
SOLUTIONS TO POVERTY AND HUNGER

9.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
IFPRI’s strategic research supports CGIAR
goals
• Less rural poverty
• Better food security
• Better nutrition and health
• Sustainably managed resources
CGIAR goals

10.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
CGIAR goals contribute to upcoming SDGs
Improving
health,
nutrition &
food
security
Reducing
rural
poverty
Sustainable
natural
resource
management
1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 12, 17
1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 17
5, 6, 12, 13, 16, 17
1. End poverty
2. End hunger
3. Ensure healthy lives
4. Ensure education
5. Achieve gender equality
6. Ensure availability of water and sanitation
7. Ensure access to energy
8. Promote economic growth and work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities safe and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and
production
13. Take action to combat climate change
14. Conserve oceans and marine life
15. Protect and promote sustainable use of
terrestrial ecosystems
16. Promote peaceful, inclusive societies for
sustainable development
17. Strengthen global partnerships

11.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
 Ensuring sustainable food production—nexus approach to link
water, energy and food together
 Promoting healthy food systems—experiments and evaluation of
value chains for nutrition
 Improving markets and trade—not just output markets, new research
focusing on input markets: land, water, finance, labor
 Transforming agriculture—leveraging the role of medium-size farms?
 Building resilience—using a system approach to link short-term relief
to long-term development?
 Institutions and governance —new institutions and implications of
new technologies on institutions
 Gender—big push on gender-disaggregated data
IFPRI’s strategic research
Pushing the frontiers of knowledge

12.
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Shenggen Fan, September 2014
 A call to rethink the global food system cannot be
ignored
 Policy innovations will be key to create a healthy and
sustainable food system for all
 The CGIAR (incl. IFPRI) has a critical role to play in
achieving this goal in the post-2015 agenda
 We must all work together to support country-led
strategies
In conclusion